Short Takes: Nelson Guitars
As vigorous as John Hall has been in protecting Rickenbacker intellectual property over the years, he has never attempted to protect the company’s earliest models. And I mean, that’s fair—most early Rickenbackers are fairly obscure to most people, which is why I assume he’s never bothered to apply for any trademarks around them. But not everyone isn’t aware of those old designs—tell me that Dennis Fano didn’t take a LOT of “inspiration” from the Combo 600/800!
I’m a little surprised Hall hasn’t gone after the Fano’s “upper guard” pickguard on “trade dress” grounds, but there you go. Regardless, as obvious of a copy as the Fano is, it ain’t got nothing on the Nelson Coquette!
I’m going to show you two pictures. Tell me which is a Rickenbacker Combo 400 and which is a Nelson Coquette.
There’s “inspired by,” like the Fano, and there’s “exact copy”. The Coquette is the latter.
Well, not a 100% exact copy. The Rickenbacker paddle headstock IS something Hall vigorously defends, and Nelson took steps to avoid that.
So what’s the story here? Well, as best as I can put it together Nelson Guitars was a one man shop run by Minnesota luthier Bobby Nelson from about 2011-2019. He began with acoustic guitars, but seems to have added the Rickenbacker-based Coquette solidbody to the line around 2012. Here’s how dedicated he was to getting it “right”: given that the obscure DeArmond pickups the Combo 400 originally wore hadn’t been available in 50+ years or ever copied, he built his own cosmetic replicas!
Here’s what else he got right: neck-through construction with painted body wings, Grover Sta-Tite Tuners, anodized pickguard, Rickenbacker-style 6 saddle bridge and bridgeplate…it’s a GOOD copy.
That said, it appears that the bigger seller was a riff on that design—a 30.5” scale Coquette bass!
Available with both single and two pickups, to me the tulip shape looks even better on a bass. It’s something we didn’t even realize we always needed!
And if the full tulip isn’t your thing, he also offered a “half-tulip” Socialite model, although it doesn’t seem like nearly as many of these were made.
Hall occasionally made grumbling noises about the design, but never seems to have followed through in any way. The website seems to have gone dormant around 2019, but I found this 2023 post from Nelson on thegearpage.net that kind of explains it:
I’m still building instruments, just haven’t had much time to do it since seeing gainful employment a few years ago. Hoping to get back to it this year.
Considering he was a one man operation selling U.S. handmade instruments for around $1500…that’s a hard way to make a living, and it’s understandable why he might need to get a day job. Which is a shame—if I’d have known about these when he was active, I’d have a Coquette bass today. They do pop up from time to time on Reverb, and now that I know they exist I’m going to keep my eyes peeled!
Want to learn more about…everything else? Check out the rickenbacker101 site map and see what’s already been covered! Have a suggestion about what we should tackle next? Drop it in the comments and we’ll add it to the queue. This one was Chad’s idea!
I totally appreciate all your research and enthusiasm :)
Great article!