The Rickenbacker 325 is the first of the Capri series of hollow body guitars released in 1958 by

Rickenbacker Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. The company is credited as the first known maker of electric guitars – a steel guitar in 1932 – and today produces a rang ...

Overview

It was designed by

Roger Rossmeisl Roger Rossmeisl (1927 in Kiel – 1979 in Berlin) was a German luthier who designed electric guitars in the 1950s and '60s for the US companies Rickenbacker and Fender. Life and work Roger's father Wenzel Rossmeisl (June 28, 1902 in Kiel – Apr ...

, a guitar craftsman from a family of German instrument makers. Production models were short scale, dot fretboard inlays, and a small () 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 Lennon's use of a 325 during the early years of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

. 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 (310, 315, 320, 325) had sound holes until the late 1970s.

Notable players

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

played 325s and their assorted variants during the 1960s (Including a 12-string made to match his second 325). A replica of Lennon's 325 is available as a guitar controller for '' The Beatles: Rock Band''. * Susanna Hoffs of

The Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including " Manic Monday" (1986), " Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), "Hazy Shad ...

played the 325 and its full scale variant, the model 350 (Hoffs even received her own signature version of the 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 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquar ...

. Fogerty modified his model to include a Gibson humbucker pickup. *

Maurice Gibb Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main lea ...

of Bee Gees used the 325 for all live performances between the late 1980s until 2003. * Multi-instrumentalist

Toots Thielemans Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for his chromatic harmonica playing, as well as his guitar and whistl ...

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.

Gallery

File:Rickenbacker 325C58 whole image.jpg, 325C58 MG
A replica of the 1958 model played by John Lennon File:Rickenbacker 325C58.jpg, 325C58 MG(Pickup Zoom) File:Rickenbacker 325C58 JG.jpg, 325C58 JG
A replica of another 1958 model played by John Lennon

References

Rickenbacker guitars Semi-acoustic guitars The Beatles' musical instruments {{guitar-stub