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Topic: Questions about Fender & Rickenbacker Steels |
Tom Bradshaw
From:
Walnut Creek, California, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2010 8:07 am |
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Can someone answer these questions I received from a friend? He isn't on the Forum, but will read what replies are provided.
1. When did Rickenbacker begin building triple-neck steels?
2. Did any Rickenbacker pedal steels have knee levers?
3. Did Fender keep upgrading their triple-necks and other models because each previous model did not havea a satisfying tone?
4. What were the upgrades or changes that Fender made in their double and triple-necks?
5. What were the model names of those instruments?
6. Comparing Rickenbacker pedal steels to the Fender 400, which had the better tone (and he knows this is hard to do, but personal preference by users is what he is looking for).
Thanks, ...Tom |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2010 9:54 am
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Question 6 is a pedal steel topic, but since you asked and I have both, I'll respond here. There's simply no comparison. The Rickenbacker pedal steel tone is downright anemic compared to the Fender 400/1000, or to a Stringmaster for that matter. It just doesn't cut it, in my opinion. I don't know if it's the pickup or the wiring or the changer or what, but my Rickenbacker pedal steel just doesn't have the bite and balls of their non-pedal models. Even my little '60s Rickenbacker Electro student lap steel blows it away, tone-wise.
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 20 Apr 2010 11:13 am
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According to my reading of Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars:
1) 1956 (the Console 500 series)
2) no.
3) no.
4) The pickups were changed from a rectangular pickup to trapezoid pickup in late 1948, and from the trapezoid pickup to the under-string double pickups in 1957. For other miscellaneous changes, I'd refer your friend to Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars.
5) Dual 8 Professional, Dual 6 Professional, Custom and Stringmaster were the names used for their double and triple neck non-pedal steels. Pedal models were the 100, 400, 2000, 800, PS 210, Artist Dual 10, Artist Single 10 and Student Single 10.
6) What b0b said.
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