The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi, I know that Rick Aiello is THE source for new Rickenbacher horseshoe pick-ups,
but on his site it says he is not taking any orders for now.

Is there another manufacturer of these things? Any help appreciated...

From what I understand, Rickenbacker owns the patent on these pickups and would be the only legal source for such pickups.

Rickenbacker refuses to let anyone manufacture anything like a horseshoe.

Actually... I may have some great news for you. If you are looking for a good horseshoe pickup you can contact Jason Lollar. I am presently on a waiting list for one of these babies. As I understand it the Aiello horseshoe pickup you are asking about was made in collaboration with Jason. I have already bought one of Jason's pickups and I have to say it is the best sounding pickup I have ever heard. I am told that the horseshoe pickups are the most coveted and so that's what I am after next. The horseshoe is not currently advertised on his site, however, if you drop him a line you may still be able to get on that waiting list I mentioned...

Many thanks to all involved, especially J.Wilson for the good news. Mail was sent to Jason Lollar

so what is it? ric does or doesn't allow others to make horseshoe pickups?? ...but lollar and aiello make them???

i notice the rickenbacker site doesn't list horseshoe pickups.

Well you can get them in limited runs through Lollar if you are in the right place at the right time. Not sure why Aeillo is no longer making them for the moment... and I am not aware of any legal issues around the replicas. I think I read here somewhere that the Aiello/Lollar design uses alnico magnets -- and these are different than the originals... so maybe there are no legal issues because of the modifications. I am not much of a scientist or lawyer, so I leave this to more able minds...

There is alot of confusion about what happened.
there is no patent on horseshoe pickups- patents are only good for 10 years and this was patented in the 1930's.
There could be some legal confusion- suppose you got a trademark on the looks of the horseshoe but anyone with legal experience will tell you that you can not trademark something that was once patented or something that serves a functional purpose like you cant trademark a wheel or a tire- you can trademark a logo on a tire or the look of a hubcap but you cant trademark the hubcap itself- the functional part. If you did get a trademark it would be because the office that issued it didnt do thier homework and it wouldnt stand up. alot of companies try to trademark items they had patented- this is called perpetual patents- google it. Its a monopoly which is illegal- its the old anti trust laws. The government gives you a limited monopoly when you patent something to encourage people to invent new things but beyond that its considered unfair trade practices- good old fashioned USA commerce policies that have worked for years if people follow the rules.
The horseshoes Rick A made for me were originally made of a solid piece of an alloy, later on rick came up with a laminated shoe that had neodymium magnets laminated between steel.
Rick did a great job- I never envied how much work it took to make a horseshoe by hand one at a time from scratch- I never had time to do it myself- I now have a stamp that will bend them and the consistancy of results is nearly impossible to get by hand.
Rick is still the only guy I know to pour fry pans out of aluminum in his back yard!

I've read that patents expire 20 years after the filing date, not 10.

I think that this is the patent for the Richenbacher pickup, as part of the frypan guitar.

Jason Lollar wrote:I now have a stamp that will bend them and the consistancy of results is nearly impossible to get by hand.

Thanks for the info Jason! Really looking forward to getting one. Cheers!

All of Jason's pickups are the best you can get.

I've got a laminated 'shoe on my CruzTone 8 string that I believe was a collaboration between Rick & Jason 4 or 5 years ago and now it's the best sounding instrument of it's kind I've ever heard.

Bob you are corrct- its 20 years but it starts from the time you file so by the time you get the official patent it can vary.
Thanks Michael!

Jason Lollar wrote:The horseshoes Rick A made for me were originally made of a solid piece of an alloy, later on rick came up with a laminated shoe that had neodymium magnets laminated between steel.

Rick did a great job- I never envied how much work it took to make a horseshoe by hand one at a time from scratch- I never had time to do it myself- I now have a stamp that will bend them and the consistency of results is nearly impossible to get by hand.

Jason:

So are you making or selling the horseshoe pickups, or just rewinding and recharging them? I only see the rewind/recharges on your site.

Rick is still the only guy I know to pour fry pans out of aluminum in his back yard!

And people said I was crazy when I started saving aluminum foil in a ball which is now 6 feet in diameter. Vindication after all of these years!





Thanks!

Steve Ahola

I just had the pick-up for my B8 rewound by Jim Rolph. It sounds great to me but I will let Ray Montee be the judge. I hope to show him the instrument in a couple of weeks. As for Rickenbacker, if you read their forum, it seems parts for their instruments are hard to come by especially pick-ups. Thanks to Jason Lollar for becoming a source to acquire one. Paul

Jason's magnets look great, and like he said, they come out perfect by machine stamping.
And of course, he has the nice coil windings to go with them. All my pickup coils come from him.
All Bobby Ingano's frypans have Lollar pickup coils in them, and my magnets, (made the hard way!!)

Cole clarke guitars here in Melbourne Australia make a couple of Lap Steels with replica Horseshoe pickups ,maybe contact them and see if you can just purchase a pickup they look dead ringers for a Ricky Pickup. Cheers Kelvin