ShortScale.org

Many of us consider Fender short-scales to be the "originals", with the 22.5" scale Musicmasters hitting the scene in April, 1956. But, just a few miles to the north of the Raymond Avenue plant in Fullerton, Rickenbacker was beginning to produce the Combo 400, which evolved in 1957 to the Combo 900, 950 and 1000 models.

Though Rick had been producing a range of short-scaled lap steels with a 22.5" scale length, for some reason when Francis Hall, Paul Barth, and Roger Rossmeisl designed the short-scaled "tulip" Combos, they used a 20.75" scale. This scale continues in their line to the present day, with the reissue 325C64 "Miami" retaining this measurement.

I'm a big fan of both Fender and Rickenbacker shorties, and have several of each in my collection. I've also restored a fair number of both for other collectors and players. I own one of the first Rickenbacker solid-bodied Combo 400s ever made, an early '56, and also one of the last batch of solid body short-scaled Rickenbackers, an October 1983, ES-16. I've also got a couple of '56 Duo-Sonics (including one with an April '56 neck on it!), as well as the Jaguars we love and a couple of Jagstangs that we love to hate.

Here's the '56 Combo 400 as I received it, 99% complete, but quite, er, well-loved, last May:



This guitar actually predates the classic "toaster" pickup by a year or more; it features a Rowe-DeArmond single coil that's quite gutsy. Note that, like the Fenders of the era, it features a gold-anodized aluminum pickguard.

Those chrome caps on the body sides are bolt covers--the body is a neck-through three-piece with bolt-on side wings.



Here it is in November, after I finished restoring it. The neck is finished in natural alder with a rosewood fretboard; the body wings are alder with a Cloverfield Green nitro finish. Cloverfield Green was a Rick color for four years. It's similar to Fender Sherwood Green, just a bit lighter and bluer. This guitar has an original pickup and harness, but has been refretted and has new tuners and pickguard, as well as a replated bridge and new Kauffman Vib-Ro-La vibrato. Kauffman is the same "Doc" Kauffman that was Leo Fender's partner for a couple of years back then...



The back features a flocked guard that's held on with copper brads. The flocking keeps the guitar from slipping around, as it was originally hung from a single saxophone strap. The strap hooked into the nickel-plated donut-shaped washer on the back.



Next is a '57 Combo 400 in Jetglo (Black) that I restored for a Canadian customer. This thing was literally painted with a brush and brown fence paint, when I got it to restore. The pickguard had been painted in orange Day-Glo spray paint. This one also had a full resto, including a new aluminum pickguard.



Next up is a '57 Combo 1000 that also came to me as a Jetglo basket case. The owner of this one was left-handed and wanted the body redone as a lefty body. I made new wings, left-handed, routed for the controls, bridge and vibrato, and made the guard like the others, but from single ply styrene as original. The body was done from curly maple with a killer flame. and finished with an amber tint to the clear nitro:



Full-length shot with LH Rickenbacker nameplate on the headstock:



Last for this post, here's a shot of a '64 short scale Combo 1000 Rickenbacker, also finished in Cloverfield Green, but with an ambered clearcoat added, which brightens it up a bit. This one has the toaster pickup, and the full-length shot shows just how short 20.75" is for a guitar!



I'll soon post some of my shorty Fenders.

ace post. You do incredible work
I'm excited to see the rest of your shorties!

These are beautiful. The green one is gorgeous.

Except for the pickguards I really like those!

another guitar "pornographic" material! "ban" this dude.
nice ricks!

rlm2112 wrote:These are beautiful. The green one is gorgeous.

+1
I didn't know rickenbacker did shortscales - what's the going prices these days?

Billy--the big guards on these take some getting used to for anyone used to the look of Fender guards! I especially regret the guard size when it covers up so much gorgeous maple as the one on that lefty above. (BTW, it's got an identical back guard, too, to prevent buckle rash...)

RLM--there are two Cloverfield Green guitars above, the '56 at top and the '64 at bottom. I agree that the color is really special, and I'm not too keen on green generally.

Aaron: Thanks for the compliment. I think...

Ploppy--The going rate...an interesting topic, as vintage Rickenbackers are typically quite affordable compared to Fenders and Gibsons. Whereas there are thousands of early Strats and Teles (and Fender basses) that sit in collections and inventories with price tags in 5 figures, there are only a handful of vintage Rickenbacker guitars on existence that would bring $20K or more, and these are mostly celebrity-owned or one-offs. Rick basses from the '50s and '60s are the priciest of the lot, however, and worth $10K to $30K, depending on who's buying.

The vast majority of vintage Ricks are in the $5K and less price range, with the solid-bodied guitars topping out at $4K or so.

Three of the four solid-bodied guitars shown in my post above are in the $2500.00-$3500.00 range, while the restored '64 green Combo 1000 (bottom guitar) recently sold for under $1K between friends. It's probably worth more like $1500.00, though.

Those are really cool, what did you do with the original wings from the left handed conversion?

desertan wrote:Billy--the big guards on these take some getting used to for anyone used to the look of Fender guards! I especially regret the guard size when it covers up so much gorgeous maple as the one on that lefty above. (BTW, it's got an identical back guard, too, to prevent buckle rash...)

Yea to me the finishes on rickenbackers always look amazing! To cover that up with a huge pickguard just seems wrong to me!

Totoro guitar is AMAZING. Would love that with 24" neck. How did you make the bridge cover bit with the pickguard?

Sholkham, the wings went back to the customer, at his request. He says he's going to use them in a sculpture. OK, whatever...

Billy, I seriously gave some thought to reducing the guard size on that curly maple one, or making part of the guard transparent, but the customer wanted it authentic, so I kept the same footprint.

Dave, I probably should have been clearer...the green Combo 400 with the vibrato in that pic is 24 5/8" scale, not the 20 3/4" of other Rick shorties. So, it's got some sustain and room for your fingers, too. It's a nice player, although my '56 Duo-Sonic feels better to me because of the sculpted body and the tighter-radiused neck.

Zikes, like wow. Some super great stuff you have there. Please do a sound demo.

[quote="desertan"]Many of us consider Fender short-scales to be the "originals", with the 22.5" scale Musicmasters hitting the scene in April, 1956. But, just a few miles to the north of the Raymond Avenue plant in Fullerton, Rickenbacker was beginning to produce the Combo 400, which evolved in 1957 to the Combo 900, 950 and 1000 models.

Not to mention that by 1956, Gibson had released the ES-140 (1950) ES-350T (1955) Byrdland (1955) and ES-140T (1956)....all guitars with either 22.75" or 23.5" scales. Sorry....i'm still new here, and all kinds of tore up on lager.

these are incredible, i have always been a big fan of the tulip bodied rics. i would love to own one some day. awesome work!

Very nice work - they look fantastic!