The Rickenbacker Electro String Model B was the Spanish version of the molded Bakelite Model B Hawaiian Guitar. Electro String introduced them in the summer of 1935. It was available as a six string standard model or a four string tenor guitar. These first Bakelite Spanish Guitars had a detachable necks with twenty-three frets. These frets were a molded part of the finger board: when they wore out the player had to replaced the whole neck.

Production of the ELECTRO SPANISH began in 1932 and ended in 1935, when it was replaced by the Ken Roberts Electro Spanish model. This model had a flat topped hollow maple plywood body and mahogany neck, both made by Harmony. It had a single horseshoe pickup but at first had no controls. In 1934 a single volume control knob was added, as well as body binding. The classical style slotted headstock had a pearl veneer, with a silk screened "Electro" logo on the earliest models or a metal nameplate with the pre-war "Rickenbacher" spelling.

RICKENBACKER manufactured the KEN ROBERTS ELECTRO-SPANISH between 1935 and 1940. The model was named after Ken Roberts, a Hollywood session guitarist and friend of George Beauchamp. It had lower down and bigger sized f-holes than the earlier Electro Spanish model. The concert sized body was laminated mahogany and this model had a mahogany neck, both made by Harmony of Chicago. The Ken Roberts model had a Kauffman vibrato tailpiece with a compensated bridge.

The Rickenbacker Spanish (SP model) was an arch-top acoustic-electric guitar with a maple body and a spruce top. The necks and bodies were made for Rickenbacker by another company (possibly Harmony or Gibson). The SP was made from the mid 1940s until 1950, when it was discontinued due to the high cost of the OEM bodies. The SP featured an arched spruce top with maple back and sides, a bound neck with block inlays, adjustable bridge, trapeze tailpiece and a horseshoe pickup with single tone and volume controls. The headstock featured a large t-shaped logo plate.