Short Takes: 1984-85 360/12V64 Prototypes
The devil is in the details
John Hall hated the B-Series guitars. I mean, he really hated them.
The idea he liked—Beatles reissue guitars—but the execution? Not so much. He hated them so much that killing them was one of his first official acts upon purchasing Rickenbacker from his father in 1984.
And to be fair, there wasn’t much effort put towards authenticity with the B-Series models—the 320B, 4003SB, and 360/12BWB. Stock period guitars got some tweaked plastics and new “toaster” pickups that looked the part but didn’t sound it. Et voila!—“reissues”.
Take the 360/12BWB in specific. Here’s a period 360/12WB:
And here’s a 360/12BWB:
Can you spot the differences? I mean, apart from the color. Well, there’s the pickups, and then…well, that’s pretty much it.
Okay, that’s not entirely fair. I didn’t show you the headstocks. The B-Series guitars did get a back-painted plexiglass truss rod cover—the first to appear on any Rickenbacker guitar since 1975. So there’s that.
As a reminder, here’s the original it was trying to evoke:
21 frets, full width triangle inlays, trapeze tailpiece, unbound soundhole, black KK knobs…and that’s just the obvious differences—there’s plenty more.
So John Hall hated the B-Series guitars. But, as I said, he liked the idea. He just wanted them to be better.
Work started almost right away on what would become 360/12V64, designed to fix as many things that the 360/12BWB got wrong as possible. Production began in March/April 1985, but in the years since a few test mules from late 1984/early 1985 have appeared that show us the work in progress.
A quick caveat: parts like pickups, plastics, tailpieces can be replaced. But the body and the neck? Those are forever. So that’s what we’ll look at to identify the test mules.
That said, this guitar from January 1985 is a perfect example of the type of test mule we’re talking about.
We have here the perfect mix of stock production and prototype features. Stock Higains, “R” tailpiece, silver top knobs, and inset triangle inlays, but on a 21-fret neck guitar with unbound soundhole. Not quite a 360/12V64, but not merely a 360/12WB.
Here’s another one from November 1984:
This one has all the vintage specs apart from the full-width triangle inlays, but the factory was clearly experimenting with their Fireglo pattern on this one.
Another vintage detail the 360/12V64 got right was the three piece neck—with a wider center stripe than the period 360/12—seen here on another January 1985 mule.
So what’s the point of all this—I mean apart from the fact that John Hall really hated the 360/12BWB? The point is that sometimes it’s the little things that make a guitar special. These late 1984/early 1985 test mules look almost stock at first glance, but tiny quirks set them apart—perfect for collectors who love spotting hidden gems, even if those quirks don’t always translate into market value.
Want to learn about more weird guitars? Check out the “Interesring/Unusual Guitars” section on our site map…or any other category that interests you!
Regardless of its other flaws, the 1982 360 B pictured has one of the best Fireglo finishes I’ve ever seen.
Much better than any other example in this group. (Although I did like the “experimental” finish a lot, too.)