Rickenbacker 325
The Rickenbacker 325 is the first of the Capri series of hollow body guitars released in 1958 by Rickenbacker.
Overview
The 325 was designed by Roger Rossmeisl, a guitar craftsman from a family of German instrument makers. Production models had a short scale, dot fretboard inlays, and a small body. The body is unbound, semi-hollow, with an angled sound hole, and boasts "crescent moon"-style cutaways. These instruments gained prominence due to John Lennon's use of a 325 during the early years of The Beatles. Lennon's 1958 model was among the first batch made and has the pre-production feature of a solid top with no sound hole. All subsequent production short-scale 300-series Rickenbackers had sound holes until the late 1970s. This series is currently available only in "C" reissue form, although the reissues lack a sound hole to mimic Lennon's instrument.Notable players
- John Lennon played 325s and their assorted variants during the 1960s. A replica of Lennon's 325 is available as a guitar controller for The Beatles: Rock Band.
- Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles played the 325 and its full scale variant, the model 350.
- John Fogerty played his modified Fireglo 325 on many Creedence Clearwater Revival songs and live concerts, including their appearance at the 1969 Woodstock festival. Fogerty modified his model to include a Gibson humbucker pickup and a Bigsby vibrato.
- Maurice Gibb of Bee Gees used the 325 for all live performances between the late 1980s until 2003.
- Multi-instrumentalist Toots Thielemans regularly played Rickenbacker guitars and his usage of a Combo 400 model inspired John Lennon, a fan of Thielemans, to take up the instrument. Incidentally, a photograph of Thielemans at a 1958 US trade shows a 325 that is likely to have been the very guitar later purchased by Lennon in Hamburg.
- Donovan played the 325 throughout the late 1960s.