Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I don't know if this is the right forum for this:

A "Roger" guitar (made by Wenzl Rossmeisl and named after his son, Roger, who was a ground-breaking designer for Rickenbacker) is for sale on Yahoo Japan's auction site:

http://page2.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b110857515

Note the carved "German" top a la 381s and Jazz-Bo's:
More info on "Roger" guitars is on the RRF here:

http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/theroger.html

Ooooooh...I'm liking this!

That's gorgeous.

it is "standart" i have one of those for a while now and it is great guitar. sometimes they pop up on ebay.de for sale. this one is in great condition compared to what i have and/or seen for sale here and there. just remember that the original tuners are pretty bad and the neck pitch is very very steep by modern standards and there is no truss rod in these.... it sounds close to old solid carved gretch synchromatic.

grazioso wrote:it is "standart" i have one of those for a while now and it is great guitar. sometimes they pop up on ebay.de for sale. this one is in great condition compared to what i have and/or seen for sale here and there. just remember that the original tuners are pretty bad and the neck pitch is very very steep by modern standards and there is no truss rod in these.... it sounds close to old solid carved gretch synchromatic.

Hey Dusan, Thanks for the info...good to know!

Additionally, the tops and backs on these are relatively thick, and tone is constricted. These are midrange-strong, with not a lot of note definition ("precision") and to my taste are primarily chording guitars for band work. Chunk-chunka. Action stiff, and at least on the two or three I've played, high.

jingle_jangle wrote:Additionally, the tops and backs on these are relatively thick, and tone is constricted. These are midrange-strong, with not a lot of note definition ("precision") and to my taste are primarily chording guitars for band work. Chunk-chunka. Action stiff, and at least on the two or three I've played, high.

but it sure does look cool!

jingle_jangle wrote:...at least on the two or three I've played, high.

What drugs were you using at the time?

Yeah, when I came down, the action seemed more reasonable.

Guess I posted this in the wrong section then: viewtopic.php?f=68&t=395471

jingle_jangle wrote:Yeah, when I came down, the action seemed more reasonable.

I would think that it would be the opposite!

Another "Roger" guitar, this time in Oregon, on ebay (Oct. 17, 2010):

http://cgi.ebay.com/Roger-Junior-CA-Vin ... 4cf280490f

Carved top, full width rectangular inlays. However, as noted earlier in this thread, "Roger" guitars were not made by Rickenbacker's designer, Roger Rossmeisl, but by his father, Wenzl, and after Roger did his work for Rickenbacker. They are related to, but neither predecessors nor descendants of Rickenbacker designs - I guess you could call these an "uncle" of Rickenbacker guitars.

As noted by Jingle-jangle, "the tops and backs on these are relatively thick, and tone is constricted. These are midrange-strong, with not a lot of note definition ("precision") and to my taste are primarily chording guitars for band work. Chunk-chunka. Action stiff, and at least on the two or three I've played, high."

Nice design concept, though.

Greetings, all. Nice forum.

Regarding Roger guitars, Paul wrote:

"the tops and backs on these are relatively thick, and tone is constricted. These are midrange-strong, with not a lot of note definition ("precision") and to my taste are primarily chording guitars for band work. Chunk-chunka. Action stiff, and at least on the two or three I've played, high."

Paul: I disagree with your assessment, based on my own experience with dozens of these instruments. They can be set up to play with any action and any "stiffness" one chooses, depending on the taste of the player - that is purely a matter of set-up, string selection and so forth. Sound quality has the same kind of range and variability as D'Angelico and Gibson 17" archtops. I do not think their tone is "constricted", and I think they have excellent note definition. The carved plates of these instruments are designed completely differently from those of traditional American carved archtop instruments - more on how this compares to typical American-style plate design later, including comparative weight.

There are two main groupings of Roger instruments - those sold with "Berlin" labels (@1948-1952), and those sold with "Mittenwald" labels (@1955-1965). Berlin Rogers are generally slightly shallower and narrower than Mittenwald Rogers, with narrower f-holes. Both use the "German carve". They sound similar.

Thanks for your opinions, Nate, and welcome to the RRF. I've not had the experience of playing dozens of Rogers; probably less than half a dozen over the years, so perhaps I'm guilty of the fallacy of sampling.

Not one of the ones that I've played could begin to hold a candle to a well-set-up American flat-top guitar in terms of playability, action, responsiveness, or tone. That may be an opinion, as well, but I stand by it.

Frankly, I'd LOVE to play a Roger (or any German archtop) that compares favorably to a high-quality American flat-top. So, using the flat-top as a standard of comparison is where I get my observations. It's also my belief that archtops and flat-tops are two different animals for two different purposes; archtops having evolved as jazz ensemble instruments, mainly for chording work, and flat-tops for solo accompaniment. When archtops got pickups, they became more practical as soloing instruments. Still, I'd be really pleased to find any archtop to match a topnotch flat-top in the attributes mentioned above.

ADDED NOTE: Nate is Hofner's Canadian rep, THE expert on German archtops, including Rogers, and has probably forgotten more than I'll ever know. His presence on this Forum is greatly welcomed. I hope he joined to become a regular contributor!

Nate, welcome to the forum! Thanks for your comments and info - there is a scarcity of information about the Roger guitars on the web! I look forward to learning about the differences in design of the carved plates.