Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Thought it may be of interest to see my early 40,s Aussie Steel.Has a very hot horseshoe pickup and appears to be a Ricky copy.It was originally hard wired and so has had the jack socket added later.The white panels are Celluloid and the tuners and knobs have been changed.The centre paned houses a huge 2"long capacitor and the pots are the large old style with bakelite.I find it interesting that such a copy would have been made so long ago especially the Horseshoe pickup it looks so close to an opriginal it's even 1 1/2".

Kelvin, That senario was not all that uncommon before the economic boom around 1965-70. When I was a kid, late fifties early sixties, there were a lot of stratocaster copies around Sydney too. They were usually made in the shed at the bottom of the backyard. People were living on 20 bucks a week, they couldn't afford to import a lot of stuff. I'm going to try to upload a picture of another Aussie Rick that came up on ebay recently, keep your fingers crossed, I'm computer illiterate. Aloha, David.

Kelvin, That senario was not all that uncommon before the economic boom around 1965-70. When I was a kid, late fifties early sixties, there were a lot of stratocaster copies around Sydney too. They were usually made in the shed at the bottom of the backyard. People were living on 20 bucks a week, they couldn't afford to import a lot of stuff. I'm going to try to upload a picture of another Aussie Rick that came up on ebay recently, keep your fingers crossed, I'm computer illiterate. Aloha, David.

Well second time got it, but I can't figure out how to scrub the first. DM

David,thanks for the pic that green one looks like the same builder although a later model.I knew the builder back in the 60's he made me a couple of amps around '63 his name was Peter Mc Carthy his amp line was called Maxim and he built a few one off special order guitars.He rarely put a name on his equipment which always made it difficult to pin down.His Horseshoe pickups are awesome very hot,top end of a very good telly and the balls of a P90.His shop was in Richmond Melbourne.Kelvin

Kelvin,That period of Australian improv and design is really interesting to me. I'm going to look for a Maxim when I return to Aust. There are a couple of posts about Maxims on the HSGA forum. Regards, DM

Kelvin, About that last post, I finally put 2 and 2 together. Pretty swift huh?

To add my .02c to this one, I also have a Moody made Fakenbacher, and have played a Maxim (the maxim was killer!!). My Moody has gold plated parts, mahogany body, was a gift from slide genius Jeff Lang (check out www.jefflang.com.au, or go to see him when he's in your neck of the world). It's also signed by R.L Burnside, BTW

Hey, Kelvin! Another Aussie member.......... welcome!!

Thanks Howard.Andrew I did not know Moody made guitars I owned a Moody Amp back in the 60,s.Love to see a pic. Cheers

Hey Kelvin,

Moddy did have some limited guitar production. I think the steel pictured at the top may be a moody? I've seen at least one moody regular electric (ie, non-steel).

The Maxim I played is owned by Jeff Lang, and if I remember rightly, included an Amp-case.

I'm currently moving, and will post a pic when I'm back on deck. Mine has been (I think) refinished natural. It must have suffered a broken coil, as there is a telecaster bridge pickup inside he horsehoe. Would love to know polespacing/coil hieght to wind up a pickup (never done before, but can't see it being terribly difficult...famous last words!)