by Spud1950 » Sun Dec 21, 2008 4:30 am
The Rickenbacker frying pan is easy,as it is one of the holy grails of lap steels. They came on the market sometime in 1932 and were produced until sometime in 1958. Beside being sought after for their unique tone, they are considered to be the first true electric guitar ever made. There are two models.The A-22,having a scale length of 22" and the A-25, having a scale length of 25". Depending on condition and age, they can be quite valuble. Here's a beautiful A-22 that sold at Elderly Instruments.
Here's some general info. You can use Google to find lot's more info on the net.
The Bruno is a tough one. I seem to remember seeing something about them on the net or seeing one on eBay, but Google turns up nothing about them. What I suggest is that you join the lap steel forum below. It cost $5 to join, but the info you'll get will be more then worth it. The members are very well known players and quite expert about the instruments. You can take pictures of your steels and post them. I'm sure someone there will know about the Bruno. You may very well also get info on where to get the parts you need for the Ricky. A lot of these guys do really great restorations on old lap steels and someone may even have what you need. Take a look at the site. You can browse without joining, but you can't post. Real interesting steel stuff here.
(Darn it. I'm having that url link problem again. Sorry!)
Edit - Aha! I knew I had seen something about Bruno and here it is. Bruno was an outfit that sold guitars made for them by many various companies on which they would put the Bruno brand name .Some Bruno lap steels were actually made by Guyatone in Japan. Here's a thread from the Steel Guitar Forum. Does yours look like any of these? Be sure to click on the eBay link for the Guyatone Conqueror lap steel a few posts down.