Rickenbacker continued to specialize in steel guitars well into the 1950s, but with the advent of rock and roll, F.C. Hall, owner of Radio & Television Equipment Co. (Radio-Tel), purchased the Electro String Company from Adolph Rickenbacker in 1953. Hall overhauled the business and began focusing on standard electric and acoustic guitars rather than the steel guitars the company pioneered. In 1956, Rickenbacker introduced two instruments with the "neck through body" construction that became a standard feature of many of the company's products, including the Combo 400 guitar, the model 4000 bass, and, later, the 600 series. Neck Thru consists of a single wooden piece from the neck through the central body section.
