# Byrds Roger McGuinn's custom 1966 Rickenbacker



## Beatles (Feb 7, 2006)

This piece of music history just sold for approximately US $178,685.50. Here are some details...

Serial No. FF 1849 (June 1966), in natural Mapleglo finish, thin hollow New Style body with rounded top edges with chrome-plated metal parts, laminate maple/walnut neck, twenty-one fret lacquered rosewood standard scale fingerboard with Deluxe triangular inlays, three 'chrome bar' pickups, three large and one small rotary switches, two toggle and one mini selector switches and white split-level pickguard; and a silver rectangular hard-shell case with blue lining stencilled on both sides in yellow BYRDS and FRAGILE.
This non-production model guitar was ordered by Roger McGuinn and custom built in 1966 to his specifications which included a custom treble booster circuitry. It was a replacement for McGuinn's first Rickenbacker 12 string guitar, a two pick-up 1964 360-12NS (of which serial number is said to have been DJ451. Rather confusingly, this first guitar appears to have been converted with an extra pick up and a custom electric circuit in early 1966 before it was replaced with the guitar in this lot.) The designation 370 indicates a top-of-the-line three pick-up model (the 360 model had two pick-ups). Even production 370-12s were rare guitars in their own right as, according to Rickenbacker's factory shipping record, only 5 or so of regular 370-12s were built in 1966.
Roger McGuinn almost exclusively played this guitar on stage and in studio from 1966 until early 1971 and possibly used it in studio thereafter until 1979. His numerous stage appearances with this guitar included the legendary Monterey Pop Festival on 17 June 1967 and the classic Byrds albums including Younger Than Yesterday, The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Sweet Heart of Rodeo were recorded with this guitar. Its use both on stage and in studio has been well documented by a countless number of photographs. It is understood that McGuinn replaced the original perpendicular Kluson tuners on this guitar with a set of mini gold Grover tuners in late 1969. This guitar has been in private collections since 1979 and has not been regularly played or modified ever since.


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## Xanadu (Feb 3, 2006)

wow.:sport-smiley-002:


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## faracaster (Mar 9, 2006)

Double Wow :sport-smiley-002: :sport-smiley-002: 

I just bought a Ricky 12-string last week (a 660-12) and I LOVE it. First three songs I played when picking it up were....Mr. Tamborine Man, Turn,Turn,Turn and Eight Miles High..........Followed closely by, You Can't Do That, Ticket to Ride and If I Needed Someone and of course, A Hard Day's Night.

Cheers
Pete


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## FrogRick12 (Feb 21, 2006)

Don't forget The Waiting, Anytime At All, Needles & Pins, So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star, It's My Life, I Call Your Name, Feel A Whole Lot Better, What You're Doing....


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