{"product_id":"rickenbacker-electro-spanish-solid-body-electric-guitar-1936-6884","title":"Rickenbacker Electro Spanish Solid Body Electric Guitar (1936)","description":"Rickenbacker Electro Spanish Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1936), made in Los Angeles, California, serial # B-592, polished black finish, black bakelite body and neck, original black hard shell case. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis little Art Deco Rickenbacker creation is one of the most historically interesting American guitars ever built, the first commercially important electric solidbody Spanish guitar. Introduced in 1935 at the same time as the famed Bakelite Electro Hawaiian Guitar, the Electro Spanish Guitar was not nearly as successful and only produced limited numbers for a few years. Rickenbacker offered several more conventional wooden-bodied Spanish electrics during the same period but this is their most radical, earliest and purest attempt at a fully electric Spanish guitar, issued before there was any real market for such an instrument. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis model was followed several years later by the even more radical Vibrola Spanish, essentially the same guitar with an internal motorized vibrato device built into a double-depth body. \"Doc\" Kauffman was the inventor of this system, and interestingly the Fender Broadcaster designed a few years after Kauffman's partnership with Fender carries on several features of the Electro-Spanish guitar including the bolt-on neck (considered an easily replaceable part), thru-body stringing and the bridge-mounted steel-guitar position pickup. The Electro-Spanish can be seen as the progenitor of the entire California family of solidbody guitars to come.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis particular guitar is the earliest variation, with the single octagonal volume knob and output jack on the bass side of the body-these would move to a more player-friendly position on the treble side around 1937. The molded black Bakelite body unit has five cavities covered by decorative chrome plates-the larger plates are still glued-in, not screw-fixed as they would later be. The strings run thru the body from the back and emerge from a molded block just behind the separate single-piece metal bridge. The horseshoe magnet pickup wraps over the strings and has the famed pre-war 1-1\/2\" wide magnets, with the mounting bracket marked \"Pat Pend\" on the treble side. Patent number 1881229 is molded in raised letters on the body below the bridge. The round-backed detachable neck joins the body at the fourteenth fret; it has twenty-three integral molded fret ridges and an integral nut and is bolted in place by two large screws. The tuners are original chrome-plated strip Grovers with metal buttons. The metal nameplate screwed to the headstock carries the old-style logo spelling of \"Rickenbacher Electro, Los Angeles\". \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Electro-Spanish is considerably rarer than the more familiar Hawaiian variation, which uses some of the same components but a different body and neck. Few players today have ever even handled one, let alone plugged it in. While some of the design features now seem awkward (especially the molded bakelite frets and the short steel-guitar like scale length) the astounding thing about this little guitar is how good it still sounds. The heavy bakelite body and horseshoe magnet pickup combine to produce an extremely powerful singing tone familiar to steel guitarists who still prize the bakelite Hawaiian guitar, but virtually unique in a Spanish guitar. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough today primarily seen as a museum-grade collectors piece, this Electro-Spanish Guitar is also a wonderful musical instrument, albeit an eccentric one. This example includes an extremely rare original shaped violin-style case and a priceless piece of paper memorabilia-the original neck guarantee card, which assured the purchaser of a new replacement neck with the return of the worn original-plus $2.25.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOverall length is 32 1\/2 in. (82.6 cm.), 9 1\/4 in. (23.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3\/4 in. (4.4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 22 1\/2 in. (572 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3\/4 in. (44 mm.). Super clean, all original condition; no changes or alterations except a couple of lines scratched into the coverplate by the knob to help mark the control setting. There is some very light scuffing to the chrome cover plates but really minimal wear overall, including almost no wear to the integral plastic frets. Includes the original shaped HSC with bright yellow lining, a period cord and the original guarantee card for the neck in the pocket. This is just a superb and historic package, and a surprisingly playable instrument to boot! Excellent Condition.","brand":"Rickenbacker","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853010129036,"sku":"6884","price":3500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0672\/8702\/3756\/files\/01_7c2a9cf2-9d3f-4819-984e-aef18ccd15c8.jpg?v=1774330501","url":"https:\/\/retrofret.com\/products\/rickenbacker-electro-spanish-solid-body-electric-guitar-1936-6884","provider":"RetroFret","version":"1.0","type":"link"}