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Topic: New member with a Rickenbacher B6 question |
David Walker
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 17 Jan 2015 12:00 pm |
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First, I'd like to thank you all. I've learned a great deal reading the forum and at Brad's page of steel. I've been playing lap steel a few years but consider myself a beginner. Great resources here and Brad's site. So, thank you!
Now to my question. I acquired a Ric B6 recently. I've studied the posts here and consulted Gruhn's in trying to date it, and the features don't match up. It has the 1.5" pickup and string through bridge, but the headstock logo is the big T shaped post war version. My guess is they had a leftover body from before the war, and this is an early post war guitar. Or maybe the neck was replaced at some point. So really my question is whether Rick mixed and matched parts right after the war. I'm wondering if I have an oddball factory job or a repaired instrument.
Whatever it is, it is an amazing instrument. Tone, sustain, and string spacing are superb. I now understand the excitement the B6 seems to generate. |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 17 Jan 2015 2:08 pm in MY view..............
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You have a pre-war body......pickup and strings thro'
Ric did from time to time, appear to take whatever parts were needed at any given moment, and simply dug into a misc. parts drawer to shoved them all together.
That's how I see it. If it plays easy, accurately and sounds good, you couldn't want much more. |
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David Walker
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 17 Jan 2015 4:17 pm
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Thanks. Oddball factory job is my best guess,so I'm thinking it's about a 45 or 46. It gets along real well with the model 75 National amp from the same era. The B6 is my pick for recording right now. Heading into the studio with it in a few minutes in fact. The only weakness is that the pickup makes palm muting tough. Same deal as my 53 Fender Deluxe with a trapazoid pickup. Great tone and mechanical components on that one too though. I usually gig with a 36 National Dobro Electric Hawaiian. That one lets me palm mute, and the aluminium body is about as fragile as a railroad tie. Good for the dives I frequent.
I just love these old lap steels. Way cool and more affordable than comparable electro Spanish guitars. |
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