George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacher based Electro String in 1931 to fabricate what everybody would quickly name “Rickenbacker” guitars. Success got here early and their lap steels set requirements of high quality, efficiency, and tone. Alternatively, the corporate’s electrical bass viols and violins excited segments of the trade however by no means offered effectively. Identical for the novel Bakelite customary guitars. Whereas it’s true Rickenbacker set the stage for contemporary electrical guitars, after World Battle II, the corporate languished as others, like Fender, capitalized on them.

F.C. Corridor, who was a accomplice with Fender Gross sales, knew the market effectively. When he purchased Electro String in 1953, he instantly began remaking it, and shortly, everybody would name the corporate “Rickenbacker.”

Adolph Rickenbacher had come to guitars with a background in industrial arts. He preferred to work with solid aluminum, Bakelite, and stamped metallic, which led to most of the firm’s early improvements, but additionally restricted its designs. Corridor moved the manufacturing unit towards finely crafted wooden, the more-traditional guitar materials for good purpose – it labored higher.

The solidbody Combo guitars and 4000 basses adopted, however had solely restricted success. The latter’s neck-through-body would show to be the opposite option to make solidbody basses (in contrast with Fender’s). Although the concept would later promote within the hundreds and affect quite a few high-end builders, no person knew that in 1957.

Rickenbacker’s ultimate break with the ’30s got here when Paul Barth left the corporate and Corridor employed grasp builder Roger Rossmeisl.

A German useful with a French curve, he revamped the solidbody line and created the brand new acoustic/electrical Capri Sequence. In visible phrases, Rossmeisl’s guitars had been among the many most-appealing electrics ever produced.

By ’58, Rickenbacker produced each Deluxe and Commonplace double-cutaway acoustic/electrical fashions.  The Deluxe 360 and 370 had triangle-shaped fretboard inlays, sure necks, and sure our bodies. Furthermore, they got here with a Rick-O-Sound jack after mid 1960; connected with a particular junction field, it divided sign from the pickups to supply a quasi-stereo impact by way of two amplifiers. The usual fashions 330 and 340 had dot inlays and no bindings.  The three/4-sized 310, 315, 320, and 325 had Commonplace options, as effectively (Rickenbacker designated vibrato with a 5 because the final digit in a mannequin quantity).

By ’63, Corridor should have been annoyed, having created all these lovely six-strings, but he nonetheless had no blockbuster. The 360 and 365 offered effectively, however not like Fenders and Gibsons, which had the solidbody market locked tight. Whereas Danelectro and Gibson did end up earlier 12-strings, Corridor nonetheless sensed an untapped market. A Rickenbacker, he believed, had potential if designed accurately and performed by musicians searching for a brand new sound. Since Rossmeisl had by then moved to Fender, Ward Deaton developed concepts on the manufacturing unit, together with what would turn out to be Ric’s extremely regarded headstock design. Crowded however with simply sufficient room to show simply, 12 closed-back Klusons had been snuggled.

Three 12-string prototypes had been made – two 360/12s and a solidbody 625/12. A listing sheet mentions a back-ordered 360F/12 (single-cut), however there isn’t a proof the manufacturing unit made it. The corporate displayed the primary 360/12 on the ’63 summer time commerce exhibits. It had gold-backed Lucite pickguards, TV-style management knobs, and a double-bound Fireglo physique. The flat tailpiece resembled these on different non-vibrato Capri fashions. Triangle fretboard inlays and an unbound slash-shaped sound gap rounded out the design. Like all of 360 Deluxe fashions made after June of 1960, the 12-string usually had Rick-O-Sound stereo. The primary prototype went to Suzi Arden, a rustic/western lounge singer in Las Vegas.

The second 360/12 additionally sported a double-bound physique with a Fireglo end, slash sound gap, triangle inlays, and a flat tailpiece. However whereas Arden’s guitar had typical stringing, by the top of ’63, Corridor had devised a novel option to make his 12-string play simpler and sound much more distinctive – he reversed the normal string setup. The twelfth string grew to become the low E and the eleventh string grew to become the octave. Strumming down, the lower-pitch string was hit earlier than its octave counterpart. For the reason that second prototype was the primary with this stringing, Corridor at all times known as it the primary Rickenbacker 12-string. The manufacturing unit additionally substituted double-white pickguards and black management knobs for the sooner Lucite guards and TV knobs. This guitar went to George Harrison in February ’64.

Rounding out the saga of ’63 prototypes, the primary 625/12 traveled to some commerce exhibits, however Rickenbacker made a more-economical solidbody 450/12 as an alternative. Within the ’70s, Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers purchased the unique 625/12 used for $125, having no thought what he’d discovered. Petty holds the guitar on the duvet of Rattling the Torpedoes, which sparked a 12-string revival and pushed the 625/12 into manufacturing.

Again within the ’60s, although, whereas the primary 625/12 was nonetheless in limbo, Harrison made good use of the 360/12 on “You Can’t Do That,” “A Exhausting Day’s Night time,” and “Eight Days a Week.” Actually, nobody at Rickenbacker fearful in regards to the subsequent huge factor for awhile. Due to elevated demand, the manufacturing unit (by then located in Santa Ana) might barely sustain. The 12-strings grew to become manufacturing gadgets, although the options remained in flux by way of the summer time. The 360/12 displayed on the ’64 NAMM present had white pickguards, a double-bound physique, triangle inlays, and an f-shaped sound gap. Its flat tailpiece and controls had been the identical as George’s earlier mannequin, however the present guitar had chrome-top knobs.

In ’63, a brand new physique design for the Fashions 360 to 375 hit the drawing boards. The manufacturing unit shipped the primary identified instance, a Mannequin 365, on June 1, 1964. The brand new kind featured rounded edges on the face. Corridor described the look in a press launch, saying, “The sleek roundness avoids all that’s harsh and yields flowing traces for easy, straightforward taking part in.” The brand new design didn’t enable for binding on the highest/entrance edge. As a substitute, sure sound holes grew to become customary. All different Deluxe options remained.

360/12 fashions made after the summer time of ’64 had the brand new physique fashion, which used a solid/chrome-plated R tailpiece. An absence of this half delayed manufacturing for a number of weeks. Roger McGuinn, after seeing the Beatles in A Exhausting Day’s Night time, purchased one of many first off the rack and later had the manufacturing unit add a center pickup and particular wiring (three-pickup fashions had been within the 370 sequence). In the meantime, Rickenbacker struck a deal to supply an export line for England’s Rose, Morris Ltd.

The export line, with its personal numbering scheme and options, rapidly caught on with British Invasion teams. Pete Townshend perfected his guitar-smashing abilities with the 12-string Mannequin 1993. It sported a double-bound physique, f-shaped sound gap, and dot inlays. The manufacturing unit outfitted it with a flat tailpiece and a mixer management.

After the introduction of the new-style 360/12 and the Rose-Morris 1993, the manufacturing unit nonetheless made quite a lot of the old-style double-bound 12-strings for the home market. This included a number of guitars similar to the Rose-Morris – the American model was the 330S/12. On the double-bound 360/12, the manufacturing unit added the suffix O.S. (previous fashion). Later, this modified to “WBBS” (white binding each side) after which simply WB, as in 360/12WB.  

The usual finishes for Rick 12-strings had been Fireglo and Mapleglo (pure), each remnants of Rossmeisl’s reign. Manufacturing facility invoices described a brand new “lighter shade of Fireglo” in late ’64, and the opposite colours listed had been customary for all Rickenbacker guitars in ’68 – Azureglo, Jetglo, and Burgundyglo. Although not listed, different finishes from this era included orange, shaded blue, shaded inexperienced, walnut, and cherry pink. Like Fender and Gibson, the manufacturing unit painted customized colours at an additional value. Satin finishes had been obtainable starting within the mid ’70s.

It has been six many years since Rickenbacker’s crystalline 12-string overtones first crammed the airwaves. Outdated but new, these guitars have turn out to be an important a part of post-modern guitar taking part in wherein one of the best sounds of various many years mix to create the sounds of right now. Ricks, particularly the 12-strings, nonetheless play a key function in defining tone and design in a manner George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacher by no means might have imagined. Pioneers, they set the stage for contemporary electrical guitars, and F.C. Corridor stood on their shoulders.

The unique model of this characteristic appeared within the February ’01 difficulty.

This text initially appeared in VG’s April 2025 difficulty. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.