Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I guess we all know that Roger liked to modify his 370/12 guitars by gutting the electronics and stashing in the innards of a treble booster and wiring the bridge pickup to go straight into that circuit, bypassing the neck and middle pickup. Resulting in that typical sound he's known for.

But when I saw this site, I discovered an even more curious modification to his 370/12 guitars.
http://www.route66guitars.com/byrd.html

If you look at the close up of the headstock, note that the octave tuners are facing forwards instead of backwards.

I guess he did that to make stringing up that guitar a little easier.

Wow, what a great post! Excellent work, WJ.

I converted my 370/12V67 in to a McGuinn 370/12Byrd. It looks and sounds great. Although the reversed tuners took some getting use to!

Very interesting mod...... no problems when closing the lid on the case, Graham?

No problems Aitch. I did the mod because McGuinn did it......but it's too confusing to be honest! After so many years of the tuners being the right way round, it tests my brain...........especially after a Guinness or two

I'd better not even think about it then!!

The tuners McGuinn installed on his BYRD #2 were gold plated vintage Schallers. The Schaller buttons were too wide (oblong) to have worked the correct way. They would have bumped into the other tuners trying to turn them. The side tuners had to stick out the front in order to work.

They're gold-plated Grovers, actually. Interestingly, RIC used these tuners on some 6-string guitars in the early 80's but they were nickel.

Graham, that V67 looks great.

Here, Graham, let ME buy that second Guinness for you, mate! ..that's it, reach right through your computer screen, wrap your fingers around it, and just pull it out through the screen...smell that cool earthy aroma, taste the rich brown tanginess of the foam... :

That's right John. Those old tuners were made by Grover.

GROOVY guitar Graham!

John;
And those Grovers[late 60s US made, BTW] had a rectangular button on them, unlike the ones seen on the late 70s-early 80s Ricks, which had round/oval buttons, like Kluson Deluxe tuners.
Martin also used these same Grovers on their Dreadnought "S" models, which had slotted headstocks.FWIW, Grover called them the "Slimline" model.Roger told me in an email some years back, in an answer to my Q about this, that he recalled that one of the Byrds roadies installed them for him.

It's interesting that out of all the Rickenbackers he used over the years, that this guitar was the only one with a tuner setup like this.

Don, I thought I'd seen some Rick guitars with these square-head Grovers, like a 320 here and there, but I am probably mistaken....I'll have to look through my photos when I get a sec...

It's interesting that out of all the Rickenbackers he used over the years, that this guitar was the only one with a tuner setup like this.

I think it's kind of interesting how relatively few Rics Roger owned in the 24 years prior to the development of his signature 370-12RM: just three 360/370 12s, a 341-12 Light Show, and a 362 12/6. Really not much of a "guitar arsenal" for a rock legend like McGuinn.

Some performers -- Bill Monroe comes to mind -- are pretty much known for having used one specific instrument throughout their career. Probably more rare in rock 'n roll, though there are exceptions, like Angus Young, Rory Gallagher, etc.

bw

Right, and I think of the great Tele guys too... like Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton.

McGuinn IMHO really was/is 'Mr. Rickenbacker', most of the great licks and sounds came from his approach to it..Petty and Mike Campbell to a lesser extent later on....