Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Starting at 9:13.

Great find Jeff, thanks!

Pretty cool.

Great find.

The best part isn't even the RIC factory, it's the smarmy commentary from the British Pathe film at 8:20-8:50:

"surprisingly when you consider the noise they make, that each and every guitar is scientifically tuned, just as if they are real instruments."


Also, 1987 was an interesting year to be filming at Rickenbacker. As evidenced in the paint room footage, the factory was then building the very limited Sam Ash 1993 reissue models.

You guys know so much about Rickenbacker and how they have operated through the years. The video shows so much hand work, and I know at the finishing stage this is still true, but aren't things more mechanized at the initial building of the instruments these days?

I mean it seems like these guys were eyeballing some pretty major motions in that process.

Kiddwad57 wrote:I mean it seems like these guys were eyeballing some pretty major motions in that process.

Something I find very charming. It reminds me of the old Ferraris where there could be lots of variations within the same model of car, even down to the two front fenders (not guitars ) could be slightly different in dimensions, truly making those cars "one-offs" so to speak.

One of the things I really admire about Ben Hall is that he is the one who is behind all the modern customs and one-off Rick instruments, I believe.

I've been reading bits of Deke Dickerson's books on guitar archaeology and some the guitar builders work very much the way you describe, down to building their own pickups, gluing fretboards onto neck blanks and then using a belt sander to create the neck profiles, etc.

Also, I like those Morgan two seaters and it seems like they still build some of their cars using those principals. Beating panels...I think a couple of models still use wooden floor boards.

That was a really fun vid Jeff!

Wow!

Kiddwad57 wrote:You guys know so much about Rickenbacker and how they have operated through the years. The video shows so much hand work, and I know at the finishing stage this is still true, but aren't things more mechanized at the initial building of the instruments these days?

I mean it seems like these guys were eyeballing some pretty major motions in that process.

That is correct. Much of the major cuts are made by CNC these days (body shape/route/neck shape etc.) with the rest of the finishing and fine-tuning still done by hand.

While there is plenty of charm about the older hand-made models - including the challenge of finding a "good" one, I think the quality is much more consistent in the CNC era. You can order a Rick sight-unseen and pretty much know exactly what you're going to get. Makes for a better instrument, ultimately.

jps wrote:Starting at 9:13.

WAY cool.

31:03 Dave Walker playing from the window above Acton Hot Food Take Away. This guy speaks to me! The Chuck, the Hank, the Hofners the Love of Vox. Where is he now? All the best buddy!

Kiddwad57 wrote:You guys know so much about Rickenbacker and how they have operated through the years. The video shows so much hand work, and I know at the finishing stage this is still true, but aren't things more mechanized at the initial building of the instruments these days?

I mean it seems like these guys were eyeballing some pretty major motions in that process.

At first, it looks like they're simply eyeballing, but if you look closely, you'll see the pencil tracings on the wood, made from cutout templates they used for each model. So a steady hand was required, but not necessarily total muscle memory for each shape. I love how the router makes short work of the 4003 control cavity.

Good point. The body is likely attached to a jig as well.

I am sure there is a jig in use, those routers can be be quite dangerous.