first year model b help

[rfu]

Good day all,
I have a B model that is missing some of the stainless covers for the body cavities. The first question is regarding attaching the covers. It looks like the covers close to the neck may have been glued down and not screwed on to the body; has anyone seen this before? The one cover I have has no screw holes, so I thought it may be a replacement that someone fabricated. Upon closer examination, it appears the holes in the body have never been screwed into before. Is it possible the covers that would not have to be removed were glued instead of screwed? The follow up would have to be resources for the other two plates. All else is amazing on this instrument so I am psyched to get her going again.

[admin]

Roget: While we are waiting for Richard's Appraisal, can you upload some nice closeup photos of your Model B.

[rfu]

I hope this helps. More photos available if needed.

[rshatz]

That's a very early model.
I've never heard of or seen an instrument like that.
Is there a serial number imprinted on the top of the headstock?

[rfu]

Very early
C42

[rfu]

I found side plates on a slightly different version that appears to not have screws on the forward covers. All help is greatly appreciated..

[rshatz]

That is not a lap steel. It is a Model B Spanish and is considered to be the first production
Spanish style electric guitar produced.

[rfu]

The last photo was just to try and find other models that may have cover plates not screwed down.
I also notice my neck ends with the frets running completely across the neck, most others I have seen have the last frets not reaching the treble side.
I put up other photos if anyone can help.
http://web.mac.com/rfu/iWeb/A0AA82E6-F2 ... %20B6.html

[radioactive]

I have a number of pre-war Bakelites and have not run across any that has the body plates affixed in that manner without any screw.
It looks like a rarity of sorts.
Are you sure of the serial number? Looks like it might be a B series to me, maybe B 642? One of my early bakelites is B 619, and it has the plates affixed in the standard way.

[rfu]

Thanks for the reply,
The "C" appears to be stamped incorrectly and in the photo that looks like some dirt above it that makes it look like a "6". But its good to know that some bakelites come with just a B serial number; I learn more and more about these everyday. I am going to stop by Phil Petillo's, a luthier who made one of my guitars, today to get his opinion on these things. I believe he made a custom neck for a bakelite once.

[radioactive]

Is it my imagination or in your photo is there a "B" on the edge of your instrument's headstock to the left of the other digits? Correct me if I'm wrong but I beleive the letter designates the year that the instrument was made, I've read that "B" stands for 1935. So your serial number is a "C" series instrument?

[rfu]

Its all news to me. 95% of what I know of this instrument is from the fine folks who have contacted me from this forum. I will clean up the headstock and take another photo when I can. It looks like it is marked B C( laying on its back) 43. The glued on front plates made me also think it was very early. I'm pretty sure I have seen another with a BC stamp before. But again I am taking the word of the devoted bunch here as I am just a player.

[rshatz]

Rob, Roget,
I couldn't really make out the S/N, but this is getting pretty interesting. Here's what I think is known.
The only thing that is truly known about prewar Rick S/Ns is that nothing is truly reliable with regards to dating production year. It is thought by many that the numbering system was sequential. Therefore, the lower the number the earlier the production date. This is reasonably well verified based on features that were known to have appeared at various stages of production like finish and/or the shape, number and placement of control knobs.
I've been collecting Rick lap steels for almost 20yrs and the only prewar model I have seen or heard of with a B prefix S/N is the later frypan.
All the Model B s/n that I've seen or heard of have C prefixes.
This is the first time I've ever heard of a two letter prefix. The only ones I've seen had a single letter followed by digits or digits only. That's not to say that it doesn't exist. A clearer photo would be helpful.
Has anyone else seen or own a Model B with a BC s/n prefix? If so, that will add another series to begin learning about.

[rfu]

OK here is another photo. I will go with Rob's view that it is B 642. I thought that I needed to have a C stamp on the neck. Funny thing about photography is that it still looks like a C with the naked eye. Making the plates would be so much easier with some other plates as a template. Anyone in NJ want to let Phil use some plates as templates for my new ones?

[radioactive]

That's 23 away from the B model I posted above, which is B 619. Now one of the other model Bakelites i own, has knobs on opposite plates, and that one has a C pre-fix followed by a four digit number, same pre-fix as my single knob Silver Hawaiian.
I've examined two other single knob bakelites belonging to local friends here, the ones with small octagonal knob, and they also had B pre-fixes.

Speaking of fabricating a replacement body plate, it looks like the original for that model are stamped out of sheet steel then nickle plated. It might be difficult to replicate the plate's contours. I have seen plates for auction on Ebay every once in awhile.