Manufacturer Rickenbacker Body type Semi-hollow | Period 1958–present Neck joint Set-in | |
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Body Maple; alder on 50s instruments & reissues. Neck Maple; alder on 50s instruments & reissues. | ||
The Rickenbacker 325 is the first of the Capri series of hollow body guitars released in 1958 by Rickenbacker.
Contents
Overview
It was designed by Roger Rossmeisl, a guitar craftsman from a family of German instrument makers. Production models were 20-3/4" short scale, dot fretboard inlays, and a small (12-3/4" wide) body. The body is unbound, semi-hollow, with 2 o'clock angled sound hole (although re-issues lack a sound hole due to the Lennon connection), and boasts the "crescent moon"-style cutaways. This series is currently available only in "C" reissue form. These instruments gained prominence due to John Lennon's use of a 325 during the early years of The Beatles. John Lennon's 1958 model was among the very first batch made and has the pre-production feature of a solid top, i.e., no sound hole. All subsequent production short-scale 300-series Rickenbackers (310, 315, 320, 325) had sound holes until the late 1970s.