
Nadia Bellingeri
Sale Manager, Private Sales & Themed Sales
Sold for £14,080 inc. premium
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"An old Rickenbacker, older than the one John Lennon had."
- Rory Gallagher, Guitar Magazine, September 1978.
Rory was fond of unconventional and unusual guitars and the short-lived Combo 400, introduced in 1956 as a student model (and discontinued by 1958), fitted the bill. It was the first Rickenbacker with the so-called 'tulip' body and featured the neck-through-body design. It also had a back covered in a greyish material, a mixture of horsehair and enamel, providing a non-slip surface.
Rickenbacker Combo 400:
Affectionately known as the 'Tulip', with body horns that curved outwards away from the neck. Rossmeisl redesigned the Combo headstock giving the top edge an outward curve that mirrored the angle of the new guitar's treble horn. This simple redesign remains the standard shape for Rickenbacker headstocks and an enduring legacy of the Tulip body guitars...The single-pickup Combo 400 was the first in a range of five Tulip-shaped models. It was launched in the spring of 1956 and featured prominently on the cover of that year's full line catalogue which also celebrated the company's 25th year. Thanks to its simple construction, the Combo 400 was competitively priced at $174.50.
Literature
Martin & Paul Kelly, Rickenbacker Guitars: Out Of The Frying Pan Into The Fireglo, Phantom Books, London, 2021.