Courtesy of Rickenbacker |
NOTES FOR PLAYERS (vs Collectors): Half life of pickup magnets is about 50 years. A recharge of vintage pickups wakes them up to remarkably stonger tone gradually "forgotten" about as guitars have slowly aged. Although these softer tones are preferred by many guitarists, a stronger recharged magnet tone is often commented on remarkably favorable by allot of Steel Guitarists. By the later 1950's the alloys used by Rickenbacker for their horshoe magnets would / will take a stronger charge / recharge than their previous alloys. A number of guitar shops, mine included, are now equipped to "recharge" pickup magnets. I highly reccommend Rick Aiello for recharging horshoe magnets on his strong electric machine, and for much good info about same. --- oOo --- There is a factory boo-boo of bridge saddle-ridge strings slots slightly out of alignment with thru-body holes (bridge slots / strings displaced slightly to the bass side). This is an easy fix by filling & finishing the original slots with black epoxy and re-filing new slots into the virgin bridge saddle-ridge material, ...noticeable in the first picture shown below, once the issue is pointed out. Personnaly, I would rather have an aluminum bridge cut properly, and pack away the original bridge as is since even fatory boo-boo nuances can be important to collectors. This mis-alignmet has no effect on playing other than the strings slight mis-alignment with fretboard / eye paralax. (NOTE: When the strings are aligned properly on the bridge saddle ridge, there is still a design-intended strings misalignment with the fretboard when viewed straight down from the center of the neck, ...but this is intentionally done so the playing eye paralax will be more closely aligned). --- oOo --- Original factory design string thru-body holes are not ferruled on the bottom nor ferrul-capped on top. Both type ferrules are available at guitar parts suppliers. The bottom counter-sunk bare-wood string ball-end receivers are not distorted at all, but strings have cut into the top of the thru-body holes, ...not a bad thing for sustain, but worthy of mention to Player pureists. --- oOo --- Case Handle reference: |
1960 Rickenbacker 105 lap Steel Denny's inspections report: Matching CTS pots dated 20th week of 1960. All original electronics in Excellent condition. Horse-shoe magnet pickup. Note that by the later 1950's the horsehoe magnet alloys were such that they would / will take and hold a stronger magnetic "charge" and re-"charge". Red color became available by 1960, transitioning from the previous silver-gray, blonde, natural and faux-marbeled zenolite finishes of the 1950's. Models 100 thru 105 were basically the same instrument but numbered for finish and marketing purposes. Plays and sounds marvelous. Original Condition Issues: Normal wear and tear scratches and minor dings; More than 99% original finish in fine conditon. Minor pits on the chrome electronics / pickup mounting plate. All other metal hardware is excellent. 1 non-original pickup height adjustment screw on knobs-side of pickup. Hardshell case is original and in Excellent condition. Brown tolex with heavy vinyl faux alligator skin end caps. It has several stickers and stencil on it's exterior top and bottom. The case's handle is missing. A quite crude replacement handle is on it now, made from a wire armature strung between the handle mounting grommets and covered with black vinyl tape. The original handle was of they type common in that era; A contoured plastic bulk piece screwed to the underside of a strip of metal spanning the mounting grommets (see "handle reference" picture at bottom of this page). Functional and attractive handles can be easily made by similarly threading multiple runs of wire through the handle mounting grommets and either a piece of garden hose or carved wood as a handle armature, upon which a piece of automotive steering wheel cover can be threaded. More invovled work can also make replacement handles, or luggage repair shops can install generic or correct replacement handles. |
NOTES FOR PLAYERS (vs Collectors): Half life of pickup magnets is about 50 years. A recharge of vintage pickups wakes them up to remarkably stonger tone gradually "forgotten" about as guitars have slowly aged. Although these softer tones are preferred by many guitarists, a stronger recharged magnet tone is often commented on remarkably favorable by allot of Steel Guitarists. By the later 1950's the alloys used by Rickenbacker for their horshoe magnets would / will take a stronger charge / recharge than their previous alloys. A number of guitar shops, mine included, are now equipped to "recharge" pickup magnets. I highly reccommend Rick Aiello for recharging horshoe magnets on his strong electric machine, and for much good info about same. --- oOo --- There is a factory boo-boo of bridge saddle-ridge strings slots slightly out of alignment with thru-body holes (bridge slots / strings displaced slightly to the bass side). This is an easy fix by filling & finishing the original slots with black epoxy and re-filing new slots into the virgin bridge saddle-ridge material, ...noticeable in the first picture shown below, once the issue is pointed out. Personnaly, I would rather have an aluminum bridge cut properly, and pack away the original bridge as is since even fatory boo-boo nuances can be important to collectors. This mis-alignmet has no effect on playing other than the strings slight mis-alignment with fretboard / eye paralax. (NOTE: When the strings are aligned properly on the bridge saddle ridge, there is still a design-intended strings misalignment with the fretboard when viewed straight down from the center of the neck, ...but this is intentionally done so the playing eye paralax will be more closely aligned). --- oOo --- Original factory design string thru-body holes are not ferruled on the bottom nor ferrul-capped on top. Both type ferrules are available at guitar parts suppliers. The bottom counter-sunk bare-wood string ball-end receivers are not distorted at all, but strings have cut into the top of the thru-body holes, ...not a bad thing for sustain, but worthy of mention to Player pureists. --- oOo --- Case Handle reference: |
4-28-07 |
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Courtesy of Rickenbacker |
