Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Glenn, I'm pretty sure JWilli and 1 other person bought it together...It was pretty expensive as I remember....

Yes, it's part of the 'Lizard's Thicket Travelling Jangle Show'..LOL...and it will be on the list for sure. Spring 1964.

I remember when it sold. I thought it was either expensive for a guitar that didn't look very playable, or rather cheap for a museum piece. But I can't remember what it sold for.

Just had a look at the photo's of that rare 12. What a great guitar.

I wonder should it be called a prototype RM1993? Aside from the headstock, it appears to be a 1993....

Glen, it is a 360S/12 for it is wired for two jacks, I believe one is Rick-O-Sound instead of a dual mono setup. It was made right in the middle of the early 1993 period, May '64. Neck has a square heel, too.

Doesn't it have an unbound fretboard with standard dot inlays though?

The Ric-O-Sound does take it in the direction of being a delux instrument.

May '64 does put it in the 1993 production period.

Strangely, the more recent re-issue 1993's have dual jackplates. Peter's one does at least...

Peter's guitar IMO models a 360S/12 more than a 1993, due to it's deluxe inlays, dual jackplate and bound body with the f-hole. There were a small amount of these guitars made in 1964, one of them is the one Greg picked up off of ebay, while one was the model demoed by Aussie Danny DeLacy at the Rickenbacker booth at the '64 summer trade show....another went to Britain as a sample to Rose-Morris and ultimately ended up with Pete Townsend...who smashed it. It actually may have been the first Ricky 12 he got his hands on for he played it in the very early days of The Who.

I believe John Hall verified it as a "360/12 w/Banjo keys" from a Radio-Tel doc sheet at the time of the auction, and that's what we've went by ever since....Yes it has many hallmarks of an RM 1993 but it's designation is a US-market 360S/12.

That's a 1993 Pete is playing above; the 360S/12 was from a slightly earlier time period and had a bound neck with deluxe inlays and chrome-top knobs. For anyone who knows of the pic of Pete sitting in front of a wall of smashed Rickenbackers, the 360S/12 is the guitar in the upper(correction:LOWER)left-hand corner.

Yep. Lower left.

Is the one above his head in the wall shot the same one he's playing in the previous picture?

Could be, Glenn. I suppose we'd need to see the peghead to see the shape of the TRC. That one is more than likely a '65 model with it having the 'R' tailpiece, although it could be late '64 production.

Might be tough to tell by '65 as the smashing was a part of the act by then, and he was recycling parts to keep guitars available, eh? Glancing up at the "Maximum R&B" poster I see the one he had outfitted with a Gibson tailpiece. He said in an interview that the photographer to took this picture took all of those guitars, said he had a friend who would repair the. Pete never saw them again. Sleazy photographer. Naive Pete.