Undiscovered gems with integrated tailpiece, string-through?

Andrew Roblin · From: Various places

So many of us love the Rickenbacher magic--which I attribute to the combination of bakelite body, integrated bridge, horseshoe pickup and string-through body design.

There are also Ace, Academy and Bronson.

But are there other steels out there that combine some or all of these features with similarly beautiful results?

Why have so few manufacturers used features like string-through design and integrated bridge? Are there any plastic bodies that sound like bakelite?

What a great place this Forum is...

I'm sorry we've lost Rick Alexander...

Thanks to all,

Andrew

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

My limited experience suggests that many of the early day plastic guitars lacked a "SOLID SOUND". They were rather thin sounding.......

I've found that to be true on many of the various wooden guitars that are floating around out there. Some surely have been designed with space-age appearance in mind while others have been manufactured with minimal considerations given to HOW it's gonna sound when it's all completed.

That's not to say all of them are lacking in 'solid sounds'.......

Listening now to my early day Fender triple-8 matched with a 4 x 10" Fender Bassman....... in some respects I truly believe it produced a sound quite comparable to any of my Ricks.

And of course, there is the player.........

Andrew Roblin · From: Various places

Ray,

Thanks for your thoughts...

I guess Bakelite would be a denser, heavier plastic than any of the other plastics that have been used.

So does anyone make a wood instrument with an integrated bridge? I imagine a one-piece body of birdseye maple body would sound great.

I don't understand why most builders have chosen not to use string-through design for tailpieces. It seems like a low-cost construction method.

Thanks for what you said about your T-8 Fender. Would that be a Fender Custom with string-through trapezoids? I'm very fond of the that sound.

Andrew

Robert Murphy · From: West Virginia

I purchased an Ace Academy last year and nothing sounds like it, the Rick sound is instanly recognizable.

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

It was the 1950's triple-8 that was the first in the Fender line of multi-neck guitars. It did have those
trapazoid pickups to which you refer. It's pictured on the pages of the JERRY BYRD-Fan Club.com

A great little guitar. I sold this to a stranger sometime in 1957-58. About ten years ago he arrived unannounced on my doorstep and told me how he never learned to play this great instrument but he had none-the-less bleached the guitar's dark walnut color back to a blond and proceeded to do a hack job of making it into a pedal steel. So sad!

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