Ibanez Rickenbacker Copy - Bridge replacement

[Spinal Tapper]

Now that's a decent bridge!

yeah, I sure don't think it's going to snap in half like the last one!

 

[Kaa]

Looked to me like the original bridge was just made from pot metal that finall just gave up the ghost. That new bridge looks sweet.

I think it looks better than the Ric design. Cleaner.

 

[Abner]

Programmed obsolescence. The suits at Ibanez planned for all these bridges to fail exactly after 35 years. They sure don't make em like they used too.

Uh oh... my Ibanezezezes were made in 1980, '82 and '83. I only have 3 years left?

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

Looks great!

 

[Spinal Tapper]

Thanks for the kind words!

Oh yeah, "pot metal" that's the term I was looking for...aka cheapest junk metal anyone could put together

 

[BassTa EBE]

Many thanx for your helpful hints and explanations. For me it was unbelievable that this could be caused by fatigue of material, but now by having disassembled the tailpiece, I’ve got the answer. There’s a crack over the whole width of the slot fort he bridge, so that the rest of the material on the left and right side could lift up. The replacement offered by rickenbacker http://www.allparts.com/Rickenbacker-Bridge-and-Tailpiece-p/bb-0316-010.htm seems not quite the same (fixation | Slot in the corpus for the tailpiece ...). So I prefer to rearrange the old piece. I guess it is made of alpaca / nickel silver. So after flattening the whole thing we will try to braze the crack.
I took photos and made a scribble of the main pieces, to check out, if a suitable replacement is available. So if somebody knows , I’m very thanful for every hint.

 

[BassTa EBE]

Some more pics