Adolph Rickenbacker (April 1, 1887 – March 21, 1976) was a Swiss-American production engineer and machinist who, together with George Beauchamp , created the first electric string instrument, and co-founded the Rickenbacker guitar company, also with Beauchamp.
8-400: Ro-Pat-In Corporation (ElectRo-Patent-Instruments) was founded by Adolph Rickenbacher and George Beauchamp in 1931 to manufacture and distribute electrically amplified musical instruments. Beauchamp designed the instruments, assisted by Paul Barth and Harry Watson from National String Instrument Corporation. Ro-Pat-In would eventually develop into Rickenbacher and ultimately: Rickenbacker
16-528: A leader manufacturer in musical instruments, who is still active today. Early examples from Ro-Pat-In bear the brand name Electro. At the end of 1931, Beauchamp, Barth, Rickenbacher and several other individuals banded together and formed the Ro-Pat-In Corporation (elektRO-PATent-INstruments) to manufacture and distribute electrically amplified musical instruments, with an emphasis on their newly developed A-25 Hawaiian Guitar, often referred to as
24-603: The "fry-pan" lap-steel electric guitar as well as an Electric Spanish (standard) model and companion amplifiers. In the summer of 1932, Ro-Pat-In began to manufacture cast aluminum production versions of the Fry-Pan as well as a lesser number of standard Spanish Electrics also known as "Electro-Spanish" models, built from wooden bodies similar to those made in Chicago for the National Company. These instruments constitute
32-568: The United States with older relatives after his parents died, settling in Columbus Ohio and later southern California. He Anglicized both his own name, and that of his company's brand, to Rickenbacker to capitalize on the popularity of his second cousin , America's top flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker . The World War I ace himself had felt pressure to change the spelling of his name because of the wave of anti-German sentiment caused by
40-474: The guitar businesses was given the title of president, Paul Barth vice president, and George Beauchamp secretary-treasurer. In 1934 he, along with George Beauchamp, filed a patent application for an "electrical stringed musical instrument". They received the patent in 1937 and developed an electric guitar for the mass market. Adolph Rickenbacker died from cancer in Orange County, California in 1976 at
48-579: The origin of the electric guitar by virtue of their string-driven electro-magnetic pick-ups. In 1933 the Ro-Pat-In company's name was changed to Electro String Instrument Corporation and its instruments labeled simply as "Electro". In 1934 the name of Rickenbacker" was added in honor of the company's principal partner, Adolph Rickenbacher. Adolph Rickenbacher Rickenbacker was born in Basel , Switzerland as Adolf Rickenbacher. He immigrated in 1891 to
56-594: The war, in an effort to "take the Hun out of his name." Eddie was already well known at the time, so the change received wide publicity. "From then on", as he wrote in his autobiography, "most Rickenbachers were practically forced to spell their name in the way I had..." Rickenbacher manufacturing Company produced parts for the National String Instrument Corporation, manufacturer of John Dopyera's Resonator guitars. Of particular importance
64-400: Was his ability to form guitar bodies with one of the largest deep drawing presses available. Rickenbacker held the title of Engineer at National. In October, 1931 he joined George Beauchamp and Paul Barth in the creation of Ro-Pat-In (ElectRo-Patent-Instruments), later renamed Electro String, the producer of guitars under the brand name Rickenbacker. Rickenbacker who was a significant investor in
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