Rickenbacker 360/12

• 1. Introduction

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  In March 1964, the Beatles recorded "I Call Your Name", and George Harrison played a Rickenbacker 360/12 on it. The song introduced listeners to the distinctive sound of this twelve-string electric guitar. Players and critics usually describe that sound as jangly. The 360/12 was among the first electric twelve-string guitars ever built, and Harrison's use of it on many Beatles recordings gave it worldwide attention. Why did a guitar with twelve strings need a headstock that looks almost like a six-string's? Who received the earliest prototypes? And what hidden choice in the way the strings are paired gives the instrument its voice?

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• 2. Prototypes and a Lucky Break

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  Rickenbacker began developing its electric twelve-string in 1963, just as the folk music revival of the early 1960s sent acoustic twelve-strings surging in popularity. The electric version was still rare. The company built three prototypes, and all of them used a headstock design submitted by an employee named Dick Burke.

  Suzi Arden, a country music entertainer in Las Vegas, received the first of those prototypes. Another prototype went on show at the Savoy Hilton hotel in New York City in 1964. The display was a showcase for the Beatles, who were in town to play on The Ed Sullivan Show.

  George Harrison missed the display because he was ill. He still ended up with the twelve-string prototype. His prominent use of it in the film A Hard Day's Night created strong demand for Rickenbacker's twelve-string.

  When production began in 1964, the company changed several details from the prototype.

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• 3. A Headstock Built Backward

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  Two parallel channels are cut into the face of the 360/12 headstock, much like the slots on a classical guitar. Here they are machined only halfway through the wood. Three tuners sit on each side as on a standard guitar, with their posts projecting out from the face.

  The other three tuners on each side attach to the edges of the headstock. Their knobs point toward the rear, and their posts cross the slots. This arrangement keeps the headstock small and stops the guitar from feeling head-heavy in the player's hands.

  Routes on 360/12s made after 2005 extend all the way through the headstock. Vintage reissue guitars such as the 360/12C63 keep the original halfway cut.

  The original tuning machines were made by Kluson. Grover Rotomatics were used for a time after 1982, and Schaller M6 Minis became standard in 1985.

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• 4. The Anatomy of the Jangle

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  Most twelve-string guitars place the octave string of each pair on the bass side of the standard string. Rickenbacker reverses that convention, and this reversed ordering of the courses is unique to its twelve-strings. A semi-hollow body and a neck that runs through the body add to the timbre.

  The 360/12 is also one of very few twelve-strings built with a conventional six-string neck width. That choice has a cost. The string courses sit much closer together than on most twelve-strings, so players with large hands or fingers may find it harder to play cleanly.

  The neck was not the only part that changed as the guitar moved from workshop to factory.

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• 5. Changes on the Line

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  Production models of 1964 had a rounded edge around the top of the body and white plastic binding around the soundhole. They kept the prototype's rectangular trapeze tailpiece until late 1964. Twelve-string models were then fitted with Rickenbacker's "R" tailpiece.

  The last 360/12 OS was made in December 1968, finished in Fireglo, with serial number HL1725. After 1969, the neck gained 24 frets in place of the traditional 21.

  Two models were then produced. One was the two-pickup 360/12. The other was the three-pickup 370/12, which became the favored instrument of Roger McGuinn of the Byrds.

  The Model 366 took a standard 360/12 and added a convertible comb device to the body. The comb clamps the octave strings against the fretboard and mutes them. A performer could get a conventional six-string sound from the same guitar during a live show.

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• 6. Players Who Picked It Up

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  Glen Campbell used a 360/12 on his 1965 album The Bandits - The Electric 12, released by World Pacific Records as WP-1833. The title itself advertised the instrument.

  The list of players runs across genres. It includes Jeff Buckley, Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Tom Petty himself. Dave Gregory of XTC, Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, and Johnny Marr of The Smiths appear on it too. So do Pete Townshend of The Who, Marty Willson-Piper of The Church, and Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys.

  Steve Howe of Yes used one on the track "Awaken" on the 1977 album Going for the One. That was more than a decade after the guitar's introduction to the public.

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