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Topic: 1950s Rickenbacker hardware |
Noah Miller
From:
Rocky Hill, CT
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Posted 27 Jul 2016 2:38 pm |
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I've just noticed that Rickenbackers from the '50s come with two different types of nut, tuner pan and cover. One has a separate piece nut and the cover attaches vertically, while the other has an integrated (cast?) nut that has effectively a built-in zero fret and a cover that attaches horizontally:
 
I know that dating Rickenbacker steels from this era is a black art, but does anyone know when the switch occurred? I assume the separate nut came first, but the 1953 catalog on Rickenbacker's site seems to show the integrated nut. Any idea why they made the change? |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 28 Jul 2016 6:27 am
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This is purely a guess on my part, but the separate piece and cover seems like it would be cheaper and easier to manufacture.
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Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 28 Jul 2016 6:52 am more guesses
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Adding to Brad's Guess
For certain once you get the Die for the Stamping process, it is considerable lower cost per unit , and no Toxic Casting Process.
Also the Stamped version has a much more accurate tolerances.
In the 50's Stamped metal was super low cost and often an In House Process or farmed out to a local resource.
Now of daze the die alone tend to start at 5000.00 dollars before any stamping or polish-plating.
Can't comment on the Sonic Quality, my personal opinion is those bent pieces of metal are never going to sound good,compared to a more solid metal.
But - there sure are a lot of satisfied Fender - Peavey owners. 
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Maker of One of a Kind Works of Art that play music too.
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