| Author |
Topic: Prewar Ricky B6 fretboard “scoop� |
Jim Newberry
From:
Seattle, Upper Left America
|
Posted 27 May 2020 9:23 pm |
|
I have a 1-knob B6 with a “complete†fretboard. In other words, there’s no “scoop†on the treble side of the high end of the fretboard. Was this an option? Or, just an oddball? It seems like this scoop is on every other B6 I’ve seen. On the Ricky feature time lines I’ve come across, there doesn’t seem to be a mention of it. Mine is S/N B577.
Normal ‘35:
My ‘36-‘37:
_________________
"The Masher of Touch and Tone"
-1950 Fender Dual Pro 8
-1950's Fender Dual Pro 6
-Clinesmith D8
-Clinesmith 8-string Frypan
-Clinesmith Joaquin
-~1940 National New Yorker
-~1936 Rickenbacher B6
-Homebuilt Amps |
|
|
 |
David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
|
Posted 27 May 2020 10:32 pm
|
|
I don't know if it was an option. My '35 has the scoop, and I find it annoying. I stick tape on it, to know where I am.
_________________
Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother. |
|
|
|
Glenn Wilde
From:
California, USA
|
Posted 28 May 2020 3:06 am
|
|
| Beautiful guitar there! |
|
|
|
John Dahms
From:
Perkasie, Pennsylvania, USA
|
Posted 28 May 2020 6:38 am
|
|
I have seen other B series serial number Bakelites with the full fingerboard and they all also seem to have been ones that came with the metal butterbean tuner buttons used early in production. Some with those tuners did have the shortened upper frets though. I have not noticed any of the C series serial number 1935s with the more common hex shaped tuner buttons that came with the full fingerboard.
Can anyone add anything on the shape or castings of the early full fingerboard necks. I don't have one to compare.
_________________
Time flies like an eagle
Fruit flies like a banana. |
|
|
|
Jim Newberry
From:
Seattle, Upper Left America
|
Posted 28 May 2020 7:37 am
|
|
Mine was very well restored when I got it, and the tuner buttons are replacements, so I can’t correlate those with the fretboard scoop.
_________________
"The Masher of Touch and Tone"
-1950 Fender Dual Pro 8
-1950's Fender Dual Pro 6
-Clinesmith D8
-Clinesmith 8-string Frypan
-Clinesmith Joaquin
-~1940 National New Yorker
-~1936 Rickenbacher B6
-Homebuilt Amps |
|
|
|
Bob Stone
From:
Gainesville, FL, USA
|
Posted 28 May 2020 9:03 am
|
|
Jim,
Page 35 of Richard Smith's The Complete History of Rickenbacker Guitars shows two early B6 steels without the scooped fretboard: one from the 1935 catalog and the other owned by and posed with David Lindley.
Not a bad looking guitar you've got there...
My guess is they started without the scoop and maybe continued to use them for a while after the scooped fretboard necks came into use.
I believe the previous owner of your B6 estimated its year of manufacture as 1936 or 37 because it was a "patent pending" guitar. The patent for the horseshoe pickup was granted August 10, 1937. Maybe it is a '35. To my recollection, B6 serial numbers don't correlate with production year, right? |
|
|
|
