$4,125. That's the price of a Rickenbacher Steel Guitar and Amp Set in 1932.

[Michael Kiese]

Aloha Everyone,

Just wanted to share something I researched just now.

I like to compare apples with apples when I'm researching the past.

I was reading through the Rickenbacher book made by the Kelly brothers. Apparently the very first Elektro branded 1932 Frypans came as a "Set" with an amplifier. Of course they would have....where else would musicians buy a guitar amplifier if that was the first electric guitar ever made? lol.

That set cost $175 in 1932. Only 13 sets were sold throughout that whole year. I used an inflation calculator, and that's $4,125 in 2025 money.

The Rickenbacher company had a hard time convincing musicians of that era to electrify. Musicians were concerned that a tube would fail in the middle of a performance. That doubt paired with the hefty price tag meant that not many musicians were willing and able to take the risk. Also consider the Wall Street crash of 1929 just 3 years prior.

I can just imagine being a gigging musician of that era:
Steel guitar player: "wait a minute guys, we need to play next to a wall because I have to plug this wooden box into an electrical outlet"
Bandmate: "What? You mean like a toaster oven? Where are we going to find an electrical outlet? They're only found in kitchens!"

It was a complete paradigm shift. Before that, all music was acoustic, so bands/ensembles were very mobile.

Every generation after that was accustomed to electrifying everything, and plugging everything into an outlet.

Furthermore, not too many musicians even today are willing to spend $4K+ on an instrument.

Just thought I'd share that perspective with you all. I thought it was enlightening and funny.

Enjoy your weekend!

[Nathan Laudenbach]

Thanks for posting the ads those are great!

[Roland Sturm]

That provides a good perspective - and makes it even more astonishing that this novel and then still unreliable technology took off so rapidly. It rendered resonator instruments obsolete in little time. And those aluminum resonators had only come onto the market 5 years earlier in an attempt to get more volume through mechanical ways.

Interestingly, while $175 seems like a high price when adjust for inflation (and taking into account the depression), it was in line with Gibson's top line Hawaiian guitar at $160 (with case extra). The latter wasn't even a resonator, just plain round hole guitar. Outside your living room, you'd still have to play into a microphone to be heard, like the endorsing artist in the picture of the 1932 Gibson catalog. I think the Gibson claim "no distortion" was a dig against resonators, not yet the electric instruments. In any event, Gibson jumped onto the electric bandwagon quickly [img]

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Gibson also had many much higher priced instruments in 1932. The "All American Banjo" came in at $550 in 1932, three times the price of the Rickenbacher electric combo.

My personal preference is for the older technology. As much as I like my 1950s Stringmaster, I like my resonators even more.

[Marc Muller]

Factor in how long they last and it's a pretty good deal! I always check currency and don't know how I afforded my 68 Tele I got in 74 for $175. And both play and sound as good as the day they were made.
Short video of the 33 Rik and 68 Tele.

https://youtu.be/1z-f2UnWPZg?si=72Vt7Ktp1MifQV2i
https://youtu.be/j0Q3G1Q0B-o?si=Y3eo1aFtBQAFuNgF

[Glenn Wilde]

I did the math on my '28 Tricone and I basically payed the same as the $125.00 it sold for new.

[Ian Rae]

Strange how real values stay the same despite currency changes. I don't know if it's still true, but a few years back I read that a Rolls Royce costs the same number of Mars Bars as it did in 1932

[Anthony Lis]

Very interesting post!

[Michael Kiese]

Gibson also had many much higher priced instruments in 1932. The "All American Banjo" came in at $550 in 1932, three times the price of the Rickenbacher electric combo.

$550 in 1932 is $13,000 today. What. The. F?

What musician could afford an instrument that cost $13,000 and take it out on a gig? You'd lose it or it would get stolen!

Interestingly enough, when I research more about the past, the economy was SO STRONG, especially post WWII. Everybody had money, and they wanted to spend it.

I was reading up on Arthur Lyman (famous Hawaii musician in the 1950s that made "Exotica" genre music).

He graduated high school on Oahu and went to work as a clerk in a Hotel. A local bandleader heard him play vibrophone, and offered him a job playing in his band 5 nights a week. The pay was more than triple his pay as a clerk. I don't remember the 1950's pay, but I do remember that the inflation adjustment was about 60-70K per year.

What a life, right? Playing live music in Waikiki 5-6 nights a week in the golden 1950's era? Making 60-70K per year? Playing vibrophone? Wow.

Arthur Lyman went on and made his own records and sold many albums and became the equivalent of a millionaire. What a life.

Maybe there were enough rich people in 1932 that really like banjo music, so banjo players could afford a 13K banjo...

[Glenn Wilde]

I had a chance at a pan once and it didn't work out, a guy called my friends music store when I was working the counter, he sounded very old and asked " do y'all buy electric banjo's"?
I say, probably, definitely interested now, I asked if the " banjo" said any name on it, he says " it's kinda small, says Electro at the end of the neck"!!
I could barely contain my excitement, I asked if he knew where we were and all that, he never showed
Pretty sure he had us confused with another store

[Fred Treece]

Supply and demand changes, the production landscape changes. The global economy today is practically unrecognizable from what it was in 1932 (thankfully!), as is daily life for most Americans, including musicians. Instrument manufacturers know they aren’t going to sell many $4,125 lap steels to guys n gals that are doing $50 gigs on weekends.

[Andy Volk]

Ralph Kolsiana told me that when his band, The Waikiki Swingsters, played Atlantic City's Steel Pier in 1935/36 Rickenbacher outfitted the whole group with electric instruments for free as a marketing ploy. Ralph had the 4th frypan made.
> Ralph is on the far right.

[Andy Volk]

Link to a 4-part documentary on Ralph I and a friend edited in the early 90s from VHS tapes Ralph gave me. He recounts his amazing life story.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... siana+Part

[Larry Allen]

In the late 50’s in ND all the band leaders were Accordian players (don't know what he made) and we got a ride to the gig and $17 a night,. Ok then as day job was $.85/hr in a gas station

[Michael Kiese]

In the late 50’s in ND all the band leaders were Accordian players (don't know what he made) and we got a ride to the gig and $17 a night,. Ok then as day job was $.85/hr in a gas station

17 bucks a night playing music when typical pay was 85¢ an hour???

Dang! Those were the days!

People actually PAID for and ENJOYED live music!

There are just too many forms of entertainment nowadays, and technology completely changed the gigging landscape.

[Larry Allen]

Good ole Barn dances and Honky-Tonks..gas was $.18..all guitar strings were Black Diamond there.. I made a Carvin table(lap) steel, parts for an 8 string from the Carvin catalog in high school wood shop…home made bar.. great days..