With the exposure of The Beatles, The Byrds, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, you might jump to that logical conclusion. While the Rickenbacker was “the” 12-string instrument to have, most other guitar makers produced electric 12-strings including Vox, Gibson, Fender, Dan Electro, Mosrite, ad infinitum.
I happen to own a Dan Electro Bellzouki electric 12-string, and with a compression pedal, it is sweet. Like a Rickenbacker, my Dan Electro has the octave strings to the right of the course and not to the left like acoustic 12-string guitars and many other electrics.
On “The Waiting,” Tom Petty plays a mapleglo Rickenbacker 360/12 (see yesterday’s post), but Mike Campbell is playing a solid body fireglo Rickenbacker 660/12. While Campbell wanted a model akin to the 360/12, he was able to buy this model for $150.00 – a steal in anyone’s book.
Rickenbacker told Campbell that, by analyzing his serial number, his guitar was made during the same production run as George Harrison’s famous 360/12 – which means it was a very early made Rick 12-string. It is Campbell’s guitar that Tom Petty is holding on the cover of the album “Damn the Torpedoes.” Campbell also plays a six-string electric for the leads on the song. In the official video for the song, he plays his 12-string mimicking the six-string leads.
From the 1981 album “Hard Promises,” “The Waiting” placed at #19 of the Hot 100. It was a number one song on Billboard’s Rock chart.
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