The Electro is made of cast Bakelite, a synthetic resin composed of formaldehyde and phenol that was developed in the early teens by Belgian chemist L.H. Baekeland. The Electro has a bolt-on, 23-fret, integrally fretted neck that joins the body just beyond the 14th fret. (This model may have been the first guitar to feature a bolt-on Spanish neck.) There is no truss rod since, presumably, the Bakelite design was supposed to eliminate the need for any structural neck adjusting apparatus. Nevertheless, the necks on most of these instruments do have a tendency to warp.

The unusual horseshoe-magnet pickup is placed 9/16" from the slanted, adjustable bridge--a position closer to the guitar's waist than that of the pickup on Electro's Hawaiian counterpart, the model B (BD-6, BD-7, and BD-4). The patented Vibrola tailpiece, designed by Doc Kauffman, is a curiosity in itself, a precursor of the commonly misnamed "tremolo" tailpieces of years to come (vibrato is a change in pitch, while tremolo is a change in amplitude, or loudness).

The Electro Spanish guitar functions as a solidbody instrument, and the series of hollowed-out chambers hidden beneath the fitted-dome covers do not add any beneficial acoustic properties to the instrument's sound; the cavities are there for the sake of efficient mold design, and save both in weight and in material. In size, the Electro Spanish with its baritone ukulele-shaped body resembles many of today's travel guitars, but by modern standards it is too heavy to be considered a comfortable travel instrument.
Instrument Special Features: Has Original Case
Instrument Brand: Rickenbacker
Instrument Model: Elctro Spanish
Instrument Colour: Black
Year Built: 1937
Body: Top: Fingerboard: Neck: Instrument Condition: Normal Wear and Tear
Country of Origin: U.S.A
Body Build: Neck Joint: Strings: 6 String