Low End Bee Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 [i]"On that bass forum you're on- can you ask a question for me. My friend has a bass. On the headstock is 'Roger'. Detective work over the years has told him it's a Roger Rossmeissl, the fella who made the Rickenbacker classics. But he was wondering what more info he could find. If he could date the thing by serial number etc. Can you see if anyone knows anything and I could get you a picture maybe? It looks like it's a 50s 60s thing. You sometimes see Roger guitars (£1000+) but Basses are never to be seen."[/i] OK I'm asking[attachment=36022:P2212080003.jpg] That's not an attractive headstock. The rest looks cool though. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 Hi - your friend's close but not quite right. Roger guitars & basses were made in Germany by Wenzel Rossmeisl, who named his instrument line after his son Roger. Roger followed in his dad's footsteps as a luthier, emigrated to the US where he did indeed work for Rickenbacker, and influenced much of Rick's now iconic design. [url="http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/theroger.html"]Roger guitars[/url] Funnily enough, the only Roger I remember seeing before was a bass that came up on Ebay a couple of years back. I flagged it up here & Happy Jack bid on it, was pipped by a couple of quid, if I remember. Not sure but I think it might've been acoustic. I dunno about Roger guitars selling for £1000+, but this bass went for about £120! Although you don't find a great many genuine experts among Ebay bidders, and I'm pretty sure the seller thought it was car boot junk & listed it accordingly! Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenW Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 [quote name='Low End Bee' post='649517' date='Nov 9 2009, 12:26 PM'][i]"On that bass forum you're on- can you ask a question for me. My friend has a bass. On the headstock is 'Roger'. Detective work over the years has told him it's a Roger Rossmeissl, the fella who made the Rickenbacker classics. But he was wondering what more info he could find. If he could date the thing by serial number etc. Can you see if anyone knows anything and I could get you a picture maybe? It looks like it's a 50s 60s thing. You sometimes see Roger guitars (£1000+) but Basses are never to be seen."[/i] OK I'm asking[attachment=36022:P2212080003.jpg] That's not an attractive headstock. The rest looks cool though. Any ideas?[/quote] I am "that friend" and that's my guitar. Thanks for the post To fill in some more details, what I know about "Roger" is that it was the brand his father Wendal created back in Germany, rather than Roger himself, although I assume he worked there too before he went to the States. They mostly made 6-string guitars like this [url="http://www.tatadoheaven.com/Ric/germancarve.html"]http://www.tatadoheaven.com/Ric/germancarve.html[/url] The tailpiece pic at the end that says Roger late 50s, matches mine exactly... I don't think mine has a serial number anywhere, certainly I've had it 15 years or so and I've never noticed it... but as the original post says, I've never seen a bass version either. My feeling is that is a bit of a mix of a guitar, I can't believe it's a one off bass built nearly 60 years ago. Mind you, it sounds like a 60 year old guitar... Still all opinions, advice, theories welcome... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenW Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 [quote name='Bassassin' post='650689' date='Nov 10 2009, 03:45 PM']Hi - your friend's close but not quite right. Roger guitars & basses were made in Germany by Wenzel Rossmeisl, who named his instrument line after his son Roger. Roger followed in his dad's footsteps as a luthier, emigrated to the US where he did indeed work for Rickenbacker, and influenced much of Rick's now iconic design. [url="http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/theroger.html"]Roger guitars[/url] Funnily enough, the only Roger I remember seeing before was a bass that came up on Ebay a couple of years back. I flagged it up here & Happy Jack bid on it, was pipped by a couple of quid, if I remember. Not sure but I think it might've been acoustic. I dunno about Roger guitars selling for £1000+, but this bass went for about £120! Although you don't find a great many genuine experts among Ebay bidders, and I'm pretty sure the seller thought it was car boot junk & listed it accordingly! Jon.[/quote] Cheers Jon, you must have beaten me to posting by seconds.... So another bass exists! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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