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Topic: NAMM & Rickenbacher & baloney |
Loni Specter
From:
West Hills, CA, USA
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Posted 23 Jan 2005 7:11 pm |
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I was at the NAMM convention this weekend to line up exhibitors for my new venture www.ampshow.com I could not resist the temptation to stop by Rickenbackers display and oggle the great designs. I spotted a crusty older fellow at the counter who I knew to be the owner Mr.John? Hall. I found him to be a very dry type with zero warmth and no sense of humor. I informed him that I designed lap steels, and he opened up a bit. after I shared a picture of a LapDancer .I questioned him of the prospect of manufacturing lap steels again, and he responded that they were considering it. He furthermore stated that he still had a batch of the original fry pan cast guitar bodies! This led to the subject of his patent on the horseshoe design pickup, where he verified that he was indeed going after all 'infringers of what he considered his patent, and we know who they are. I then commented that he was only using the horseshe shape on his bass guitars and I was under the impressin that they were not really magnets, only looked that way. He was a little mifed and stated that if I held a piece of steel up to one I would see that they were indeed magnets. Just a different type. That was about the end of the chat.
I must have missed the Fender lap steel in their large booth, and only saw the Gretsches, darn it!
I did stop by Goldtone, and was looking over the Weissenborns. The pretty sales associate wandered over and filled me in on the improvement in regard to better interior braceing being used, as the original batch had some bridge lifting problems due heavy strings and the bridges being glued on top of the finish.
I also suggested that they make a 22.5" version of their popular remake of the Oahu solid body. She took some notes on my comments, so we will see.
Lots of cheap Chinese dobros. Didn't play any.
Ran into Ben Elder, Dan Sawyer and Jason Lollar and Mike Perlowin at the Hipshot booth. I had the Redneck/Lollar/Trilogy/ Tele on display there. Saw lots of old friends including Will Ray. What a gas!
I must have walked 2 hundred miles of isles, but enjoyed the first two days as it was not too crowded. Saturday was insane with posers and leather babes, so I bailed Sat eve and came home.
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 23 Jan 2005 8:54 pm
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| Quote: |
| posers and leather babes |
AND YOU BAILED? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR SENSES MAN?
Those horse shoes must have had mega gauss that affected you.
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Jeff Strouse
From:
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
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Posted 24 Jan 2005 9:07 am
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| I've never been to NAMM, but if there are leather babes and posers there, count me in!!!!! |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 24 Jan 2005 9:48 am
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| Quote: |
| Nobody can stop me from making magnets |
not even a leather babe?.....  |
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Jeff Strouse
From:
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
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Posted 24 Jan 2005 10:05 am
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| If John Hall proceeds with any action against Jason, then I will lose what little respect I have for him (which isn't much at this point). It's nothing more than the big guy picking on the little guy who is no threat to him. It's not really HIS design anyway is it? Wouldn't it actually be Adolphs? ...who would probably be flattered that there is a very small group of musicians who love the design and its sound. Since the company doesn't make the real McCoy's anymore anyway, it shows that John Hall has nothing better to do. It sounds like he's not the brightest bulb on the tree. I'd love to post some words for him on his site, but he would probably have it deleted like he did with some other posts related to this same subject. Ever heard of the 1st Ammendment Johnny boy, or do you just not like anyone to disagree with you? [This message was edited by Jeff Strouse on 24 January 2005 at 10:13 AM.] |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 24 Jan 2005 10:13 am
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Howard ...
Who do you think stood over me yesterday ... as I did this work outside in -10 F wind chill.
I gotta get a shop ... |
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Loni Specter
From:
West Hills, CA, USA
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Posted 24 Jan 2005 10:18 am
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| Adolph Rickenbacher dressed as a leather babe? |
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 24 Jan 2005 11:27 am
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Adolph, in a leather teddy, would be a motivator...
The Fender steels were all 6-strings. I liked the Beard 8-string, so much so that it's out in the living room. |
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John Potter
From:
Solihull, United Kingdom
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Posted 24 Jan 2005 1:54 pm
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| Rick, could you make me a Leather Babe magnet please? One that I could keep in my pocket? |
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Jeff Strouse
From:
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
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Mike D
From:
Phx, Az
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Posted 24 Jan 2005 4:26 pm
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New project: Carved top single cut-away with a 'Rick' pickup and Strat headstock. I figure I'll take it to NAMM next year and when the lawyers start chasing me I'll run to the nearest cliff and toss it off.
With any luck most of 'em will follow it over.
------------------
Half-assed bottleneck and lap slide player. Full-assed Builder of resonator instruments.
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Loni Specter
From:
West Hills, CA, USA
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Posted 25 Jan 2005 9:26 am
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I forgot to mention, my old pal Paul Chandler has an eight string version of his lap steel. Same as the 6 string, only 8.
I forgot to ask the price, but I'm sure it'll street around $400.
BTW, I love leather babes. I married one 27 years ago. Of course after the 2nd kid.... 
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 25 Jan 2005 9:34 am
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I need an 8 string bronze frying pan
And a Leather Babe Magnet! 
Hey honey, why don't you come up and let me show you my horse shoes. |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 26 Jan 2005 11:20 am
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$405 NOS Faux Unit ...
[This message was edited by Rick Aiello on 26 January 2005 at 02:01 PM.] |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 26 Jan 2005 12:17 pm
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Somehow, I always end up with the hemp babes......not that I have anything against bare feet and armpit hair....  |
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 26 Jan 2005 3:51 pm
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...
Last edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 13 Sep 2019 3:53 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Russ Young
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 26 Jan 2005 3:58 pm
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Hey Dr. Aiello --
I've been poking around the USPTO website trying to find out more about Rickenbacker's application, but can't find anything. (It brought back memories of Darryl Hall and John Oates, though ...)
Do you have any documentation? |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 26 Jan 2005 4:16 pm
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TESS
Select "Search Trademarks" ...
Select "Free Form Search (Advanced Search)"
Input ... 78526361
Submit Query ...
[This message was edited by Rick Aiello on 26 January 2005 at 04:36 PM.] |
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Russ Young
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 26 Jan 2005 7:43 pm
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| Thanks, Rick. This is bringing out the shadetree (or is it "jailhouse?") lawyer in me ... |
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Dan Sawyer
From:
Studio City, California, USA
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Posted 26 Jan 2005 10:51 pm
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Loni, more info on the 8-string Chandler, please.
BTW, it was great to see you at NAMM. Did you stick around for the Mike Marshall choro music? It was very musical. |
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Loni Specter
From:
West Hills, CA, USA
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Posted 27 Jan 2005 8:12 am
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Chandler was too busy with prospective buyers, so I did not get to chat with him. He knows I make steels and was a bit nervous seeing me looking over his new baby. It looks just like the regular 6 only with a wider nut, bridge and pickup. A logical move.
That's all I know.
Didn't here any cool music, other than the Acoustic Cafe concert in the evening that you (Dan) saw. I did get free drinks and dinner coutesy of Dean Markley strings, one of the hosts of the show. Chatted with Bill White Acre and Scott Nygaard editor of Acoustic Guitar. Met Jonnie Hyland (his new CD is the hotest Tele chicken pickin ever) I asked him if he was an organ doner, because I wanted to get on the list for his fingers! |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 28 Jan 2005 4:24 pm
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Loni ... here's what your "new friend" had to say on "his" forum ... about Hipshot:
quote:
I was a little surprised that Hipshot didn't come up with something a little more up-to-date. The old screw and spring arrangement has always been a tone killer and so many better designs have evolved.
Also, mass and strength don't necessarily correlate. I don't know anything about their company but my instincts tell me a structural or mechanical engineer wasn't involved in the design process.
Finally, it was amusing to note that their NAMM sample was a RIC copy bass. Hopefully that's not what they used during the design phase.
Honestly, there's no sour grapes here and I wish them well in the competitive market. I also have to commend them for not infringing unlike some other folks.
------------------
Aiello's House of Gauss
My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield
[This message was edited by Rick Aiello on 28 January 2005 at 04:30 PM.] |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Posted 28 Jan 2005 7:36 pm
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| Quote: |
| Honestly, there's no sour grapes |
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Vernon Hester
From:
Cayce,SC USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 29 Jan 2005 2:07 am
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Fellas here is some tibits from Rickenbacker history,
It all began in 1920s Los Angeles, a city fast becoming the entertainment capital of the world. Like many of his contemporaries, steel player George Beauchamp (pronounced Beechum) sought a louder, improved guitar. Several inventors had already tried to build louder stringed instruments by adding megaphone-like amplifying horns to them. Beauchamp saw one of these and went looking for someone to build him one, too. His search led to John Dopyera, a violin repairman with a shop fairly close to Beauchamp's L.A. home.
1930 many people familiar with electricity knew that a metal moving through a magnetic field caused a disturbance that in turn could be translated into an electric current by a nearby coil of wire. Electrical generators and phonograph pickups utilized different applications of this principle. The problem building a guitar pickup was creating a practical way of translating the strings' vibration directly into a current. After many months of trial and error, George developed a pickup that consisted of two horseshoe magnets. The strings passed through these and over a coil, which had six pole pieces concentrating the magnetic field under each string. (Conducting work on his dining room table, he used the motor out of the family washing machine to wind the coil. Paul Barth, who helped Beauchamp, said that they eventually used a sewing machine motor.)
Vern |
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