How to date a Rickenbacker

Nathan Laudenbach · Post by **Nathan Laudenbach** » 26 Dec 2015 6:07 am

I'm sure more than one person here on the forum can answer this question for me. At my work we have a double neck Rickenbacher, with two bakelite necks and a very heavy and deep cast metal body. No serial number I can see. The pickups are 1 and 1/4", and Rickenbacher is spelled with an H. How old is this thing?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 26 Dec 2015 8:20 am

I'm not expert but with an H in the spelling it would be prior to WW2.

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 26 Dec 2015 8:42 am

Pictures would help a lot, even blurry phone camera shots.

Nathan Laudenbach · Post by **Nathan Laudenbach** » 26 Dec 2015 8:59 am

I guess the horse shoe pickup changed from 1 and 1/2" to 1 and 1/4" before the spelling of Rickenbacher changed.

Kirk Francis · Post by **Kirk Francis** » 26 Dec 2015 12:40 pm

Nathan Laudenbach wrote:I guess the horse shoe pickup changed from 1 and 1/2" to 1 and 1/4" before the spelling of Rickenbacher changed.

that's my understanding.

Bill Creller · Post by **Bill Creller** » 27 Dec 2015 8:48 am

Good luck looking for an actual date. Seems like a decade is as close as we can get, like pre-war or post-war.....

Rich Gardner · Post by **Rich Gardner** » 27 Dec 2015 9:30 am

I've bought many Rickenbackers over the years, but I never tried to date one.javascript:emoticon(':D')

Bud Angelotti · Post by **Bud Angelotti** » 28 Dec 2015 4:36 am

Nate -If you are up for pulling a pickup, there could be newspaper inside, with a date. You would then know it's made close to or after that date.

Nathan Laudenbach · Post by **Nathan Laudenbach** » 28 Dec 2015 6:40 am

Thank you everyone for your responses and information.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 28 Dec 2015 7:43 am

The newspaper bit is only for the hollow, metal bodied Rickenbachers.

Randy Reeves · Post by **Randy Reeves** » 28 Dec 2015 7:47 am

just be careful of the thin wire. the paper is old and brittle. I got lucky and found the date right off.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 28 Dec 2015 5:58 pm

Does it look like this ... "T-Logo" ....

They call them "ol'uglys" ... It's circa '46-'49 ...very fine instruments

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 28 Dec 2015 6:04 pm

This is a prewar D-14 ... Very rare ...

Circa 1938 ...

Bill Creller · Post by **Bill Creller** » 28 Dec 2015 7:41 pm

That's the first pic I've ever seen of a pre-war one....didn't know they existed !

Nathan Laudenbach · Post by **Nathan Laudenbach** » 29 Dec 2015 7:08 am

Rick Aiello wrote:Does it look like this ... "T-Logo" ....

They call them "ol'uglys" ... It's circa '46-'49 ...very fine instruments

Ya it looks like this, only it's a double 8 and it has a deeper body. Like the one in the Leon McAuliffe instrument collection pic.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 29 Dec 2015 10:10 am

They call them "ol'uglys"

Yes... I had one of those D-16's and a musician friend of mine called it "Big Ugly".

Roy McKinney · Post by **Roy McKinney** » 29 Dec 2015 1:52 pm

Back to the original post, I have a Ricky panda 8 string with no serial number on it. It has the 1 1/2" pickup and the "T" logo. Anyone know how to date it?

Stefan Robertson · Post by **Stefan Robertson** » 29 Dec 2015 4:10 pm

Best way is carry it in to your local music store expert.

Tell them you want to sell it for $100 online on eBay. Then wait for the history lesson or the scumbag offer.

No seriously just PM Brad our forum moderator is super knowledgable as well and if he doesn't know he knows the exact forum person/people who do.

Good luck

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 29 Dec 2015 6:46 pm

Roy McKinney wrote:Back to the original post, I have a Ricky panda 8 string with no serial number on it. It has the 1 1/2" pickup and the "T" logo. Anyone know how to date it?

Post war necks had no serial numbers ... "T Logo" was used circa '46-'49 as previously stated ...

The whole idea of a bolt on neck (2 bolts) were to allow replacements on units that suffered a break ...

If you have a 1.5" pickup ... The body was prewar ...

All post war bodies had their integrated bridge filed off ... To allow for the 1.25" with its surround and tailpiece ...

So your body is prewar ... You can look on my site for clues about the age of the body ... And the neck is postwar ...

http://www.horseshoemagnets.com/_sgg/m6m5_1.htm

You'll be hard pressed to find better info ...

Just trying to help

Roy McKinney · Post by **Roy McKinney** » 29 Dec 2015 6:51 pm

Thanks for the info from all of you. I will follow up on this information.