Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

k43rover wrote:

jdogric12 wrote:IBTL

...oh I don't know, I'm not sure this particular horse is quite dead yet...

johnhall wrote:

k43rover wrote:While I love the brand as much as the next guy, I'd say had it not been for Lennon buying the 325 in Hamburg in 1960 and the factory subsequently making the most of that good fortune by getting other models including the 12 string to the band, Rickenbacker as a company/brand (if indeed it existed at all today as an independent company) would be a pale shadow of what it is.

I breathtakingly disagree with this statement. Everyone seems to overlook the fact that by the time the Beatles showed up on the scene, Rickenbacker had been a going, successful business for 33 years. Had the Beatles connection unfolded differently, the business would have adapted in some other way, perhaps with a different set of artists or gear.

While I'm happy to take history just as it is, there's also a good argument that the Beatles influence stereotyped the company and other significant opportunities may have been missed as a rersult. Hofner is probably a better example of this.

Amen; before the Beatles, Rickenbacker was quite prevalent with Country Western and Rockabilly, and does anyone think that someone in the folk rock or sixties electric folk rock scene wouldn't have noticed Suzi Arden's electric 12-string and ordered one? Or that someone famous wouldn't have picked up and played the heck out of a 4001? Come on!

sys700 wrote:

That is just too good!

I'd like to chime in on John Hall's statement. I bought my first RIC in 1965 because I could play it better than any other guitar that was around at the time. I liked the feel, look and even price. I was into blues and folk rock and could care less about The Beatles. I really didn't even know who they were until my GF at the time wanted to see A Hard Day's Night (which was torture to me with all the screaming girls). At least three music shops in town had Rickenbackers, Voxes, big Vox and Marshall stacks. The Beatles, no doubt, influenced the buyers as did The Byrds, The Animals, The Stones, Beck, Mayall, Clapton, Jeff Starship, The Turtles, Dave Clark Five, etc. Lots of music developed in the early to mid-60s and guitar makers expanded their lines to keep up with this period of creativity. It was a great time to be a kid and into music. Seems there was something new every month. Just when we thought we'd heard it all Hendrix shows up with the Wah pedal and later Townsend blasts away with a synthesizer.
George Harrison was brilliant in his adaptation of the RIC sound as was McGuinn in his virtual creation of folk rock. Had The Beatles not been around, I that music explosion in the '60s still would have taken place in some form. There was just too much going on. And RIC would have been part of it because there were too many of us who did not follow The Beatles (they started to grab my attention later with Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper's) and did follow the many other bands of that time. The amazing thing is that Rickenbacker has maintained it's quality and product consistency over decades. The stand pretty much alone in that regard.