Rickenbacher Manufacturing Company

Harry Sheppard · Post by **Harry Sheppard** » 21 Jul 2014 8:18 am

Anyone willing to take a guess at what this is? I have read that Rickenbacher made other bakelite products and this could be one. The chrome cover looks very much like a Dobro cover plate. Prewar?

Mike D · Post by **Mike D** » 21 Jul 2014 10:00 am

Rickenbacker did lots of things other than guitars back in those days. They were first associated with National/Dobro when they were contracted to stamp the bodies for resonator guitars. Pretty cool little item.

http://www.rickenbacker.com/history_early.asp

Larry G. Allen · Post by **Larry G. Allen** » 21 Jul 2014 11:19 am

Hey Harry..my wife was a 30 yr resident of Kalispell ! Ever hang out at the Library ?

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 22 Jul 2014 4:48 am

OK? What is it? Looks like a cross between a fruit bowl and a patio drain.

Harry Sheppard · Post by **Harry Sheppard** » 22 Jul 2014 6:06 am

I have no idea what it is. I just thought it was cool looking and it was made by Rickenbacher.

Larry, I spend a lot of time at the Library. In fact they just remodeled it.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 22 Jul 2014 7:35 am

Harry,
Since we're on the subject of Kalispell, did you know an old classmate of mine who lived there before moving to Alaska: Jim Sellen?

Peter Jacobs · Post by **Peter Jacobs** » 22 Jul 2014 8:07 am

Prototype ashtray? The production version plugged up those holes at the bottom...

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 22 Jul 2014 8:09 am

I don't know what it is, but I want one.

Harry Sheppard · Post by **Harry Sheppard** » 22 Jul 2014 8:34 am

Erv, Don't know Jim Sellen.

Mark, It's on ebay. I have nothing to do with the auction.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/191255687095

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 22 Jul 2014 9:02 am

A salad spinner with the internal parts missing?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 22 Jul 2014 11:02 am

Thanks, Harry

Peter den Hartogh · Post by **Peter den Hartogh** » 22 Jul 2014 11:22 am

It is a hotplate for a teapot.That is why the top plate is flat.
Small candle goes in the middle and the holes are for airflow.

Sam White · Post by **Sam White** » 22 Jul 2014 5:28 pm

It has to be for a Dobro.i bet it will sound great.
Sam White

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 23 Jul 2014 3:27 pm

Thats pretty cool

My best guess is that Peter is correct, some sort of warmer.

Raymond Jones · Post by **Raymond Jones** » 24 Jul 2014 7:26 am

My age is showing. Long before the modern spray air fresheners there was Potpourri. Made up of dried flowers, leaves and spices that smelled good, they needed a container that had air flow to spread the aroma into the air. It's my guess that is what you are looking at. And I'm sticking with it - cheers - FUN!! Ray

Steve Schell · Post by **Steve Schell** » 24 Jul 2014 6:38 pm

Fascinating piece! My guess is that it was some sort of hand out or salesman sample, demonstrating the tool making, Bakelite forming and metal stamping skills of Rickenbacher (prewar spelling) Manufacturing Company. All of these skills were of course employed in abundance in the products of Ro Pat In, National, and later Rickenbacker guitars.

Question: does anyone know if Rickenbacher made parts for Dobro as well as National? The design of the lid on this whatchamacallit is obviously derived from the Dobro coverplate. Do you suppose that Adolph made the bodies for the fiddle edge Dobros?

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 27 Jul 2014 2:45 pm

Not knowing the dimensions of the piece, it appears like it could be some kind of drain stop with one or more additional parts that have since gone missing. From a school locker room shower, perhaps?

The late Bob Brozman volunteered the following information to me many years ago. As his story went, apparently Adolph Rickenbacher owned the biggest punch presses in Southern California in the mid-twenties. He used them primarily for subcontracting body parts to a long-ago defunct West Coast automobile manufacturer.

The Rickenbacher Manufacturing Company got its start in the guitar business by stamping out the metal panels for the Dopyera Brothers to solder into Tricone bodies for their National String Instrument Company. (Wouldn't it be something if Rickenbacher also stamped out parts for Crocker Motorcycles, thus establishing a Bigsby connection, as well?)

Rickenbacher Manufacturing most likely also stamped out the cover plates, tailpieces, etc. for the Dopyera's later wooden-bodied instruments (Dobros).

RMC also posessed the machinery to mold early thermosetting resins (aka Bakelite), and produced a wide variety of consumer products such as kitchenware and toothbrushes.

The activities involved in heading up a thriving industrial manufacturing business had made Mr. Rickenbacher an extremely wealthy individual long before he ever knew one end of an electric guitar from the other.

Almost certainly Paul Barth and George Beauchamp had been well-acquainted with Adolph, who was many years their senior, for years and years before they split from the Dopyeras to join up with Rick and found the Ro-Pat-In Company to manufacture "Electro" guitars.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 27 Jul 2014 2:49 pm

From the Ebay page:

Itâ€™s 6 3/4â€ across the top and 2 3/4â€ tall.

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Rickenbacher Manufacturing Company

Rickenbacher Manufacturing Company

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