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Topic: Gold plated fry-pan! on ebay |
Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 12 Mar 2010 11:54 am |
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I'm guessing there aren't too many of these - see bottom end postings.
Last edited by Ron Whitfield on 15 Jul 2010 1:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jay Jessup
From:
Charlottesville, VA, USA
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Posted 12 Mar 2010 8:57 pm
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I had seen that fry pan too. That tone knob is really in a weird place, do you think that is factory? How about the gold plated finish, it looks mighty good to be 70+ years old in my opinion. Would like to hear some Ricky experts chime in on whether this might have been a custom job done many years after the fact.
What's his buy it now, almost 6G's---you will be able to blow me over with a feather if it sells! |
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John Ed Kelly
From:
Victoria, Australia
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Posted 12 Mar 2010 9:30 pm
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| Well someone will like it I guess. As for me, it reminds me of a mouth full of gold teeth! |
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Joshua Grange
From:
Los Angeles, California
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 2:27 am
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| No way that finish or tone knob is original..... |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 4:07 am
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| No way that finish or tone knob is original..... |
Not Necessarily. I remember Hawaiian steel expert and music collector Dirk Vogel selling off his frypan collection back in the late 80s or early 90s. If memory serves, there were one or two gold frypans. |
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Tom Gray
From:
Decatur, GA
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 9:08 am
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Rickenbacher made some strange things in the 1930s. This red frypan with rhinestone markers has knobs placed similarly to the one on eBay. It was originally custom-made for Kale Kaleiali'i, who left it in his will to Ralph Kolsiana. Ralph sold it to me in the 1990s. These are not the original bakelite knobs but obviously came off a radio (they say "on-off-volume" and "tuning"). The knobs on the eBay guitar are the right ones.
_________________
www.tomgraymusic.com |
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Harry Sheppard
From:
Kalispell, MT USA
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 9:39 am
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Although there is no way to verify if the finish is original or not, there are a few things that stand out.
Most Frypans have the colored dots filling the position marker holes on the fretboard. From the pictures it looks like these are all missing. They would have to be removed before the gold plating but I would think if it came from the factory they would have been replaced unless they just fell out which does happen.
The knobs are not original. Original Rickenbacher knobs are similar but do not have the raised ridge line on the top. These are similar to the knobs used on Epiphones of the same era.
The seller indicates one of the pots "has been changed", Is it the tone pot? If from the factory they should match unless it was added later or just replaced due to failure.
The pickup is wrapped with black tape instead of the standard cloth covered wire. If the guitar came with the octagonal knobs (early years) the pickup should have black , green or blue cloth windings. The tuning keys indicate this is a late 30s early 40s guitar.
This is a very reliable seller and he lists a lot of nice stuff so I would not think he is trying to mislead anyone but without closer inspection it is difficult to verify what you are getting. |
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Tom Gray
From:
Decatur, GA
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 10:12 am
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| The knobs are not original. Original Rickenbacher knobs are similar but do not have the raised ridge line on the top. |
You know, that's right. I stand corrected.
_________________
www.tomgraymusic.com |
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J D Sauser
From:
Wellington, Florida
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 5:46 pm
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Yes, the knobs are the original ones... the EARLY original ones back from the time BEFORE they added a second (tone) control in 1937 on the B's with the newer knobs. I wished I had that button, it's missing on my FP  .
I don't believe that the "gold" plating is original.
Some FP's developped a golden look as some where clear lacquered and the lacquer yellowed over time.
I suspect (and I may be wrong) that this is a electrostatic plating as peddled all around the world from the 1980's on.
Still, arguably one of the world's best sounding steels.
... J-D. |
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Harry Sheppard
From:
Kalispell, MT USA
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 6:53 pm
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J-D
The knobs are close but not quite the same. The original octagonal knobs used on the early frypans and Bakelites do not have the ridges on the top. The top edge is also beveled. See the attached pictures. I have never seen these knobs on anything other than early Rickenbacher guitars except maybe an old aluminum National lap steel. The Epiphone knobs are much more common and used on several other brand guitars of the period. If someone added a tone control and wanted a matching knobs, they would have had a much easier time finding 2 Epiphone style knobs vs. another original Rickenbacher knob.
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J D Sauser
From:
Wellington, Florida
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 7:06 pm
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| Harry Sheppard wrote: |
J-D
The knobs are close but not quite the same. The original octagonal knobs used on the early frypans and Bakelites do not have the ridges on the top. The top edge is also beveled. See the attached pictures. I have never seen these knobs on anything other than early Rickenbacher guitars except maybe an old aluminum National lap steel. The Epiphone knobs are much more common and used on several other brand guitars of the period. If someone added a tone control and wanted a matching knobs, they would have had a much easier time finding 2 Epiphone style knobs vs. another original Rickenbacher knob.
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What a great pair of eyes you got Harry! Good for you!
I must say, that for a minute I had a "funy" feeling about the knobs... I thought I remembered them as being higher.
Thanks for pointing it out.
... J-D. |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 7:20 pm And...
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A very few odd years did actually have gold painted bodies, not just the gold wash/lacquer as seen in more frequent examples.
But nothing stands out quite like this all gold plated monster. |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 14 Mar 2010 6:23 pm About the missing dot markers
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A friend of mine bought a frying pan recently that was missing most of its dot markers...at least he thought it was. It turns out that they are all inside of the guitar--lots of them. He seems to think that most folks who are missing the markers would find them inside the guitar's cavity. I'll try to get more info on this.
I've seen some strange finishes on frying pans. I think this one could very well be original. This guitar may even have some provenance as a custom job for a VIP.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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J D Sauser
From:
Wellington, Florida
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Posted 14 Mar 2010 8:08 pm
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I am not sure that gold plating aluminum was a readily available technology in the 1930's, besides maybe gold leaf plating, which that one is not.
... J-D. |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 15 Mar 2010 6:43 pm
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Many of the early lap steels used the radio knobs of that era, which make sense. Those look like Zenith. (?)
That one is a nice wall hanger! |
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Mike Bagwell
From:
Greenville, SC, USA
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Posted 18 Mar 2010 4:59 am
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I seem to remember them making a big deal in the Bigsby book about Paul A figuring out how to gold plate the aluminum Bigsby vibrato. That was probably in the late 40's early 50's.
Mike |
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Former Member
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 27 Mar 2010 8:24 am
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REMOVED
_________________
"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone."
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 27 Feb 2011 9:02 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Former Member
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 27 Mar 2010 7:54 pm
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Most probably one and the same.
One of the best guys out there. |
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Denny Turner
From:
Oahu, Hawaii USA
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Posted 28 Mar 2010 7:56 am
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One in the same. I've purchased Steels from Mike on ebay and CD's from him at Cord Intl. TOP SHELF People. One if not the best rescuers / restorers of old Hawaiian music. Surf the website; Great stuff ... great work.
_________________
Aloha,
Denny T~
http://www.dennysguitars.com/
Please help support humanity:
http://www.redcross.org/en/aboutus |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 29 Mar 2010 10:17 pm
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| I'm wondering about the placement of that tone control...as I recall, the very early frypans had only a volume control, (no tone control). Seems to me this one might have been added by someone along the way ? |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Robert Salomone
From:
Carefree, Arizona
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Posted 16 Jul 2010 4:49 pm
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I believe those octagonal shaped knobs are unique to early Rickenbacher Frypans and Bakelites. There are larger ones that are radio knobs, and repros are available, but it's near impossible to find a replacement for the Rickenbacher size.
I supose if one is knowledable about casting plastic or bakelite, they could manke some copies. |
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Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
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Posted 16 Jul 2010 10:29 pm
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| That thing looks like cast copper to me. |
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