Rickenbacker 360

The Rickenbacker 360 is a semi-acoustic guitar made by Rickenbacker, and part of the Rickenbacker 300 Series. The instrument incorporates many features standard on Rickenbacker guitars, including a three-ply maple/walnut neck, shallow headstock angle, a thick rosewood fretboard finished with clear conversion varnish, and double truss rods. The 360 also features stereo or mono output, a body with Rickenbacker's "crescent moon" cutaway shape and rounded top edge and bound back, and an R-shaped trapeze tailpiece. A twelve-string version of the 360 is available. A three-pickup version of this model is also available, the 370.
George Harrison of The Beatles had been extensively using an earlier style 360/12, but retired it immediately from stage performances upon receiving the new style 360/12 in August 1965. The first recording by The Beatles of this new model 360/12 can be heard on the song "If I [Needed Someone]". Roger McGuinn, of The Byrds, played a 12-string Rickenbacker 370. The six-string Rickenbacker 360 model is favoured by artists including R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Against Me!'s Laura [Jane Grace]. The 360 was once produced with slanted frets for "a natural finger angle," but negative response led Rickenbacker to switch back to perpendicular frets.