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1935 Rickenbacher Ken Roberts
Ken Roberts is something of a mystery; popular literature claims he was a vaudevillian performer and friend of George Beauchamp (the inventor of the horseshoe pickup, and co-founder of the company that would become Rickenbacker). Regardless, when the Electro-Spanish was renamed the Ken Roberts in 1935, the world was given its first artist model electric guitar.
The Ken Roberts model featured Doc Kaufmann’s Vib-Rola tailpiece; the first vibrato tailpiece, more than 10 years ahead of Paul Bigsby’s version, and nearly 20 years in advance of Fender’s Stratocaster. The tailpiece’s arm articulated with a side-to-side motion and became a somewhat popular aftermarket tailpiece for guitars in the late 1930s and ‘40s. The Ken Roberts was the only model of guitar that featured a factory-installed Kaufmann Vibrola.
Enough of the history lesson. Let’s get to the guitar!
The Ken Roberts guitar’s body is ¼” plywood with mahogany outer layer, and was built by Harmony for Rickenbacher. The neck joins the body at the 17th fret for easier access to the high frets, and there are 22 frets in total. The body and fingerboard are bound in white, with black/white purflings. The body measures 14-1/4” across the lower bout and is roughly the size of a 14 fret Martin 00. The neck has a pronounced V profile, just like other Harmony necks of the mid 1930s. Scale is 25-1/8”, nut measures 1-3/4” wide, and the fingerboard has a 16” to 20” radius.
The heart of this guitar is the Beauchamp-designed 1.5” wide horseshoe magnet pickup. The tone is expansive, clear, and breathy. The pickup is controlled by a volume knob mounted near the waist.
The guitar has been well played, as is evidenced by the neck’s worn finish and pickwear on the top. The original frets show less wear than you’d expect and must have been dressed in recent years. There are three small filled-in holes in the top that are nicely camouflaged, and the guitar’s electronics have been worked on in the past.
