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Pre-War Ricky Bakelites

"PRE-WAR" MODELS (First Generation)

1-1/2" wide horseshoe magnet pickup with 2 thumbscrew height adjusters

Black Bakelite bobbin with 6 individual steel pole pieces on B6

Black Bakelite bobbin with 5 individual steel pole pieces and mounting screws for pole pieces on strings 2 and 6 on B7

Dark burgundy #38 magnet wire wrapped with black or green cloth covered wire to protect coil

Low impedance 1.5k – 2k DC resistance

Bridge integrated in the body molding

Strings anchor through the body

Five chrome plated brass (non-magnetic) decorative plates cover hollow body cavities

Single black octagonal volume knob on treble side

Single large diameter pot

Detachable bolt-on neck

Grover 3 on a strip strip-tuners with chrome oval buttons on earliest guitars (first 300 or so)

6 Individual tuners with 7 sided pot metal buttons on B6 or 4 on a strip on treble side and 3 individual tuners on the B7

Grover style "Butterbean" buttons on some late first generation and early second generation Bakelites

Molded frets are not out lined by recessed white lines

Chrome plated brass position markers in recessed in fret board

Small horizontal "Rickenbacher Electro (RF) Los Angeles" logo on key head (Note the spelling: it's Rickenbacher)

1/4" output jack facing the player on lower bout of body

Edges of the body are not rounded but some have a slight 45 degree bevel finish .

"PAT PEND" stamped into one or both pickup mounting tabs

"PAT. NO. 1881229" molded into the bakelite body below bridge on all Bakelites

Serial number stamped into end of headstock begin with the letter C followed by numbers

Both form fit and rectangular cases were common

"PRE-WAR" MODELS (Second Generation)

Patent number 2,089,171 replaced "PAT PEND" stamp in pickup mounting tabs on August 10, 1937

Tone control added to player side

2 large black radio knobs with white arrows molded into top replaced small octagonal volume knob

White plastic position markers in recessed in fret board replaced chrome plated brass position markers

"WAR TIME" MODELS :

White enameled steel body plates replace chrome-plated brass plates on early wartime guitars.

White celluloid plates replaced enameled steel plates during wartime metal shortages.

Volume and tone controls on treble side

Black, white or red "flying saucer" knobs replaced black radio knobs

Output jack moved to audience side

Rounded body edges

Molded frets outlined by recessed white lines

Neck "Heel" changes

6 Individual tuners with plastic oval buttons on B6 or 4 on a strip on treble side and 3 individual tuners with plastic oval buttons on the B7

Plates returned to white enameled steel after the war

Tweed rectangular case most common

"PRE-WAR" Rickenbacher Serial Numbers:

There are some early Bakelites that have the letter "B" stamped before the serial number ... "B" was also one of the Frypan letter designations.

Most Bakelite serial numbers begin with the letter "C" and are sequential with the lower numbers being oldest.

The earliest guitars have the open back Grover strip tuners with oval metal buttons and a single volume knob.

Then they switched to the 7 sided pot metal tuners at around C300.

The tone knob added to the player’s side and switch to black "Arrow" radio knobs occurred just before they received the patent for the horseshoe pickup on August 10, 1937 at about C1300.

They also switched to plastic dots in the neck vs. the earlier plated brass dots at the same time

The patent number 2,089,171 pickup mount stamps show up at about C1450.

The switch to white enameled steel plates, volume/tone controls on the same side, and frets outlined in white occurs just before C2300.

Around C2400 they began the switch to plastic plates and tuners with white plastic buttons.

They continued this version through the war and switched back to metal plates at C3100. The last Bakelite guitar with a serial number is around C3700.

I think it would safe to say there are only about 3700 Bakelites with the "PRE-WAR" and "WAR TIME" features.

REPRESENTATIVE PREWARS

1935

1936

1937

1938

1940

1941