Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

fluffy wrote: ...Mr.Hall in front of a literal WALL of Rickenbackers....

....you can say as well: a Hall of Rickenbackers....

One more.

it's ...it's.... it's so beautiful. it's as if the gates of heaven were opened and I got a peak inside


seriously though, the Bass that looks like a 650, was that an actual production or just a sample prototype? so many strange and wonderfull specimens there, thank you for those pictures

johnallg wrote:

620 style bass.jpg

Egad, check out the action on that black bass with binding!

- Scott

More wall pics here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v385/ ... /?start=20

The bass that looks like a 650 is a prototype. It was not put into production. There are a lot of experimentals on that wall!

Shot No. 40 in Erik Kutzler's photobucket collection shows that "Cheyenne II prototype" with the maple fretboard and quilted front, along with a prototype Lemmy with only two pickups.

I am not confident in my use of the word "prototype" when it comes to RIC instruments. In the aircraft world, prototype is the term used for the first one built, and in most cases, production examples follow with noticeable detail differences. "Prototype" in model railroad circles means the real thing from which a model is patterned. Over the years, there have been many experiments in instrument design at RIC (and everywhere else), and it's likely only a small sampling get to hang at the office "museum" or end up being photographed. So, "prototype" to me means the instrument is an experiment that sometimes leads to similar production examples. Sometimes we can see an evolution occurring as in the case of that gorgeous quilted-front 4004 with the maple fretboard. It has field marks of the Cheyenne I and the quilted front of the early (first?) batch of Cheyenne II basses.

Etymologically, a "prototype" is just "something that comes before", so whether a specimen is a slapdash experiment that is later refined, or a fully-developed example from which exact clones will be made, I think you have some leeway in your use of the term, Paul.

- Scott

Whatever they are, prototypes, experiments, etc. I'd sure like to have a few of 'em on my wall...

kennyhowes wrote:

fluffy wrote:...seemingly one of each one ever made.

Not quite - there's a few garden variety instruments not represented, believe it or not.

I am disappointed by the lack of double bound 360 models* . . . . .


*Fs don't count-separate model.

paologregorio wrote:
I am disappointed by the lack of double bound 360 models* . . . . .

That's because you're hoarding them.

Wow... that Walnut top bass even has a sculpted top like a 381!

walker wrote:Wow... that Walnut top bass even has a sculpted top like a 381!

Yeah, it's a collection of art by the looks of it.

Wish we could visit it... I bet they're afraid we'd start drooling, though!!!