The 1970 Rickenbacker 370/12 onstage (July 1977)

The guitar pictured above is the 1970 Mapleglo Rickenbacker 370/12.  It is a 1970s guitar, and it is the 3rd and last Mapleglo Rickenbacker 12-string used in The Byrds.  The other two Mapleglo Rickenbacker 12-strings used in The Byrds were both 1960s guitars.

There were only two 1960s Mapleglo Rickenbacker 12-strings used in The Byrds.

#1) 1964 Rickenbacker 360/12-->370/12Byrd
Acquired new in late 1964 and used in The Byrds until early 1966.  Missing from early 1966 until it surfaced in late 1998.  Now privately owned and on display at multi-billionaire Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project museum in Seattle, Washington.  McGuinn no longer owns this guitar.

#2) 1966 Rickenbacker 370/12Byrd
Acquired new in 1966 and used as the “main guitar” in The Byrds until the early 1970s.  Privately owned since August 1979.  This guitar was never “stolen,” and it is most certainly not owned by McGuinn.

That’s it.  Only two.  No more.

There are no other 1960s Mapleglo Rickenbacker 12-strings used in The Byrds.  McGuinn is fresh out of 1960s Mapleglo Rickenbacker 12-strings used in The Byrds, and has been for decades.  No one knows better than McGuinn that he no longer owns, nor possesses, any 1960s Mapleglo Rickenbacker 12-strings used in The Byrds.  Consequently, since 1979, it has been absolutely and utterly impossible for McGuinn to donate, or loan, an actual 1960s Mapleglo Rickenbacker 12-string used in The Byrds to any museum.

In 1967 McGuinn and Byrds’ vocalist/guitarist David Crosby went to the Rickenbacker factory and bought some custom guitars. McGuinn obtained ... a 370/12 with custom wiring ... “I used the 370/12 until the end of The Byrds in 1973,” reports McGuinn ...

The Rickenbacker Book [1994], Bacon & Day, page 45

CLEVELAND, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, founding members of The Byrds, have presented a collection highlighting elements of their career to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum....

Items in the collection include two of McGuinn's trademark 12-string Rickenbacker guitars ...

• Vintage Fender bass guitar played by Hillman throughout the '60s while with the Byrds.
• A one-of-a-kind 12-string Rickenbacker guitar with psychedelic lighting effects -- the lights in the guitar's body would change as different chords were played. The guitar also has unique slanted frets....
• One of McGuinn's signature 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, blond with wood and pearl trim.

Press Release • Wednesday, January 25, 1995

BYRDMANIAX - The Online Byrds Digest
Number 37 • May 19, 1995
The above posting is also documented elsewhere on the web.

1995 - "The Concert for the Hall of Fame" was presented at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. It was the grand-opening celebration for the $92-million, I.M. Pei-designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Appearing at the concert were such Rock and Roll notables as Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Martha and the Vandellas, John Mellencamp, etc. etc. etc. The museum’s official public dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony had been held the previous day.

Today in History • September 2

Backstage at the Sausalito Art Festival
Sausalito, California
Saturday, September 2, 1995

The guitar pictured directly above is the overhauled 1970 Rickenbacker 370/12 as it appeared in a photo published in August 1994, and as it also appeared at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in October 1995, minus the upper pickguard decal seen in the photo.  The guitar is identified by a very large circular/oval cluster of woodgrain (large knot/birdseye) below the soundhole, as well as distinct lines of grain extending from the lower pickguard to the edge of the guitar just above the jackplate, among other things.  (See enhanced image on the right.)  As observed in the Rock Hall’s Byrds display case in October 1995, the guitar had clearly been totally refinished, and it appeared brand spanking new without so much as a scratch on it anywhere.  The original white nut had been replaced with a black nut, seen above, and the original custom wiring and pickguards had been replaced by standard Rick-O-Sound wiring and pickguards, also seen above (the decal had been removed).  A Rick-O-Sound jackplate bore serial number JF129 as well as the “Standard” and “Rick-O-Sound” insignia over each respective output jack.  The two string channels on the headstock were still routed out all the way through (done circa 1973-74), allowing one to see through the headstock from front to back, and it was evident that much surgery had been performed on the headstock in the past regarding the different sets of keywinds which have adorned the guitar over the years.  The keywinds on the guitar were the only hardware observed which showed any real signs of age, wear, and corrosion; and except for the 12-saddle bridge, all the other hardware, including the three Hi-Gain pickups, appeared very new and shiny with no apparent wear.