Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I want to get the best book on the history of Rickenbacker and its products over all the years. What books have been published on said topic? Which would you recommend?

Though it's a bit dated now, I would still say, hands down, that Richard Smith's book is the best: http://www.amazon.com/Rickenbacker-Rich ... 0931759153

The elusive Japanese Rittor book is great as well, but only for the photos (unless you can read Japanese!).

+1 on the Smith book, although it's nearly twenty years out out of date now. It's the earlier history that most people want to know about, anyway.

Also, The Rickenbacker Book by Tony Bacon & Paul Day.

http://www.amazon.com/Rickenbacker-Book ... 413&sr=8-1

It's smaller, but a quicker read. I enjoyed it.

jingle_jangle wrote:+1 on the Smith book, although it's nearly twenty years out out of date now. It's the earlier history that most people want to know about, anyway.

Great book!I remember when it came out I bought a copy of the first edition at the Yale Co-op bookstore.I gave it to Atsuko Yamano for her birthday in 1988.She has 3 Rickenbackers



Shonen Knife with my ex backstage at Nirvana Concert 1994

I have just got the Smith book, and I have to say on first impressions it's a bit disappointing from the point of view that there aren't as many colour pictures as I expected, and I also find the quality of the print to be generally poor.
Considering the obvious amount of effort and work that went into researching the book, it seems a shame to skimp on the quality of the presentation and the print.
All the ingredients are there, it just feels a bit half baked to me.
Still, I couldn't put it down.

One day I hope Rickenbacker commission their own book. Maybe for the 80th anniversary?

Mateybob wrote:I have just got the Smith book, and I have to say on first impressions it's a bit disappointing from the point of view that there aren't as many colour pictures as I expected, and I also find the quality of the print to be generally poor.
Considering the obvious amount of effort and work that went into researching the book, it seems a shame to skimp on the quality of the presentation and the print.
All the ingredients are there, it just feels a bit half baked to me.

Especially so, considering that Smith did the Fender, The Sound Heard Round The World book, which is fabulous.

http://www.amazon.com/Fender-Sound-Hear ... 0964861275

Amazon is touting an in-the-works book by Bacon & Day on the subject of Rick 12-strings.

I'm not sure when it will be published and available for purchase, but here's the link.

The other major shortcoming of the Smith book is the lack of an index. Makes it tough finding anything ...

Nice one Mitch! Shonen Knife rocks!

If it's pictures you like, I'd like to recommend Rittor's "Rickenbacker: Pioneer of the Electric Guitar". It's out of print, and in Japanese, but the pictures are excellent.

I've had that new Bacon book "Rickenbacker Electric 12: The Story of the Guitars, the Music, and the Great Players"
on pre-order since April,i just got a third email from Amazon that the estimate arrival date is now Febuary 2010.

Woodie wrote:If it's pictures you like, I'd like to recommend Rittor's "Rickenbacker: Pioneer of the Electric Guitar". It's out of print, and in Japanese, but the pictures are excellent.

+1!

A wonderful mook. And, if you're a psychic, the captions must be pretty cool. Like most of these enthusiast publications, nobody does them better than the fact-hungry, detail-obsessed Japanese. If you do buy one of these, beware that the cover to inner binding was not meant to last over a decade, and tends to come apart.

doctorwho wrote:The other major shortcoming of the Smith book is the lack of an index. Makes it tough finding anything ...

See, I think they figured we would all get nice and obsessed, memorizing the whereabouts of all the trivial details located in the book.