| Alongside guitar names like Gibson and Fender, you | | | | guitars himself. The guitars had become so attached |
| can't mention the best of the best without adding the | | | | to the Beatles that one of the models was known as |
| name of Rickenbacker. This company has been | | | | the "Beatlebacker". Never in history had one guitar |
| around since 1931, but it wasn't until 1956, on its 25th | | | | been so identified with one particular group or person.It |
| anniversary, when Rickenbacker began to make a | | | | wasn't long though until Rickenbacker made its way to |
| name for itself in the world of guitars.That year, | | | | a number of groups. Roger McGuinn of the Byrds |
| Rickenbacker introduced the Combo 400. Guitar | | | | bought himself a Rickenbacker after seeing the |
| collectors call it the guitar with the butterfly style body. | | | | Beatles movie "A Hard Day's Night". The sound of the |
| But Rickenbacker didn't stop there. That same year | | | | guitar that McGuinn bought actually became the |
| they added a solid body electric bass guitar. The one | | | | trademark of the Byrds' sound. Other groups and |
| thing about these guitars that made them different | | | | artists that latched onto the Rickenbacker were Pete |
| from any other guitar was that they had necks that | | | | Townsend of The Who, John Fogerty of Creedence |
| extended from the head to the bass of the body. | | | | Clearwater Revival and John Kay of Steppenwolf. By |
| Today they call this neck through body construction. | | | | the late 60s there was a six week waiting period just |
| Rickenbacker was the first company to make guitars | | | | to get one of these guitars. They were beyond |
| like this and soon came to be a trademark of the | | | | popular. They were a true phenomenon.By the 1970s, |
| company.During the 1950s, Rickenbacker had many | | | | Rickenbacker started making guitars with detachable |
| popular models. Probably the most popular were the | | | | necks. They even matched slanted frets to match the |
| hollow body six string Capri models. This guitar was | | | | angle of the player's hand. They also started making |
| first unleashed on the world in 1958. The guitar itself | | | | their famous double neck models that became quite |
| was designed by Roger Rossmeisl. There were three | | | | standard. Other groups started jumping on the |
| models of this guitar and each one had a different | | | | Rickenbacker bandwagon like Tom Petty and |
| body style.But it wasn't until the 1960s that | | | | R.E.M.Currently, Rickenbacker is as popular as it ever |
| Rickenbacker has sealed its name in rock and roll | | | | was. More current groups like Oasis, Pearl Jam, |
| history when its guitars got permanently fastened to | | | | Radiohead and U2 all use Rickenbacker guitars to get |
| the British invasion of the mid 60s. This invasion came | | | | their patented sound.If you want to get an idea of just |
| in the form of the greatest rock band of all time, the | | | | how popular Rickenbacker is, George Harrison of The |
| Beatles. The groups featured several Rickenbacker | | | | Beatles was once asked what guitar he played and |
| guitars in its arsenal. Before the Beatles called it quits | | | | he answered, "Of course it's a Rickenbacker".Could |
| for good, John Lennon had owned four Rickenbacker | | | | there have been any other answer? |