The Who’s Pete Townshend bought his first Rickenbacker in 1964, after seeing John Lennon playing a Capri 325 with The Beatles, but unlike Lennon’s guitar, Townshend’s Model 1998 (the model number used by British importer Rose, Morris) didn’t last out the year before he destroyed it in a club performance.

He tried to take better care of future Rickenbackers, reserving his more easily repairable solidbodies for smashing, and he used a 1998 on the group’s recording of “My Generation” in 1965.

Townshend’s guitar had an f-hole rather than a slash but was otherwise the equivalent of Rickenbacker’s 345, with regular-scale, dot inlays, three pickup, and a vibrato. For his signature reissue, however, Townshend substituted the R tailpiece for the vibrato. The pickguard on the 1998PT featured Townshend’s name in block letters – ironic on a signature model – and an image of him with arm raised in the middle of his trademark windmill assault on the strings.

Rickenbacker introduced the model in 1987, and the limited run of 250 sold out in a year.