The instrument incorporates many features standard on Rickenbacker guitars, including a three-ply maple/walnut neck, shallow headstock angle, a thick rosewood fretboard finished with clear conversion varnish, and double truss rods.

The 360 also features stereo or mono output, a body with Rickenbacker's "crescent moon" cutaway shape and rounded top edge and bound back, and an R-shaped trapeze tailpiece.

George Harrison of The Beatles had been extensively using an earlier style 360/12 (closer resembling the 330/12 model), but retired it immediately from stage performances upon receiving the new style 360/12 (having rounded cutaways and top edge) in August 1965.

The first recording by The Beatles of this new model 360/12 can be heard on the song "If I Needed Someone".

The six-string Rickenbacker 360 model is favoured by artists including R.E.M.