Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Some may remember when I was blathering on about adding an Accent to my personalized MB 381.

But the more I thought about it, the more I wasn't sure that I wanted that honkin' slab 'o' chrome hanging off the bottom, there...

Then Stan Castles mentioned that he had a new take off Kaufmann collecting Texas dust. I did some quick measuring and a week later it was in my hands.

The swap was straightforward and simple. First it was necessary to stake the pivot points with a sharp punch from the back to prevent movement and subsequent tuning problems.

(Wait--it's a Vib-Rola...it's supposed to move. Why bother, etc., etc., ad nauseam...) It's because I like the look of the Kaufmann--very vintage and functional, even if it doesn't function. If you get it, fine. If you don't, then OK, too.

Well, the R tailpiece rests in a nice padded envelope in my toolbox so's it can be replaced anytime I want. And I'm gonna try an Accent on one of these soon, too.

One more mod (foam pads to replace the pickup grommets) and I'm gonna call it finished. It has stayed in tune so far, despite being hauled around all day yesterday.

Here are the URLs for bigger photos.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/19.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/20.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/21.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/22.jpg

Tres cool. I always thought the looks far exceeded the utility of those things.

Nice nameplate, too. Make it yourself? You could get in trouble for that, you know.

Looks like it worked out just fine, Paul. Glad you could put my former Vibrola to good use...it looks a helluva lot better on your 381 than the box I had it in.

Cool!

I'm pretty confident he's safe, Adam.