Martin Hart´s Rickenbacker^® Silver Hawaiian

Silver Hawaiian

Horseshoe pickup

The Silver Hawaiian Model - Some old catalogs called this guitar the N.S (New Style) Silver Hawaiian. It was a new style first produced in 1937. Rickenbacker made this model with body parts stamped out of sheet metal. They usually used brass, soldering the the pieces together to form a guitar. The stamping process was economical and allowed the company to sell lower priced instruments. The instruments were often stuffed with with crumpled newspaper or with crumpled tissue paper to eliminate unwanted resonances. (Some Hawaiian players filled them with sand!!)

Though not a budget model, the Silver Hawaiian was the first stamped metal Rickenbacker. It had 35 frets and a chrome plated hollow body. The strings attached through holes stamped into the top. At first the Silver Hawaiian had a single volume control; by 1939 it featured a tone control too. The Silver Hawaiian had either six or eight strings.

The original flyer for the guitar described how to hook it up to a radio: "Any good radio service man will know how to make an attachment with these brief instructions."

The factory discontinued the Silver Hawaiian after WW2.

From the position of the controls on your guitar I thinks it is from 1940-41. Looks like a well preserved instrument to me.

Courtesy of Martin Hart