During this same period, the distributor Radio-Tele changed names to Rickenbacker, Inc., thus adopting a moniker people had used all along anyway. The company also added several novel guitars to its line. A patented feature on some new models, and an option on others, was slanted frets, which better matched the angle of the player's hand. Rickenbacker basses dominated production during the early years of the decade-in many circles, a Rick bass was the only one to own. As the saying goes, fashions go in and out of style.
Style is always in fashion.
Today the manufacturing and distribution of Rickenbacker guitars and basses is combined into RIC, the name used since F.C. Hall retired in September 1984 and John Hall, along with his wife Cindalee, became the sole owners of the company. In addition to newly designed guitars and basses, the company offers faithful reissues of the classics played by the Beatles and other famous artists. RIC has offered highly successful, limited-edition signature models endorsed by such diverse players as Roger McGuinn, Pete Townshend, Tom Petty, and John Kay. A DJ once asked George Harrison if he liked a guitar he doodled on during a radio interview. Asked the same question 65 years after the invention of modern electrics, thousands of satisfied guitar players would say exactly the same thing.