360/12 Twelve-string, Old style (serial no. EJ 117)

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