Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

http://cgi.ebay.com/RICKENBACKER-MADE-BY-PAUL-BARTH-EARLY-1960S_W0QQitemZ7355454116QQcategoryZ41439QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It certainly is no Rickenbacker, but Paul Barth was a key player with Rickenbacker before the company we think of as the Rickenbacker company that we know and love.

This is a Kingston, or similar Japanese brand, guitar, from the early-to-mid 1960s.

Giveaways are as follows:

1. The pickup is a typical Kingston pickup. Harmony also used this same pickup.

2. The single wire string retainer at the top of the neck. Quite typical as well; many Japanese brands used these. My Bradford is virtually identical.

3. The odd stamped tailpiece with machine screw attachment.

4. The strange stamped control panel with the turned-down edges all 'round.

5. Open tuning machines of unknown manufacture (usually made by the manufacturer of the guitar).

6. The tortoiseshell pickguard is very Japanese in coloring and swirl, not like American ones of the era at all.

7. The shape of the body. Kingston made guitars and basses with this same body, in the $69.00 retail price range back then.

8. The wood is lauan (so-called "Phillippine mahogany"; not mahogany at all but a stringy and cheap wood that has an even grain and takes stain well.

9. The paint job--that awful three-tone "sunburst" that Japanese manufacturers were known for.

10. Bolt-on neck with way over-engineered heel.

11. Generic, parts-bin knobs modelled after Fender.

If it is a "Barth", it was hardly built by Paul Barth. I guess it's possible, though, that he brought in a bunch of Japanese guitars and relabelled them.

The suggestion that this guitar was "built by Paul Barth" is laughable. What's it worth? $60.00 tops and throw away the cardboard case.

Sorta makes me want to barf!! It does look typically Japanese - Teisco also comes to mind. The "Barth' thing on the headstock looks like a home made jobby - 'EARTH' with the 'E' removed and that odd 'B' stuck in front.

The seller suggests that the potential buyer Google "Barth guitar" and look at the hundreds of references. There are in fact hundreds of combinations of the words. The only Barth guitar I could find was a Magnatone of the mid-1960s. Could not document this with a second reference, though.

Japanese manufacturers back then, it would seem, would latch on to any North American name that seemed either cool or was in some way a double entendre. I wonder if the name Barth or a linguistic version thereof is significant in the Japanese language?

Perhaps that's why this guitar was so ill advisedly named? Just a guess on my part.

It is typical as Paul points out of early "only suitable for firewood" guitars shipped to North America.

My "Bradford" is one such name.

I remember going into a Japanese toy store back in the '60s, and seeing a model kit for one of their now-ubiquitous robot contraptions.

It was called "Super-Murdock".

Barth? "Barf", maybe...

I e-mailed the seller and his only comment was "yeah whatever you say...".

Anyway, it'll be gone soon, at least using the Rickenbacker name. Unfortunately Barth is on his own!

Party on Wayne... Party on...

This is an interesting thread, following hot on the heels of the 'bash a Brit' conversation!

Exactly my thoughts, Tony, except let's be fair here--my posts on the thread to which you refer, were preceded by my own distaste for such UK vs. USA nonsense.

I, too, e-mailed the seller, calling attention to the features which I detail above, and mentioning that his canoe paddle with horns has absolutely no relationship to any Rickenbacker, past or present, and warning him that his auction would probably be toast within a day or two.

I was quite pleasant and polite, as I can sometimes be.

Here's his response:

"I find your statements to be quite offensive, I dont know what you are trying to prove here, but it?s certainly not nice of you to diminish some else?s belongs, even if I?m wrong on the description of this item. However I will take in consideration your information and notice that I have not called this to be a Rick guitar but ?made by? one of the people involved on rick?s making. Have a nice day."

That is the response in its entirety, with all spelling and punctuation errors intact. Maybe his ? key is stuck.

Can you say, "Plenty of attitude, but CLUELESS"?

Did you also notice that the biggest dorks on eBay always end their obnoxious listings and replies with "Have a nice day"?

Your posts were impeccable in their fairness Paul & absolutely no offence was taken in any way what so ever. I totaly agreed with you...however, the timing of this thread is just one of lifes little complexities!

Isn't it odd how characters like this always seem to have a key stuck...

I'll bet he has more than a key stuck.

He's had, if memory serves, 227 sales on the 'Bay, with a 99.2% approval rating.

Must've sold canned tuna or something...

Does anyone remember this eBay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41439&item=7350329781

It was for the butchered '67 360 FG--the one with the messed-up pickup routs.

Well, the guy selling this nasty "Barth" was the high bidder on the '67 360. Now, what do you suppose he's gonna do with it?

Small world.