The Steel Guitar Forum

Since I have been playing around with lap steel close to 8 years now and visiting this site for a good while I have seen or heard of very few post war Rickenbachers (A22 model). Are there just not that many out there? Would love to see some pics or just see how how many of these actually survived. Even when I Google post war Rickenbachers there are very few pictures. What's the story here?

They just never made that many, even before the War. When electric steels started to catch on in the mid '30s, Rickenbacker introduced the Bakelite Model B and promoted it over the Model A. The A didn't even appear in a lot of distributors' catalogs. After World War II, Rickenbacker focused increasingly on wood-bodied lap and console steels that were more en vogue.

1934 A22





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I am current caretaker of #0034, got it many years ago with the winning bid from an Auction house in Dallas TX. My most prized and played of my Richenbacher family.

I’ve got one, and I play regularly with two other steel players (we rotate on steel). All of us have a-22’s, although I mostly play a Bakelite. One of the guys has many frying pans. I think a lot of them ended up here in Hawaii.

Great pics guys!!! I am truly jealous

Loren,
Which do you prefer, sound-wise, the fry pan or the B-6?
Just curious, as I know you have a great sounding Bakelite...

It’s very slight, but I do like the slightly more dark and, to me, jazzy sound of the Bakelite. The old frying pans with the hollow neck have a certain chime to them that is perfect for a lot of the Hawaiian stuff with slack key guitar, especially with a lot of harmonics. It has a bit of airiness that no other steel guitar has, even the really good reproductions. The frying pan also seems to be better at blending in with other instruments in general, whereas the thicker sound of the Bakelite is more difficult to blend in.

I slightly prefer the thicker, mellower sound most days, but they both sound great and the sound actually isn’t the big reason for me choosing the Bakelite. I find the string spacing on the Bakelite more comfortable (slightly wider), and sometimes the frying pan is difficult to see where you are. At night with stage lights on you, either the frying pans or the early Bakelites that have no markings on the frets are more difficult to see. Visible frets help! So my favorite steel is a Bakelite that has the 1.5” magnet, input away from the player, fret lines, and has both volume and tone. That’s my main player. Put that on a deluxe 34 stand, plug it into a wide-panel fender tweed, and I am in heaven.

at first, i thought i should shine these up to match the others posted on this topic, but then realized i haven't washed my pickup lately either and, like B371 and B240 here, it too runs just fine.

aloha to all!