“This guy walked in with a silver Rickenbacker case. I thought, ‘Oh, it’s just a fellow musician, that’s fine’”: How Roger McGuinn’s Byrds Rickenbacker was stolen – from right under his nose

Roger McGuinn.

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.