Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi, I'm new to the forum and would like to know if Rickenbacker made a hollow body ( not semi with sustain block) like Gibsons ES 330 or epiphone Casino with a 24 3/4 scale?

Hi Geoff, welcome to the forum. As far as I know, Rickenbacker hasn't made a true hollow body electric since 1950 with the Electro Spanish (SP) model.

None of the Rickenbacker 300 series guitars have a center sustain block like a Gibson ES-335. If you drop a marble in the sound hole*, you can retrieve it from the control cavity as it's one single hollow space, like an ES-330. That said, the top, back and walls of a Rickenbacker 300 series are pretty thick in comparison to a Gibson hollow body.

The definitions of "hollow body" and "semi-hollow body" are pretty vague, but it could be said that Rickenbackers are full hollow body because they have a single body cavity, or likewise that they are semi-hollow simply because the walls are so thick there's little acoustic resonance. Take your pick...

*Drop a cat's eye in the cat's eye, so to speak.

I like to refer to my Rickenbackers as 'thin-line' guitars. This differentiates them from my Casino-style guitars that I call 'arch-tops'. I call my acoustic guitars 'flat-tops'. Together with 'solid-body' this seems to provide a system of provide accurate descriptions that players understand.

I've always referred to them as semi-hollow body. The sculpted out cavities in the guitar body seem to have the best qualities of both hollow and solid body instruments.

Randy: I too call Rickenbackers 'thin-line', but I also refer to a Casino/ES-330 as both 'thin-line' and 'arch-top'. Both these styles of guitar are most certainly thin compared to a full-body Rickenbacker 'F' series or a Gibson ES-175, and the Casino/Gibson ES series are most certainly 'arch-top' but this doesn't differentiate between those which have completely hollow bodies(Casino/ES-330/ES-175) or those which are semi-hollow(ES-335), and in which category Rickenbackers are best suited.

Mark: Those darned G*bsons are the problem. They make arch-tops that are thick and thin, hollow and semi-hollow. But Rickenbacker construction has alot more in common with a Tele thin-line than an ES-335. My solution will be to never buy a G*bson arch-top and just stick with my Epi Casinos!