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Topic: Rickenbacher Manufacturing Company |
Harry Sheppard
From:
Kalispell, MT USA
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Posted 21 Jul 2014 8:18 am |
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Anyone willing to take a guess at what this is? I have read that Rickenbacher made other bakelite products and this could be one. The chrome cover looks very much like a Dobro cover plate. Prewar?
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Mike D
From:
Phx, Az
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Posted 21 Jul 2014 10:00 am
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Rickenbacker did lots of things other than guitars back in those days. They were first associated with National/Dobro when they were contracted to stamp the bodies for resonator guitars. Pretty cool little item.
http://www.rickenbacker.com/history_early.asp |
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Larry G. Allen
From:
Near Nashville Tennessee, USA
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Posted 21 Jul 2014 11:19 am
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Hey Harry..my wife was a 30 yr resident of Kalispell ! Ever hang out at the Library ?
_________________
A couple of Martin Armpit Gits , , a couple of my own custom S8 laps, and a Gold Tone JB Dobro |
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Tom Wolverton
From:
Carpinteria, CA
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Posted 22 Jul 2014 4:48 am
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OK? What is it? Looks like a cross between a fruit bowl and a patio drain.
_________________
To write with a broken pencil is pointless. |
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Harry Sheppard
From:
Kalispell, MT USA
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Posted 22 Jul 2014 6:06 am
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I have no idea what it is. I just thought it was cool looking and it was made by Rickenbacher.
Larry, I spend a lot of time at the Library. In fact they just remodeled it. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 22 Jul 2014 7:35 am
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Harry,
Since we're on the subject of Kalispell, did you know an old classmate of mine who lived there before moving to Alaska: Jim Sellen? |
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Peter Jacobs
From:
Northern Virginia
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 22 Jul 2014 8:09 am
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I don't know what it is, but I want one. 
_________________
Mark |
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Harry Sheppard
From:
Kalispell, MT USA
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Paul Honeycutt
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 22 Jul 2014 9:02 am
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| A salad spinner with the internal parts missing? |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 22 Jul 2014 11:02 am
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Thanks, Harry  |
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Peter den Hartogh
From:
Cape Town, South Africa
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Posted 22 Jul 2014 11:22 am
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It is a hotplate for a teapot.That is why the top plate is flat.
Small candle goes in the middle and the holes are for airflow.
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Sam White
From:
Coventry, RI 02816
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Posted 22 Jul 2014 5:28 pm
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It has to be for a Dobro.i bet it will sound great.
Sam White
_________________
Dynalap lap 8 String Lap Steel Fender frontman 25B speaker changed Boss TU-12H Tuner.Founder and supporter of the Rhode Island Steel Guitar Association Founder of the New England Steel Guitar Association and the Greeneville TN Steel Jams and now founder of the North Carolina Steel Guitar Jams. Honorary member of the Rhode Island Steel Guitar Association,Member of The New England Steel Guitar Association.
Member of the Florida Steel Guitar Club,and member of Mid Atlantic Steel Guitar Association |
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Raymond Jones
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 24 Jul 2014 7:26 am Is there a prize !!??--
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| My age is showing. Long before the modern spray air fresheners there was Potpourri. Made up of dried flowers, leaves and spices that smelled good, they needed a container that had air flow to spread the aroma into the air. It's my guess that is what you are looking at. And I'm sticking with it - cheers - FUN!! Ray |
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Steve Schell
From:
California, USA
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Posted 24 Jul 2014 6:38 pm
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Fascinating piece! My guess is that it was some sort of hand out or salesman sample, demonstrating the tool making, Bakelite forming and metal stamping skills of Rickenbacher (prewar spelling) Manufacturing Company. All of these skills were of course employed in abundance in the products of Ro Pat In, National, and later Rickenbacker guitars.
Question: does anyone know if Rickenbacher made parts for Dobro as well as National? The design of the lid on this whatchamacallit is obviously derived from the Dobro coverplate. Do you suppose that Adolph made the bodies for the fiddle edge Dobros? |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 27 Jul 2014 2:45 pm
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Not knowing the dimensions of the piece, it appears like it could be some kind of drain stop with one or more additional parts that have since gone missing. From a school locker room shower, perhaps?
The late Bob Brozman volunteered the following information to me many years ago. As his story went, apparently Adolph Rickenbacher owned the biggest punch presses in Southern California in the mid-twenties. He used them primarily for subcontracting body parts to a long-ago defunct West Coast automobile manufacturer.
The Rickenbacher Manufacturing Company got its start in the guitar business by stamping out the metal panels for the Dopyera Brothers to solder into Tricone bodies for their National String Instrument Company. (Wouldn't it be something if Rickenbacher also stamped out parts for Crocker Motorcycles, thus establishing a Bigsby connection, as well?)
Rickenbacher Manufacturing most likely also stamped out the cover plates, tailpieces, etc. for the Dopyera's later wooden-bodied instruments (Dobros).
RMC also posessed the machinery to mold early thermosetting resins (aka Bakelite), and produced a wide variety of consumer products such as kitchenware and toothbrushes.
The activities involved in heading up a thriving industrial manufacturing business had made Mr. Rickenbacher an extremely wealthy individual long before he ever knew one end of an electric guitar from the other.
Almost certainly Paul Barth and George Beauchamp had been well-acquainted with Adolph, who was many years their senior, for years and years before they split from the Dopyeras to join up with Rick and found the Ro-Pat-In Company to manufacture "Electro" guitars. |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 27 Jul 2014 2:49 pm
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From the Ebay page:
| Quote: |
| It’s 6 3/4†across the top and 2 3/4†tall. |
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