Guitar thefts are, unfortunately, a negative side effect of being a guitarist, and the Byrds' Roger McGuinn learned that the hard way in 1965: his prized Rickenbacker was swiped from right under his nose during a rather nonchalant heist.
Rickenbacker electric guitars and 12-string acoustics have been McGuinn's instruments of choice throughout a career that has seen him record with Simon & Garfunkel, and collaborate with Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. In 1991, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in recognition of his work in the Byrds – a band he co-founded a year before the fateful night he lost his favorite instrument.
“I was playing with The Byrds, and we were at Fordham University [New York City] in 1965,” he explains in the new issue of Guitarist. “We were in the dressing room, and this guy walked in with a silver Rickenbacker case. I thought, 'Oh, it's just a fellow musician, that's fine, and then he walked out with the case.”
McGuinn’s trust was misplaced. “When I went to get my guitar,” he continues, “it was gone.”
Instruments have been swiped from backstage countless times, and, in the case of Nuno Bettencourt’s double-neck Washburn N8, from the stage, too. But while the story of that high-stakes theft ended happily, with the Portuguese shredder getting his axe back in miraculous circumstances, McGuinn wasn’t quite so lucky.
“Years later, it went up for sale and was sold in Las Vegas for some enormous amount of money,” he states. “I think it ended up at the Experience Music Project in Seattle.”
McGuinn's relationship with Rickenbacker goes way back. He was one of the earliest owners of a 12-string Rickenbacker, and used one to cover Bob Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man for the band's first single. That, he admits all these years later, could have failed drastically had they not taken precautionary measures.
“[David] Crosby said, ‘I don't like it, man.’ He said, ‘That folky 2/4 time never gonna play on the radio.’ And he was right,” he confessed back in April.
So, the song was redressed in 4/4 and given an electric rock feel, helping it better resonate with contemporary audiences, most of whom were hooked on the Beatles.
Elsewhere, McGuinn has explained why the band didn't follow the Kinks and the Who into the world of distorted guitars, while Christian Parker, who has released two Byrds covers albums, has reflected on the band's unsung legacy as folk-rock pioneers.
McGuinn’s full interview can be found in the latest issue of Guitarist. Head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy.
