Adolph Rickenbacher
Adolph Rickenbacher (b. 1886) was the founder of the
Rickenbacker guitar company.
Born in Switzerland and moving to the United States as a child, he settled in
Los Angeles in 1928.
His Rickenbacher Manufacturing Company made metal bodies for National Steel Guitars beginning in the 1920s. It was through this connection that Rickenbacher met
George Beauchamp and
Paul Barth, and in 1931 the three founded the
Ro-Pat-In Company. In 1932 they produced the first cast aluminum versions of the
lap steel guitar. In 1934 the company was renamed the
Electro String Instrument Corporation. By the time production ceased in 1939, about 2,700
Frying Pan lap steel guitars had been produced.
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History of a particular guitar with some details of Rickenbacher and his companies.
