360/12 Twelve-string, Old style (serial no. EJ 117)
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.After Rickenbacker introduced its Model 360/12 to the Beatles in 1964, the guitar’s jangly, chiming sound became a signature of 1960s pop music. Twelve-string guitars feature six pairs of strings—the four lowest are doubled an octave up and the two highest doubled in unison—creating a sound that folk legend Pete Seeger described as like “the clanging of bells.” Influential luthier Roger Rossmeisl electrified the instrument with modernistic flair, including a slash-shaped soundhole, an asymmetrical double-cutaway body, a slotted headstock that enables tuners to be mounted sideways or backward, and a stringing design in which the player strikes the lower string first. Rickenbacker produced only forty-three examples of the “Old Style” 360/12, from 1963 to 1968.
Technical Description:
Semi-hollow body with "slash" soundhole; Maple body and neck, padauk fingerboard; 24 3/4 in. scale; "Fireglo" sunburst finish with off-white double binding; set neck with dual truss rods, crushed pearl inlays and off-white binding to fingerboard; slotted headstock with side- and back-facing tuners; two chrome bar pickups, three-way selector switch, two volume and two tone controls, master volume control, mono and "Rick-O-Sound" stereo outputs; Chrome bridge, tailpiece, and pickup covers, nickel tuners; white plastic pickup and truss rod covers, black plastic knobs
Technical Description:
Semi-hollow body with "slash" soundhole; Maple body and neck, padauk fingerboard; 24 3/4 in. scale; "Fireglo" sunburst finish with off-white double binding; set neck with dual truss rods, crushed pearl inlays and off-white binding to fingerboard; slotted headstock with side- and back-facing tuners; two chrome bar pickups, three-way selector switch, two volume and two tone controls, master volume control, mono and "Rick-O-Sound" stereo outputs; Chrome bridge, tailpiece, and pickup covers, nickel tuners; white plastic pickup and truss rod covers, black plastic knobs
Artwork Details
- Title: 360/12 Twelve-string, Old style (serial no. EJ 117)
- Artist: Rickenbacker, Inc. (American)
- Date: ca. 1963
- Medium: Maple, padauk, nickel, chrome, plastic, pearloid
- Dimensions: Length: ~40 in. (101.6 cm.)
Width: ~15 1/4 in. (38.7 cm.)
Depth: ~1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm.)
Weight: 7-9 lbs. - Classification: Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted
- Credit Line: Collection of Perry A. Margouleff
- Curatorial Department: Musical Instruments