POST # 640 Did you know that Rickenbacker's small Bakelite guitars of 1935 were...

Rickenbacker's small Bakelite guitars of 1935 were among the first solidbody electrics.

Despite the popularity of arch tops, the 1935 Bakelite Model B Spanish guitar made the most history for Rickenbacker. Though not entirely solid (it had thick plastic walls and a detachable Spanish neck), it achieved the desired result-virtual elimination of the acoustic feedback that plagued big-box electrics of the day.

It set the stage for all solid body guitars to follow, even though it was difficult to play sitting down on the bandstand. (A Bakelite Spanish the size most guitarists were accustomed to would have been as heavy, literally, as a sack of bowling balls.)

A variation of the Bakelite Spanish invented by Doc Kauffman (who would later become Leo Fender's first partner) was the Vibrola Spanish Guitar, an ungainly thing equipped with a motorized vibrato tailpiece. So heavy, it required a stand to hold it up.