Vintage Late 1950's Roger Electric Electric Guitar! Rare German-Built Instrument! Rickenbacker, Fender Ties!

Up for sale is this vintage late 1950's Roger Electric electric guitar. If you are unfamiliar with the history of these instruments, a summarized version is posted below.

This particular example shows heavy wear cosmetically and the finish has gotten very hot at some point and bubbled up badly, as you sometimes see on old instruments.

This instrument came in missing parts and unplayable. Our tech replaced all of the pots and jack (the new jack is a little taller, so the control plate doesn't screw all the way down which is pictured). We discovered that the neck pickup is dead and we have not attempted to repair it. The bridge pickup works just as it should. The pots are already wired up to have the pickup repaired and solder right in if you so desire. The knobs are new Hofner-style replacements. The bridge is a new replacement as well.

The fretboard shows a slight separation near the nut, but isn't a problem. It does not look like anyone has attempted to repair it and, since it doesn't move under pressure, we left it alone. The original binding is cracked in numerous places and the instrument shows some "binding rot", but it isn't flaking and looks to be pretty stable.

The instrument plays well with super low, comfortable action. The original frets are pretty low so there is a lot of buzz up and down the neck, but nothing frets out. The five piece neck is straight and there is no adjustable truss rod. It's actually an incredibly fun guitar to play and very loud unplugged because of the hollow construction.

No case or gig bag is included, but the instrument will be well packed for safe shipping. If you know what this guitar is, you know that they rarely show up for sale. Act now or regret it later!

Please be sure to check out our other listings for more great items!

THE FINE PRINT: Most of our items are used/vintage. That being said, all sales are FINAL and we do not offer returns. We only ship within the US. We do NOT make exceptions to this rule. We do not accept online trades. Please check our feedback and buy with confidence. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us!

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The Roger company was founded in Berlin, Germany before the start of World War II by Wenzel Rossmeisl and named for his son, Roger.

Of course, Germany was a bit of a mess at this point and, due to some "unapproved" business practices, Wenzel was arrested in 1951 at the East German Leipzig Fair for violation of the Foreign Exchange Act due to his smuggling of materials to build the instruments. He was convicted of the crime and was sentenced to four years of heavy penal servitude, leaving his son Roger to run what was left of the company.

Although progress was made, by 1953 Roger's easy-going and frivolous lifestyle turned into significant financial trouble and he saw no choice but to close the doors of the company and to escape to the United States, a journey that was paid for by Gibson's Ted McCarty, who had offered Roger a job with Gibson.

In March of 1954, Wenzel was released from prison and began re-establishing the Roger company. The newly designed tailpiece (found on this guitar) appeared around 1956 and showed that Wenzel had made peace with his son.

Roger Rossmeisl went on to work at Rickenbacker (Francis Hall described him as "the father of our modern Rickenbacker designs”) and Fender, designing some very popular models. He was instrumental in the design of the Rickenbacker 300 series (notice the similarities in the tailpieces?), the Rickenbacker 4000/4001 bass, the Fender Coronado, and the Fender Thinline Telecaster, among others.

By the early 1970's, Roger had found himself divorced and heavily in debt once again, which lead to his mother paying for a return flight for him to Germany. Roger had taken US citizenship and, without German citizenship, he struggled to find work and heended up working as a salesman at a department store in West Berlin.

Around the time of Roger's return to Germany, Wenzel closed the Roger shop. Wenzel passed way in 1975 and Roger, sadly, passed away in 1979 at the age of 52.
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