Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So what do you think, did Rickenbacker make this?
http://www.gbase.com/Stores/Gear/GearDetails.aspx?Item=819007

That'd be your Bedpost fretted upright.

Not that one but Ric did make an electric upright in the 30's.

There's been a few posts on that since it was found in some old guys estate. The scant research that I read seems to indicate it's not a Rick, although the PU certainly is. But at the time this thing was built there were not too many options if you wanted to use a PU in an instrument, so a Rick PU would be likely.

It's nice to see they cleaned it up and apparently got it working. My guess it was a unique attempt to electrify music in the 30's. If anyone is in NJ and get to see it/play it, it would be interesting to read those thoughts.

There's a short write-up on it in a recent issue of Bass Player Magazine, including a comment from John Hall. I'll see if I can dig up the issue number - I think it's the one with the Dave Matthews Band bassist on the cover...

EDIT: duh, it's referenced right in the description! Though I guess I shouldn't feel too bad - they ignore what John Hall says in there by calling it a Rickenbacker...

I believe that is old Bob Young there in the background, in the tan coat!

Gene,

Good to see you back here man....

Found the Bass Player, it's September 2005, and here are the relevant bits (it's on page 14):

"The pickup is a classic Rickenbacker wrap-around horseshoe magnet unit, though Rickenbacker CEO John Hall doesn't think it was installed or assembled by his company. 'Those pickups were sold at that time as a kit for addition to instruments,' says Hall. 'The pickup on that instrument sure looks like the mid-'30s kit style.'"

'Those pickups were sold at that time as a kit for addition to instruments,'

Ahhh, the good old days.

Thanks, Wints, it is GOOD to be back!

The Rickenbacker history book also mentions other luthiers using Rickenbacker hardware with factory approval.
Could be one of those things too who knows.

Is it possible that this may be a Tutmarc bass from the 1930's? The Tutmarc family is still in Seattle but the craftsman of early electric basses, Paul Tutmarc has passed on. There is some history here and elsewhere.

I've only read a few articles on Tutmarc, and it is possibly one of his. But I got the feeling that Tutmarc's basses more closely resembled acoustic guitars than cello's. But I suppose he could have been experimenting; heck, just having a PU on anything back then was an experiment!

"... but the craftsman of early electric basses, Paul Tutmarc"

Way more than a craftsman, Paul Tutmarc is now recognized as the inventor of the modern electric fretted bass guitar, years befor Leo, and there is ground for assumption that Fender did see Tutmarc's basses before he developed his own creation. There's a sound sample somewhere in cyberspace, I forgot to bookmark it, and it does sound pretty good even by today's standards. There's just one known Tutmarc bass that survived.

is this the new bridge design?