Restringing a Rickenbacker 12-string is not for the fainthearted.
If you do a Google search on the topic, one of the first hits you’ll get is titled “Restringing a Rickenbacker 12-String: How to become an alcoholic”. I’ve owned my Rickenbacker 360/12 Fireglo for about 20 years and in that time I’ve sold it and re-bought it twice and listed it for sale another 3-4 times, each occasion following the ritual of restringing.
For a bit of context, restringing and doing a quick set-up on any of my other guitars is a 5-10 minute job. Yesterday I spent five hours accomplishing the same on my Rick. Like any tool developed during wartime (it was an invasion, in case you don’t know) the original Rick 12 design was rough and ready, thrown together to present to the Beatles during their first US tour. This first contact is actually captured on audio, as George was sick in bed conducting a radio interview (with his sister) when the presentation party arrived. Unlike most tools of war, however, the Rickenbacker 12 has been frozen in time since, apart from an early design change that actually made it less user-friendly. Restringing a guitar was only » Continue Reading.