Brian Jones' custom 1964 Rickenbacker 360/12: the jangly heart of 'She's a Rainbow' and the spaced-out shimmer of '2000 Light Years from Home'

Brian Jones’s 1964 Rickenbacker 360/12 wasn’t just another guitar—it was a custom-order model with the old “toaster” pickups, giving it a chime that cut through the murk of the late ’60s. He used it on Their Satanic Majesties Request to push the Stones into full psychedelic territory, and two songs in particular show off its weirdly beautiful range.

On “She’s a Rainbow,” the Rickenbacker’s 12-string jangle is the whole hook. That opening riff—bright, almost music-box-like—was played by Jones through a Leslie speaker, giving it that swirling, slightly unsteady feel. It’s the sound of a pop song dressed in paisley. Meanwhile, “2000 Light Years from Home” uses the same guitar in a completely different way: here the 12-string is run through heavy phasing and echo, turning its chime into a cold, distant drone that matches the song’s sci-fi paranoia. Jones wasn’t just strumming chords—he was shaping the atmosphere.

The guitar itself became a signature for Jones in his final years, though he rarely played it live. It’s one of those instruments that feels tied to a specific moment