Two Guitars in One!

This 15 1/4-inch thin-body (1 1/2 inches) convertible twelve-string guitar weighs just 7.70 lbs., with a nut width of 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Maple body, single-bound on the bottom edge, with a bound "cat's-eye" or slash soundhole, maple and walnut neck, bound rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and triangular sparkle crushed pearl inlays extending completely across fretboard. Individual Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. Two Rickenbacker chrome bar "toaster" pickups with outputs of 8.85k and 10.60k and a "comb" string converter to disengage six of the twelve strings. Two-piece split-level white plastic pickguard. Five controls (two volume, two tone, and one blend control) plus three-way selector switch. Seven-sided black plastic knobs with metal tops with black lettering. Rickenbacker bridge and Rickenbacker "R" tailpiece. "Rick-O-Sound" stereo and "Standard" jack inputs. This very rare guitar (one of only two made in 1966 in Mapleglo, or Natural, out of a total of seven) is in exceptionally fine condition, with only minimal belt buckle wear on the back and a few tiny blemishes. Housed in its original Rickenbacker black hardshell case with blue plush lining (9.00).

"Rickenbacker's 'string converter' guitars first appeared in 1966. Inventor James E Gross came up with a converter 'comb' mounted to the body of a 12-string that could be manipulated to remove from play all or some of the second strings of each pair...Gross wrote in his explanatory letter to Rickenbacker of the converter's ability to allow single strings to be used for bass notes while retaining unison pairs for the higher strings 'for a dirty "twang" or mandolinish sound'. He also said that the converter made the 12-string easier to tune 'by starting with the six and then tuning the secondary six to the first six', and that it could facilitate a quick change from 12-string to six-string (and back) at the flip of a switch...Rickenbacker went ahead with the converter -- 'Now two guitars in one!' said the publicity -- and in their July 1966 pricelist showed three models with the chrome converter 'comb' fitted to the body: the 336/12 (in other words a convertible 330/12) at $529.50; the 366/12 (360/12) at $579.50; and the 456/12 (450/12) at $339.50. In each case these were priced between $45 and $55 more than the non-convertible versions" (Tony Bacon and Paul Day, The Rickenbacker Book, p. 45).