Rickenbacker
| Rickenbacker International Corporation
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|---|---|
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| legal form | privately run by an entrepreneur |
| founding | 1931 as Electro String Instrument Corporation by Adolph Rickenbacher and George Beauchamp |
| Seat | Santa Ana , CA 92707, USA |
| management | John Hall |
| Branch | Musical instrument manufacturer |
| Website | www.rickenbacker.com |
Rickenbacker is an American guitar brand. The company is one of the oldest manufacturers of electric guitars ( electric guitars ), this is where the electromagnetic pickup was invented. Their semi-acoustic guitars were made famous by the Beatles in the 1960s . In the 1970s, the Rickenbacker electric basses also became very popular. The Rickenbacker International Corporation (RIC) is the only one of the major US American guitar manufacturers that produces exclusively in the USA. The place of manufacture and headquarters is Santa Ana , California. The company is owned by company director John Hall.
history
The company was founded in 1931 as Electro String Instrument Corporation by Adolph Rickenbacher and George Beauchamp to sell electric Hawaiian guitars (lap steel guitars) designed by Beauchamp . These instruments, nicknamed the Frying Pan because of their long necks and round sound bodies , were the first electric guitars with a solid body, so-called solid body guitars. They had large pickups with a pair of horseshoe magnets that reached over the edge of the strings.
The Swiss Rickenbacher (who changed his name to Rickenbacker in order to avoid anti-German attitudes due to the world wars) concentrated on the production of Hawaiian guitars until the 1950s. The German guitar maker Roger Rossmeisl was one of the employees in these years . With the beginning success of rock 'n' roll , there was a reorientation towards standard guitars, both for acoustic and electric models. In 1953 Adolph Rickenbacher sold his company to FC Hall, whose son still owns the company today.
In 1956 Rickenbacker introduced two instruments with the so-called neck through body construction . This construction should become a trademark. These were the models Combo 400 guitar and Model 4000 bass.
In 1958 Rickenbacker brought his “Capri” series onto the market, and this series also included a semi-acoustic model with a double cutaway , from which the famous 300 series later emerged. In 1960, the then unknown John Lennon bought a Rickenbacker 325 in Hamburg , which he played throughout the Beatles' early years. In 1963 George Harrison bought a 425, but preferred to play mainly his Gretsch Country Gent . In 1964, Rickenbacker developed a twelve-string guitar whose novel arrangement of the tuning mechanism made it possible to attach all twelve pegs to a normal-sized headstock. The second instrument ever built of this model 360/12 was given to George Harrison. Harrison used the 360/12 extensively in 1964 and 1965. The influence on the sound of the Beatles can be seen on the albums A Hard Day's Night and Help! easy to recognize, for example in the opening chord of the song A Hard Day's Night . Almost all electric guitars from Rickenbacker are characterized by a bright, overtone-rich sound ("jingle jangle sound") that cannot be achieved in this form with guitars from other manufacturers, especially when a VOX AC30 tube amplifier is connected. This combination of Rickenbacker and VOX AC30 is considered by many guitarists to be optimal for bringing out the strengths of a Rickenbacker.
The Model 4000 was the first Rickenbacker electric bass . The model 4000 was followed by the very popular model 4001 (1961), model 4002 (1977), model 4003 (approx. 1980) and finally the model 4004. These basses (in addition to the Fender basses ) were dominant in rock music of the 1970s and 1970s 1980s. Copies were offered by a Japanese manufacturer under the brand name Fresher .
In 1984 FC Hall handed the company over to his son John Hall and his wife Cindalee, and since then the company has been called "Rickenbacker International Corporation (RIC)".
Rickenbacker sound
Rickenbacker basses of the 4000 series (in contrast to the 3000 series) have a continuous neck and not a screwed-in neck, as was common at the time. This has a decisive influence on the sustain and the sound of the instrument. In addition, Rickenbacker basses have an unusual scale length of 84.5 cm (33¼ inches), which also contributes to the unique sound and the special playability.
Many Rickenbacker guitars and basses are the so-called "Rick-O-Sound" - Stereo equipped jack, making it possible to connect the different pickups of the instrument to different effects units or amplifiers. Chris Squire is known for this , who picked up the neck pickup of his bass with a normal bass amplifier, but the bridge pickup with an amplifier for electric guitars.
Known users
Rickenbacker guitars quickly became very popular with rock musicians of the 1960s. These include John Lennon and George Harrison from The Beatles , Roger McGuinn from The Byrds and Pete Townshend from The Who . John Kay ( Steppenwolf ) played the model 381 , which came on the market in 1968 and was available again in a limited edition from March 1987. In the early 1970s, guitars went out of fashion, but Rickenbacker basses remained very popular. Paul McCartney, for example, played his Rickenbacker bass, which was specially built for left-handers, until the 1980s. In later years guitarists like Tom Petty , Mike Campbell , Paul Weller of The Jam , Johnny Marr of The Smiths , Per Gessle of Roxette , Marty Willson-Piper of The Church , Peter Buck of REM , Sergio Pizzorno of Kasabian and Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles expressed their preference for Rickenbacker instruments. On the live DVD of Britpop band Coldplay , Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland play a guitar of this brand. During the 99 Revolutions Tour, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day also played a Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar on several occasions .
Some of the most famous bass players who play or played a Rickenbacker bass brand include John Entwistle from The Who , Roger Waters from Pink Floyd , Mike Rutherford from Genesis , Chris Squire from Yes , Geddy Lee from Rush , Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead , Roger Glover by Deep Purple , Steve Priest from The Sweet , Hellmut Hattler from Kraan , Cliff Burton from Metallica , Joey DeMaio from Manowar and Carl-Johan Fogelklou from Mando Diao .
literature
- Tony Bacon: The Rickenbacker Book - A Complete History of Rickenbacker Electric Guitars . GPI-Books, San Francisco 1994, ISBN 0-87930-329-8 .
- Richard R. Smith: The History of Rickenbacker Guitars . Centerstream Publ., Fullerton, CA 1987, ISBN 0-931759-15-3 .
Web links
- Rickenbacker International Corporation
- Björn Eriksson's Rickenbacker Page
- Official website of German sales
Individual evidence
- ↑ private property
- ↑ Website Rickenbacker History (English)
- ↑ Rossmeisl
- ↑ 1953 sold to FC Hall
- ^ Since 1984 "Rickenbacker International Corporation"
- ↑ Guitar & Lute. 9, 3, 1988, p. 50 (press release)