Rickenbacker 1930's Chrome Body

Calvin Greenwood · Post by **Calvin Greenwood** » 28 Nov 2020 9:52 am

Can anyone tell me how good a sound the Rickenbacker chrome 30's horseshoe pickup is? Is it noisy with hum, gnarly with distortion? I do like to play Delta blues so the chrome body should be a major plus. How thick is the chrome? Thanks in advance!

David Ball · Post by **David Ball** » 28 Nov 2020 2:25 pm

I've played blues on a Rick model 59 (same pickup, but lacking the height adjustment screws and painted instead of chrome), and it can scream. Best blues guitar I've had. Not noisy, and hum depends on where you are, but in general all of that metal seems to shield the pickup better than wood bodies do. Mine has always had less hum than other single coil guitars I've had.

Mine has a pretty hot pickup and can get anywhere from a smooth clean sound to a gnarly distorted sound depending on what you feed it into.

Seems to be a lot of variation between pickups on the old Ricks (I've had a bunch of them, and they've been up and down). But I think a lot of that comes from needing to remag the horseshoes on some guitars.

Anyway, the old metal bodied Ricks can be great blues machines.

Dave

Calvin Greenwood · Post by **Calvin Greenwood** » 29 Nov 2020 12:44 pm

Thank you Dave. Appreciated!

Ian McLatchie · Post by **Ian McLatchie** » 29 Nov 2020 4:34 pm

The Rickenbacher Silver Hawaiian is actually plated with nickel rather than chrome and the body may be either steel or brass (you can check with a magnet). They're wonderful instruments. I've had a steel-bodied one for almost thirty years. It has a remarkably mellow tone but overdriven through a tube amp is truly the nastiest sounding lap steel I've ever heard. I've also owned both the Model 59 (prewar) and NS (postwar) steel-bodied, enamel-finish instruments, which sound very different from the Silver Hawaiian, much less resonant and with less sustain. As David said, not all horseshoes sound equally good, but a remag will bring most back to life.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 30 Nov 2020 8:32 am

The 1937 Rickenbacher Silver Hawaiian in my avatar does not hum and it is the LOUDEST pickup you will ever find. I have a '57 Gibson console steel with original PAF humbuckers and when I change over to my SH I have to turn the amp down considerably. I play clean styles only but I'm sure it would be fantastic for driving a tube amp into distortion. The tone is really full and fat, unlike the scooped, sometimes thin sounding Fenders.