Peter Buck

"Yeah. I was playing a Telecaster in 1980; it got stolen out of my house. And there was a little music store in town called Chick Piano; they had a blond Rickenbacker 360 with flat-wound strings. That was my main guitar until 1981, when it got stolen.

I went to a shop in Hartford, Conn. and asked if they had Rickenbackers. They pulled this black 360 out; I played it, and it was in tune. That's the one that's been on every R.E.M. record except the first single, and I bring it to pretty much every session I do.

It's still the guitar I go to every day. It has real clarity of tone. It's sitting in a stand at the foot of my bed. I like playing guitar in my pajamas. I've got three other guitars in my bedroom: a '43 Gibson; a 1960 Rickenbacker that I got from Reverb; a Goldtop. They kind of rotate to the bedroom, and if I'm really working, I'll go down in the basement to avoid everyone."

From this interview.

The guitar is also mentioned in the January 2023 issue of Guitar World:

What's your favourite piece of gear? – The Jetglo Rickenbacker 360 I bought in 1981; it’s the guitar I’ve used on every record I’ve ever made. I have a bunch of other guitars that I use in the studio and live, but [the Rick] is my favorite, and it’s the guitar I’ve used my entire adult life.

As seen in this photo, found on Feel Numb, in the music video for "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" Buck can be seen playing the Jag-Stang, originally designed and owned by Kurt Cobain.

"Tone first of all. I don't use them the same way most people use them: as a solo instrument. I tend to be more chord oriented. But those pickups have a nice, warm, chordal feeling. You can get all the harmonics and stuff out without being too overdriven. And I just like thinking about whoever owned this thing in 1954 or 1955."

Peter can be seen using a Standard Telcaster in this photo.

Pete owned at least two of these in R.E.M.'s early career. Rare photos from 1980 show him with a tobacco sunburst finish Tele Deluxe, while the attached photo shows him with one in black finish from their Reconstruction tour stop at University of Georgia, which he purchased as early as 1984 according to footage from the Old Grey Whistle Test.

In this image, one can see Buck playing a Epiphone Riviera 12-string.

Peter Buck plays "Life is Short" live at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, GA on 2-28-2014 in this video. Throughout the video, and more notably at :31s, you can see Buck playing a custom Fender Telecaster.

Peter Buck has only two main guitars, a Rickenbacker 330 and 301 both dated 1981, that he puts through a Fender Twin Reverb amplifier with two JBL speakers. He also uses a 12-string ‘81 Rickenbacker in the studio and has a 1981 Gretsch Chef Atkins Tennessean at his disposal. Besides the Twin Reverb, Buck has a Marshall amp that he sometimes borrows from his producer Mitch Easter to make a more heavy metal racket. As for effects, he has only one – an lbanez VE400 pedal that he uses live though he isn’t too sure what it actually does.

In this image from a concert in Austin, TX, Peter Buck is seen playing an Eastwood Nashville 12-String Electric Guitar, as documented by Rollingstone.

Peter Buck used the Rickenbacker 340 during R.E.M.'s late 1985 European tour, as seen in a video uploaded by StephenQdoo on YouTube titled "R.E.M. Can't Get There From Here HQ." According to a Twitter exchange with Mike Mills, the guitar was not used during their U.S. shows.

After having his Telecaster stolen in around late 1980/early 1981, Pete purchased this as a replacement in Mapleglo finish at Chick Piano in Athens, GA. The only photo/video evidence before it too was stolen is R.E.M.'s 688 Club performance on February 20th, 1981. It appears that his Accent Vibrato tailpiece is missing the tremelo arm. It was also mentioned in a Reverb interview in January of 2016 as a 360 Mapleglo, but upon video inspection, this is incorrect due to the 3-pickup configuration and tailpiece, unlike the 2-pickup configuration and standard R tailpiece. This guitar was replaced later by Pete's famous Rickenbacker 360 Jetglo model later in 1981.

Producer Mitch Easter's XII twelve-string was used on Murmur, as recalled by Easter in R.E.M.'s Murmur (2005) by J. Niimi.

Easter brought along his white Fender Electric XII twelve-string guitar (a gift from his father when he turned thirteen; Peter Buck did not own an electric Rickenbacker twelve-string at this point, contrary to fan myth), as well as his trusty Danelectro electric sitar (which Buck had used in the Chronic Town session, most prominently on "Gardening at Night"). Easter's Electric XII can also be heard on many of Let's Active's early recordings.

In this photo, we can see Buck playing a Taylor 615.

In a 1984 performance at The Rat in Boston, Peter Buck is pictured playing a Rickenbacker 330 Electric Guitar, as shown in a user-uploaded photo on Thethinair.

Peter Buck used the Rickenbacker 325 Electric Guitar in Capri Black during a live performance in the spring of 1985, as shown in a user-uploaded photo on Inthestudio.

In my opinion, this looks like a full-scale Rickenbacker 350 JG, also because it appears to have higain pickups and an R tailpiece.

This image from a 2018 interview posted to KEXP's website shows Buck playing a TV yellow LP Jr model, with a cherry DC model on a stand behind him.

This image from a 2018 interview posted to KEXP's website shows Buck playing a TV yellow LP Jr model, with a cherry DC model on a stand behind him.

This image from a 2018 interview posted to KEXP's website shows Buck playing a TV yellow LP Jr model, with a cherry DC model on a stand behind him.

Peter Buck frequently used the Guild F-412 acoustic guitar during the late 1980s. This is evident in the YouTube video titled "REM - Losing My Religion Acoustic #1" by heidigretel.

Buck can be seen playing the guitar live with Joseph Arthur, as confirmed on Premier Guitar’s website. He has also used the guitar with R.E.M.

R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, shown here playing a Gretsch 6120

This image, posted to Satellite's Facebook page shows Buck rehearsing with his Coronet.