Rickenbacker is one of the oldest and still active guitar manufacturers and is based in Santa Ana, California. Adolf Rickenbacher was born in Switzerland in 1886 and emigrated to the United States at young age with some family members in 1891. In 1931 he founded the company 'ElectRo-Patent-Instruments' together with the American inventor George Beauchamp. They specialized in the construction of electric steel guitars until the 1950s. Soon the name of the company was changed to 'Rickenbacker Manufacturing Company'. Adolph also had his last name changed to Rickenbacker, because a German name was not very popular at the time. Beauchamp obtained an American patent on an electric guitar in 1934. The first model was called the Frying Pan, because it did reminded of this kitchen attribute. Also see History Rickenbacker Frying Pan. In the mid-1950s, the company switched to producing acoustic and electric standard guitars. Rickenbacker was the first company to successfully market electric guitars. The 'neck through body' was introduced in 1956. This became a standard feature of all following Rickenbacker models. The first guitars in which this 'neck through body' construction was applied, were the Combo were 400 and 4000 bass. In 1958 Rickenbacker introduced the 'Capri series', later known as the 300 series. | In 1964 Rickenbacker developed an electric twelve-string guitar with an exceptional construction. A tuner system was used with extra tuning mechanisms at the back of the headstock for the six extra strings. Also unique was the string converter from Rickenbacker, which was introduced in 1966. Six strings were pulled down by a lever and pressed against the frets. Because of their many years of experience with innovative sound techniques combined with beautiful designs, will ensure that Rickenbacker guitars remain popular for many years by collectors and guitarists. George Beauchamp and Adolf Rickenbacker |
Patent numbers Various patent numbers were added to the models between 1960 and 1977. These were stamped in the headstock under the Fender logo. | Example: PAT, 2,573,254 2,968,204 3,143,028 2,976,755 DES 187304 2,573,254 for pickup and bridge combination. 2,968,204 for the single coil pickup patent awarded in 1961 under other for Jaguar, Stratocaster, Duosonic. 3,143,028 the patent granted in August 1964 for Fender's adjustable neck construction. 2,976,755 for the split coil pickup design. (Used since 1957 to the Precision Bass) The DES is the serial number. |