.

kt66

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ICBM

It's a fairly small percentage as far as I can tell, but a real issue. Not for me personally, but only by timing - I sold my 90s 360/12 to a friend, and a couple of years later the tailpiece broke while the guitar was in its case. I can guarantee it wasn't strung too heavily either, it had the proper RIC strings on it.

The notorious 'tail lift' on the basses is another symptom of the same problem, it's the crap alloy they use for the castings of both parts. My old 4001 has it, as do almost all of them eventually.

kt66

If it's a small percentage, they're a noisy lot. I adore Rickenbackers but something, especially their attitude is lacking. The main reason for this thread is to see how much of an issue it really is.

Wazmeister

Never heard of it genuinely, and I've owned Rickies for years...

kt66

Thanks Waz, does that include 12 string guitars? 

Wazmeister

kt66 said:

Thanks Waz, does that include 12 string guitars? 

It does indeed... here's mine

JezWynd

ICBM said:

The notorious 'tail lift' on the basses is another symptom of the same problem, it's the crap alloy they use for the castings of both parts. My old 4001 has it, as do almost all of them eventually.

The argument with basses is not if it happens but how much is acceptable. Wouldn't be hard to cure the problem but the one time they attempted it, people complained about the ugly extra screws. Tough crowd.

Wazmeister

kt66 said:

This mainly affects 12 strings, but heard of some 6 strings too
Please post if this has happened to you, I am trying to gauge the size of the problem.

thanks 

What model are you thinking of mate...?

kt66

It doesn't seem to affect any particular model, 620/12, 660/12, 330/12, 360/12 I have seen it happen to all. It has, thank god never happened to me.  I sold my 360/12 years ago, had it for 3 years no issues.  
It doesn't seem to affect 6 strings much.

p90fool

I get the impression it's a rare issue, but have read somewhere that you can't buy a new tailpiece until you've sent them the old one, which is a pain in the arse on a gigging guitar. 

OilCityPickups

My second most frequent pickup rewinds are on Ricks ... of all ages (first is Hofner 'staple' pickups). Here, there seems to be a basic reluctance to cure an obvious (and in this case invisible) design flaw on the part of Rickenbacker. It seems so be a similar case with bass bridges ... and probably some guitar bridges. 

thermionic

According to Wikipedia, they are made of a similar zinc alloy to cheap Strat tremolo blocks. Since I read that, I can't help wondering if one made of decent steel would make a difference to the sound. When I first got my 330, I was a little disappointed that it was "hollow" on the underside, and there wasn't as much metal there as I thought there was.

borntohang

Tends to be the black hardware models in my experience - something to do with the powder coating process. I've seen the tail lift on all colours of hardware though.

dannyboy82

TheGuitarWeasel said:

My second most frequent pickup rewinds are on Ricks ... of all ages (first is Hofner 'staple' pickups). Here, there seems to be a basic reluctance to cure an obvious (and in this case invisible) design flaw on the part of Rickenbacker.

Could you elaborate?, genuinely curious.

OilCityPickups

dannyboy82 said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

My second most frequent pickup rewinds are on Ricks ... of all ages (first is Hofner 'staple' pickups). Here, there seems to be a basic reluctance to cure an obvious (and in this case invisible) design flaw on the part of Rickenbacker.

Could you elaborate?, genuinely curious.

I'll post an article about my last Rick rewind with pics ... but in the meantime: Rickenbacker solder the super thin 44awg core wire to the tip of a brass screw that is simply driven through the bottom of the bobbin ... they don't insulate the joint, and they don't give it any strain relief. The coil start output wire is soldered to he other end of that screw, and often that causes the screw to be a bit loose in the plastic bobbin. The core solder joint is then buried in the centre of the windings so that if that delicate solder joint breaks or shorts ... it's game over, and a rewind is necessary. It's crude and sloppy design.

dannyboy82

Thanks for the informative reply. And I now know where to send mine if they suffer a similar fate!

OilCityPickups

dannyboy82 said:

Thanks for the informative reply. And I now know where to send mine if they suffer a similar fate!

When I rewind I put in a short strain relief link wire ... and then insulate the whole thing before winding. 

ICBM

TheGuitarWeasel said:

My second most frequent pickup rewinds are on Ricks ... of all ages (first is Hofner 'staple' pickups). Here, there seems to be a basic reluctance to cure an obvious (and in this case invisible) design flaw on the part of Rickenbacker. It seems so be a similar case with bass bridges ... and probably some guitar bridges. 

There is a great reluctance on the part of RIC (ie John Hall) to cure any of the reported problems with their instruments, despite them constantly tweaking the spec for some of the other things which don't need fixing. They simply will not accept outside input, no matter how well-founded or well-meant.

I love the instruments, and *some* aspects of the way the company does business - they're not Gibson, for example! - but I don't think they should be above criticism.

borntohang said:

Tends to be the black hardware models in my experience - something to do with the powder coating process. I've seen the tail lift on all colours of hardware though.

Not only black - my ex 360/12 was a chrome one.

But it is true that the black ones are more prone to failure - the chrome plating is actually part of the strength of the part by making the surface more rigid. But in my opinion this means that the material and/or dimensions of the casting are just too marginal for the purpose, if the plating is enough to make a significant difference.

SimpleSimon

Wazmeister said:

kt66 said:

Thanks Waz, does that include 12 string guitars? 

It does indeed... here's mine

Yours is one of those WB models... 'With binding' like a V64 but the R tailpiece and modern pups, what year is that? Does it have the twin outputs?

Wazmeister

SimpleSimon said:

Wazmeister said:

kt66 said:

Thanks Waz, does that include 12 string guitars? 

It does indeed... here's mine

Yours is one of those WB models... 'With binding' like a V64 but the R tailpiece and modern pups, what year is that? Does it have the twin outputs?

You got it !

It is a 360/WB and is a 1994 (year) model. The pick ups on this are superb... aggressive but very clear and chimey - different from my previous Ricks. It is a belter, and tuning is superb and stable.

It does have the twin outputs — ‘Rick O Sound’.

Ive added the gold TRC/scracthplate and vintage knobs.

(I much prefer the R tailpeice, which incidently, is affecting my current search for a 330). 

OilCityPickups

ICBM said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

My second most frequent pickup rewinds are on Ricks ... of all ages (first is Hofner 'staple' pickups). Here, there seems to be a basic reluctance to cure an obvious (and in this case invisible) design flaw on the part of Rickenbacker. It seems so be a similar case with bass bridges ... and probably some guitar bridges. 

There is a great reluctance on the part of RIC (ie John Hall) to cure any of the reported problems with their instruments, despite them constantly tweaking the spec for some of the other things which don't need fixing. They simply will not accept outside input, no matter how well-founded or well-meant.

Keeps me in regular rewind money ... rubs hands together .... shushhhhhhhh