Jeff Buckley’s Rickenbacker 360/12 Fireglo

This was Jeff’s second most used guitar, perhaps best known for occasionally being used to play ‘Last Goodbye’ live. There’s some debate on the exact model of this guitar, but the round edges on the body and neck inlays are all the clues you need to figure out it’s a 360 model.

The guitar first appeared in mid to late 1994, or around the time album Grace was released. It is therefore somewhat safe to guess that Jeff bought it in preparation for the tour and that the guitar wasn’t used during the studio session. If you happen to know more please be sure to leave a comment.

Specs

As far as the specs, the guitar featured a maple carved body finished in red sunburst (therefore its nickname – Fireglo), a three-ply maple/walnut neck with rosewood fretboard, a pair of Hi-Gain single-coil pickups, and an adjustable bridge. It was one of the earliest 12-string electric guitars and was hugely popularized by George Harrison of The Beatles. Jeff’s guitar for some reason had a black masking tape rolled over the upper horn, possibly to help support a strap-lock.

After Buckley’s passing, Jeff’s mother gave this guitar to Chris Cornell as a gift for his work on ‘Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk’ – a posthumous album featuring a collection of studio tracks and four-track demos recorded by Jeff.