Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Are these Ricks with the vibrato attached hard to keep in tune? If so, will removing the vibrato arm help? I am considering getting one of these and am curious. Any comments would be appreciated.

OK. Maybe not.

Jaybyrd,
the only experience I've had was putting one on a 320 and it was hell - impossible to keep in tune... even without using the accent. (strings were .12-.52) I kept it for a week and played it quite a lot - it seemed like the strings would never settle down...

Maybe it was the shortscale, maybe the accent, maybe both ; but I will never put one of these on any of my ricks.
The same lad who asked me to do the 320 mod. left me his v59 (bigsby) for a week - by far better : it does stay in tune (but don't go reach for the octave) and nicer feel also.

Thanks, Axel.

That is what I was afraid of. I saw a used 1997VB and was considering buying it, but it seemed that I remembered some time ago someone saying the same sort of thing that you did. I think I will just continue to search for a 1997 without the VB. I appreciate your help.

I have a '66 335 with the accent vibrato. It stays in tune just fine; if you're just doing little Ventures type twangy stuff no problem. You won't be playing any Van Halen stuff though. The only bump I've hit is I have to use a light gauge of strings for the arm to clear the volume knobs. Now, my mid 80's 325 was a different story...

Funny, because I have the same guitar as Chuck. I use heavy strings to KEEP it in tune. It was terrible with lighter strings. I have no arm on the Accent, so it's not an issue for me.

The Accent still exists, of course, only for historical reasons, certainly not for its good operation. However, I think it's fair to say the same about a Bigsby as well.

In the case of a 3/4 scale guitar like a 325, string choice is quite critical with the Accent. The standard 12-16-24W-32-42-54 (equivalent to light strings on a full scale) is really the minimum weight set that should be used if tuning is to be maintained.

On a full scale guitar, it's nowhere near as critical and the 10-13-17-26-34-42 is a good starting point. One notch heavier and there should be no tuning problems. Just bend the arm to clear the knobs.

Let's just not lose sight of the fact that the Accent is a 1950's design and elegant for the era at that. But it can't begin to be considered in the same terms of modern vibrato units, such as our Hi Tech. It's a trade-off between looks and simplicity vs. performance.

On which model(s) is the 'HiTech' available? I just scouted the RIC site again and found no notice of its existence..
Would it be a soon-to-appear novelty, ready to be unveiled with a redesigned 650 series ?

a

Try this:

650 Overview

This page actually shows a nice close-up of the 650 vibrato unit. Looks like an EXCELLENT bridge to me . . .

http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/mccorp/feature650D.html

Hey! That's MY guitar, Juston!

Regarding the "name" of this vibrato...

On the Special Order Options page:

http://www.rickenbacker.com/us/options.htm

...it is called a "High performance vibrato system."

From the Component and Assembly Diagrams section:

http://www.rickenbacker.com/pdf/vibratos.pdf

...(scroll down to bottom) it is called a "Hi-Tek Vibrato Assembly."

Above, JH called it "Hi Tech."

Hi Tech, High Performance, Hi-Tek... take your pick. It's a good unit!

It's the "Not-an-Accent, Not-a-Bigsy" vibrato. But Hi-Tek is actually the correct name, no matter what I called it before.