50’s Ric Bd8

[Shea Stevenson]

Price check? Opinions? My Ric is a ‘39, model 59 and it’s the best sounding guitar I’ve ever owned, I think… I’m totally blown away by how good this thing is, even compared to the 59 Jazzmaster and Klein electric I own, was deep into classical at the time in school and it was the only one he ever made (at least till that point) with Indian Rosewood, Red Cedar and Brazilian Mahogany, had special one off pickups the whole nine’s. It matched a classical guitar I loved… anyways, point being the 30’s Ric’s are incredible instruments how do the 50’s compare? I only have played 6 string laps thus far and would like to try a 7 or 8, tho I intend to add a B string in some way for chord options. Anyways, your thoughts are most appreciated!

Thanks!

[Tim Whitlock]

If you love the metal body model 59, you must try a Bakelite. I have a '37 Silver Hawaiian and a '51 BD6. Although the pickup on the SH is a bit stronger and toneful, the Bakelite gives the BD6 a rich, smooth, buttery voice that is addictive. Here is a quick demo of the BD6:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve9CAJWNmFw

[Brad Bechtel]

Eight string Rickenbacker lap steels are pretty rare - the Bakelite versions are even more rare.

Here's one for sale on Reverb.

Gryphon Stringed Instruments has one as well , but I haven't been down to Palo Alto to check it out yet.

[Dennis Belt]

I’ve never had the pleasure of playing a BD8, but I have read on this site that the string spacing is pretty tight. Apparently the 6 and 7 string BD’s are the same spacing, and the 8’s are different. Just something to consider.

[Shea Stevenson]

I’ve certainly never played one and honestly when I was thinking on this a couple weeks ago I came to the conclusion I’d prefer a 7 over everything lol but that was so theoretical…. Idk what I was even on about now but I really do want a string with the 7th degree of whatever key it’s in. You have a 7th degree and maybe one of those benders positioned proper for double bends (behind the bar and lever) and I can’t imagine anything coming at you, you couldn’t handle. It’s really fine now but you know I keep wanting to bend 2 notes at once and the mechanics of that while fretting other things it troublesome.

What do you think a fair price would be?

[Shea Stevenson]

Also, forgive my ignorance but is string spacing an issue? What’s the potential problem?