Rickenbacker 325C58

Manufactured in 1996 and the finish is like a brand new Merc straight off the production line. Breath-taking. I have restrung it with a set of 13's and it stays in tune perfectly with the Bigsby B5 fitted, no problemo

The sound is mind-blowing. Even before I put it through my AC30TB it was immense. To replicate John's triplets on ALL MY LOVING through th VOX is just amazing. Like scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final!

Action was a bit high, frets uneven too. Shame cos when I spent the #50 to get it set up properly, i actually played like a #1500 guitar

Never lets me down since the set-up. Got a back up of an Epiphone Casino but not had to call on it yet - touch wood!

Never had to deal with tem. Used RicsRus whereI bought it from in England and they are first class with advice, supposrt and help

The bee's knees. A guitar to play till you fingers drop off!

Rickenbacker 325C58, made in 2004, 3/4 size short-scale guitar, black finish with gold pickguard/nameplate, gold on brown knobs, Kauffman vibrato, three vintage "toaster" pickups, came with vintage-style silver Rickenbacker case.

If you want the early Beatles sound, look no further. If you want a high-output lead guitar, look elsewhere. I've had several Rickenbackers, even some with vintage toaster pickups, but none have even come close to this guitar. I now know why, though. As one reviewer stated below, these are not the typical 7.4 ohm toaster pickups that are found on most models, they are even lower output, (around 4.5 or 5, I think) so they were the missing link for me. (I have to say, though, the other toaster pickups do sound awesome.) My favorite setting is the middle position, with all three pickups active, but with the volume on the neck and middle pickups backed off a little. The setting with the neck and middle pickups active gives you a little more mellow, glassy tone (think "in-between" position on a strat). The bridge pickup, on its own, is very thin. In fact, you'll notice that there is a significant drop in volume when you switch to this pickup. It does sound very good with the bridge pickup setting, though. You can get that rhythm sound on the early Searchers records. (Think "Sugar and Spice" or "Sweets for My Sweet") I was expecting the early-Beatles sound, but was surprised at how good this guitar sounds on other songs, as well. Not a great lead instrument, but it can do a little bit of that, too. Excellent sound, but I don't think you HAVE to have a Vox amp. I play through a '65 Fender Twin Reverb reissue, and can still get that Beatles sound. Rickenbacker really hit one out of the park with this guitar.

Well, I think everybody knows about that Kauffman vibrato, by now. I think the guitar still plays ok with it on, but it does require frequent retuning, even if you don't bump the vibrato arm. I just can't see drilling into the guitar to put on a Bigsby, though, so I'm going to put on a trapeze tailpiece. I've seen many posts over at the Rickenbacker forum that say you don't even need to do any modifications to put one on, it fits right on the Kauffman bracket. Since I don't plan on using a vibrato on this guitar, and I don't want to drill holes, I think this will be the best option. It will probaby be the best route to go as far as tuning stability, too. But, if you HAVE to have the same guitar as Lennon's, then yeah, you'll need to get a Bigsby. Everything else on this guitar is great....finish, action, frets. All what you'd expect from Rickenbacker.

I've played out with this guitar once, so far. It had a great sound, and was very comfortable all around. I did have to retune quite frequently, but if you get rid of the Kauffman, it will stay in tune better, plus you can strum freely, since the arm won't be there to get in your way. I think this guitar is very reliable, but it won't do everything. I would bring another guitar if you plan on doing extensive soloing.

Never dealt with them, but the CEO, John Hall answers a lot of posts over at the Rickenbacker forum. How many other CEO's do that?

I've been playing for 20 years, now. I've owned just about any guitar you can think of. I have to say, though, this is my favorite Rickenbacker. Currently, I gig with the Rickenbacker, a Gretsch 6122-62 (w/TV Jones pickups...also an awesome sounding guitar!), a Fender American Strat, and a Gibson Les Paul Standard. This guitar sounds great and looks awesome. You should see people's faces on the dance floor when they see it up close. Priceless! I really admire Rickenbacker for keeping this close to the original and not trying to make it a Lennon-clone. I am very pleased with this guitar, and highly recommend it to anyone who loves that early Beatles sound, or who just wants something that sounds and looks different. You won't be disappointed!

First of all Tim G. in the previous post, should stay to his own review of his "own", instrument, and not criticize an honest post from another reviewer. I stated only the truth of my experience with my newly purchased Rickenbacker 325C58, with both the instrument and the company. He also could send me an email, since he chooses not to post his, and I'll gladly communicate to him my experiences.

Anyway an update to my Rickenbacker 325C58 is as follows:
Again the features are ok on this model but nothing to compare with the price charged. It is made to resemble the vintage ones but again you must understand newer hardware, finishing and assembling, and quality control of this guitar ARE NOT as the originals were. I have seen the vintage one's when they were new, back in the 60's, and the quality was there then, but not now. I will say the nicest part of my Rick 325 is the case, but I'm told its imported, what does that say?

After removing the Kauffman Vibrola and installing a Bigsby B-5 Vibrato, it now stays in tune just as good as any of my other guitars. I left the roller bridge on it as it puts less stress on the strings than a bowtie bridge. The sound I get now is a more rich, tonal, sound, and depending on the control settings you can get that jangle sound common on the 60's models. I used my Peavey Delta Blues all tube amp with slight tremolo, and full reverb to get close to that full Beatles sound.

I've had the problem areas professionally repaired, such as the oversize tuner screw holes repaired, oversize hole for the tail strap button repaired, the glue on the fretboard removed, and the finish gouge from the Kauffman repaired, all like new. Again I attribute all the above problems to be from poor quality control. Anyway I now have the guitar at an acceptable level of quality, that I being so picky as a consumer want. My rating for this category is now higher due to these fixes.

I now believe this guitar will withstand live playing to the point I'd use it without a back-up. I've played it for hours without a problem with the tuning or anything comming loose.

I think Mr. Hall could have been a little more concerned or consciencious to a new customer, instead of wanting to butt heads. But he runs the company as he sees fit and one can only hope he'll see the light before it snowballs on him. I have been in the manufacturing business for over 35 years and if I read whats on the internet about Rickenbacker's customer support, as a CEO, I would definitely be making some drastic changes. If a company can't or won't back its own product to the satisfaction of a customer you must not have much faith in what your putting out as a product. I know Rickenbacker sells mainly to larger Music conglomerates, but remember the consumer buys from them, and if that stops, it follows back up the chain to the manufacturer, in the form of no further sales, or dropping of that particular manufacturer by the dealer. Its easy to make excuses about the handling of merchandise once it leaves the factory, but an experienced trained eye can tell where it originated.

I've been playing for over 35 years, and own and have owned a number of different guitars thru the years, since the early 60's. Again I wish that a little more care or interest by the manufacturer in its product were evident. I still say not enough complete information from the factory was available for a consumer to consider before purchasing. I'd also like to see a limited lifetime warranty provided to the customer, after all if you know your product to be a good one, that shouldn't be a problem. I don't agree with a warranty that starts with the date of manufacture, it makes it sound like perishable items, like milk, eggs, meat, etc. I would think a guitar is a little more durable than that. Be a little more concerned with the customer buying the guitar, a little courtesy goes a long way in repeat sales and new customers.

First off I'd like to point out that the previous reviewer, J. Stahl, bought his 325C58 from an unauthorized dealer who in turn bought it from Guitar Center during their blow-out sale. You can read all about it over on the Ric forum. It's a shame he feels the need to bash Rickenbacker when all the problems he's experiencing could have been avoided if he only did his homework. Rickenbacker shouldn't have to clean up the mess this guy got himself into &, as anyone knows who collects expensive reissued instruments, the manufacturer often goes through great pains to create an exact replica, including unique quirks like the Kauffman vibrato. Please do yourself a favor & put in the time to research the original model as well as the replica & please buy from an authorized dealer.

Anyway...

This is a painstaking recreation of the 1958 model 325 which John Lennon bought in Hamburg back in 1960. Rather then rundown the features stated in some of the other reviews here, I thought it would be interesting to post some background info on how this model came to be:

The C Series is the culmination of an evolutionary engineering project which has involved dozens of people working over a period of years. The challenge was to precisely replicate decidedly imprecise guitars made in an earlier era, reconcile the numerous manufacturing variations, and conform them to modern methods of production and quality standards.

The project focused on the 1958 version of the Rickenbacker Model 325 due to the association of this guitar with John Lennon, as well as the collectibility resulting from low original production. It was discovered very early in the process that there were many myths, misconceptions, and strongly held but subjective opinions about the correct attributes for this model. This was fueled partly by the visibility of John Lennon?s example which suffered extensive modifications over the years. The problem was to find any consensus about this model such that it was reasonable to produce it without igniting a firestorm among the collector factions.

The solution was to enlist the aid of and involve some of the most respected collectors and experts for this guitar in a collaborative effort, using the Internet to bring people throughout the world together in one forum. A private website dubbed "C World" began operation a year before the guitars were scheduled to be released and the following people were invited to participate under conditions of sworn secrecy:

Naoki Ogane- Arguably the world?s most knowledgeable expert regarding guitars owned by The Beatles.

Nick Thiel- Private collector, expert concerning Beatle related instruments/amplifiers, and operator of the Beatles equipment oriented websites BeatlesGear and VoxTalks.

John Williams- Private collector who has specialized in a very large array of classic Rickenbacker instruments. Visit his website at www.homestead.com/aurs/index.html.

Toshio Sogabe- CEO of Rick?s Corp., the former distributor of Rickenbacker products in Japan and long time personal collector of Rickenbacker and other Beatle?s oriented guitars.

Michael Steinitz- Noted collector who has amassed one of the most significant assortments of Rickenbacker guitars in Europe.

Yasuhiko Iwanade- Perhaps the most well known writer and guitar historian in Japan, author of "The Beauty of the Burst" and columnist for Japan?s Guitar Player Magazine.

John Hall- CEO of Rickenbacker International Corporation with a lifetime of involvement with Rickenbacker products.

This distinguished panel met electronically, shared hundreds of photos, sorted through and digested all of the credible information and lore, as well as constructively argued to provide the company with the widest range of technical advice. This guidance allowed Rickenbacker?s craftsmen, guided by Naoki Ogane, to produce the most accurate and detailed reproduction guitar possible.

During much of the 3

The guitar sounds absolutely amazing & is quite a bit more versatile than I originally anticipated. While I was expecting the classic jangly sound it produces with only the bridge pickup active there's quite a bit more on hand too. With the selector in the middle dial in the knobs for a rich warm sound. An instant classic!

My 325C58 was bought brand new from Pic of the Rics in Berlin New Jersey. We opened up the box it shipped from Rickenbacker in, pulled out the flawless vintage silver case & peered inside at the startlingly beautiful 325. After a quick tune it played & sounded amazing. Perfect set-up right out of the box (literally in this case). Nothing was misaligned, loose, not a scratch or mark, not even a finger print was evident. I had decided upon the black finish (Jetglo) & was quite surprised how artfully it was applied across the guitar. Not a blemish in sight.

My only problem with this guitar, one I knew about ahead of time, was with the Kauffman vibrato: buzzes occasionally, the arm gets in the way, there's tuning stability issues & it will mar your finish if used like a typical vibrato (make sure to push the arm sideways, not down). It's become all too evident why John Lennon switched his out for a Bigsby B5 vibrato & bridge; which has also been my plan from the beginning once I started researching this guitar. Another point worth mentioning is the lower pair of knobs tend to bump into one another, again like the original. I'll be swapping these out for Burns knobs to fix that (the same as John eventually decided upon).

That being said I wouldn't have it any other way. Kudos to Rickenbacker for having the balls to replicate their original 46 year old guitar "warts & all".

Between the narrow short-scale neck & the semi-hollow Alder body this is an incredibly light weight guitar which gives the impression of a delicate instrument. It does feel incredibly well built though & "solid" so personally I wouldn't be overly concerned about gigging with it, provided something is done about the Kauffman (a B5 or a Trapeze). One also must take into account the amount of heavy touring John's original 325 had seen, & after he had it restored back to it's original finish John used it until his death in 1980.

I haven't had to deal with their customer support.

Rickenbacker finally produced the guitar all us Lennon fanatics have been waiting for & they did a superb job. If it were lost or stolen I'd kill the guy who did it & sell his organs on eBay to fund it's replacement.

Rickenbacker 325C58, made in 2003, USA. Has 21 frets, semi-hollow body of adler, maple glow finish, rosewood fingerboard, 3 toaster type humbucker pick-ups, vintage repro roller bridge, stay-tite reproduction tuners, short scale neck made of adler, Kauffman Vib-rola, gold nameplate and pickguard, gold and brown oven type control knobs, tone, volume, and pick-up selector switch.

I play alot of old 60's and 70's type music, lead and rhythm suits me fine. Played thru 30 watt, Peavey Delta Blues amp, had a little crackling thru the amp, but the sound was bright and rich. You can do alot of variations of the sound by manipulating the control, love the short scale neck and lightweight of the gitar.

Guitar from the factory was set up pretty well and did not need any adjustments of pickups, or action, however many flaws were found in the construction, such as stripped out tuner screws on back of neck head, which weren't apparent till I went to change strings and the tuners were flopping around, you could not tighten them because the wood hole was stripped out. Metal hardware such as the Kauffman mounting bracket was pushed so hard down that it indented into the edge of the wood, also the Vibrato itself is mounted way too close to the body of the guitar and the thumbscrew has damaged the high gloss finish right below this thumbscrew. I noticed also the strap screw that goes thru the vibrato bracket was stripped out into the wood and it could not be tightened, there was a 3/8 inch crazing on the finish coming from one of the tuner nuts and extending outward on the front neck head, glue was evident on alot of the metal frets extending onto the fingerboard, sloppy glue job. But other than the above it was ok.

I would not recommend this for live playing, unless you want to chance dropping it from the strapscrew falling out, or a tuner peg coming off. Loose the Kauffman, it'll tear up your finish and its useless as it doesn't stay in tune. You'll have to retune while playing. The finish is not durable, looks almost like balsa wood and will mare easily. Its strictly a wallhanger unless you plan on doing some serious modifications for gig use.

I've delt directly with the company CEO, John Hall, and he was no help at all in resolving any problems I had. He said I had misconcetions as what my guitar is supposed to be, and as a replica it was no better or worse than the original, "WARTS AND ALL". He said, "the whole point was to capture the fairly crude construction exactly as they were". Although I grew up in the 50's and 60's and have handled many Rickenbackers of that time, I never ran across such poor workmanship. I purchased it supposedly mint, new, but he said it was a year old and he could no longer honor the warranty. He said because it may have been handled in the music shop and played, "its had some good wear and tear on it". Thats surprising to hear as music shops I go to sell new guitars off the wall or showroom and are all considered new with warranty. I guess you have to go directly to Rickenbacker to purchase what qualifies, as per John Hall, a new guitar with a warranty.

I've been playing over 35 years, I own a Gretsch 3140 historic series, and Epiphone Les Paul. As far as something I wished I had asked before buying the Rickenbacker, I guess it would have been truth in advertising. If it were lost or stolen, I'd have given a reward if they didn't bring it back, I'm done with Rickenbacker after listening to the CEO. I would like to see more people come forward with truthfull input on these guitars instead of feeling they owe something to a company who is merely living off a past reputation to market alot of trash with no support. The guitar could have been made alot better for the money they ask for these. I intend to make all the repairs myself and or modifications to make it a usefull guitar. It at least deserves that with respect to the late Mr. Adolf Rickenbacker.

I picked mine up in december of 2002 right when they started shipping. The nice thing about this is that the finish is like on the old ones, it's very thin. If you get a black one you can see the woodgrain with a glare...Any new guitars with black finishes it's almost impossible to see that. It's a 3 way switch and unlike newer rickenbackers this one has the old "astron caps" to really shape the tone to that of the actual 58 guitars. They say Lennon disconnected his pickup, i did but not for that reason. on some of the early albums there is much evidence of that middle pickup but i simply dissconnected mine because for live stuff it is more versitale that way. The alder body makes it light and fragile. THis guitar is much lighter than you'd expect, most likely the lightest rickenbacker made. The bridges that come with these are fantastic and i wish they would use them on all of their other rickenbackers. I replaced it with a bigbsy bridge which gives it a more jangly thick chunky ripping sound. The kaufmann also has to go. Looks cool but after 5 minutes of it you'll want to rip it off. Get a b-5. the tuners are rickenbacker's own rendition of the old sta tites. The owner of rickenbacker told me that none of them are the same either, they all have slightly different dimensions just like the old ones. this isnt noticable to the eye so don't worry about that but it's very unique.

Crank your amp up, these pickups are not 7.4k as put above but they are around 5k. If you use flatwound strings (pyramids) that will do the trick, give it about 2 weeks to set in though, then you'll hear the magic. AC-30's are strongly advised. You'd have to do a lot to get this guitar to sound good doing distortion. It's very bright and not very top heavy. I love the sound for what it is, it's not a very versatile sound. IF you want that early Lennon sound that he got on the first two beatles albums this is the guitar for you.

The guitar when i recieved it was in great shape. Everything looked clean and nice. No flaws really. I've never come across a rickenbacker guitar that has come to me new and flawed. They really spend time on their instruments which makes them worth the buy.

Ive been playing this guitar since 2002 and it's done very well. The finish is very easy to scratch though. The hardware does fine. Haven't had any electical problems either. I wouldnt go about throwing this one, not that anyone would throw a guitar but this one is more fragile than most.

Never had a problem, i do know people from the company personally and they are fantastic to work with and very reliable.

Been playing for about 12 years now, i own several other rickenbackers,vintage hofners, and gibsons..If it was stolen or lost i would definately get another..This is a great guitar to just have, not necesarilly use all the time but just to have.

If you know anything about Ric's I don't have to go into a long speil about their quality. Naturally I bought this guitar for the Lennon connection (jetglo edition). Certainly a dainty guitar. For the most part the guitar is as close as you are going to get for a repo of Lennon's, right now to wood used in the body and the neck. But I would have to agree with another persons review...they could have worked even harder on the authenticity of Lennon's 'revamped' 325. Bigsby, stereo knobs etc

Sound is good and if you're expecting the Beatlesque sound from it that is what you get.

Action is fine. If you got small fingers the stretch between frets is nothing. If you got all thumbs don't buy this guitar.

Too early to tell on most of the questions regarding durability.

Haven't had to deal with them on this one. Have had other questions with my other Ric's and they have been generally helpful. I suggest calling them, not emailing...you'd have a better chance getting an audience with the Pope than a quick response via email with Rickenbacker.

I have played for over thirty years. I like Ric's, have a 360/12, 330 so I am not impartial. There are other Ric's I have on a wish list and other manufacturers that are on that same list. My list however is thicker than my pocketbook.

This is a 2003 replica of a 1958 325 model as bought in Hamburg and made famous by John Lennon. It has a 21 frets short scale with a hollow body. Two volume and two tone controls are connected to three toaster top 7.2k vintage style pickups. The body is made from Alder, not the normal maple as with most Rickenbackers and although the body thickness is greater than normal it is still very very light. This model is finished in Jetglow (black) with a single gold, slightly raised scratch plate. The standard Kauffman vibrato system I changed almost immediatly for a Bigsby B5 which is a much superior item and maintains tuning so much better. It also refects the look of Lennons model more precisely. I also changed the control knobs for something more suitable as I hate the 'cooker knobs'. The tuners are 'Staytight' reissues and are adequate, reflecting the technology of the period I guess. The neck is of the short scale type and unlike most Rickenbackers does not have a laquered fingerboard, it just having a light sealer applied. The neck feels quite chunky when comparing it to the rest of the guitar which is quite diminutive

The sounds vary greatly depending which pickup combiations you use but the front two pickup selection was suprisingly warmer than I had anticipated. The bridge pickup on its own is very bright and quite thin. Using the selector swiched to its centre position brings all three pickups in to play and I found using this position and backing of the volume to the front two pickups a little gave the best rhythm guitar type sounds but there are quite a few other excellent sound to be had if yo experiment with the volume and tone controls. Not as versatile as a strat but perfect for those Beatle tracks. I tend to play it mainly through my Vox AC 15 amp which gives it a more authentic sound

When I first received the guitar it appeared to have had little or no time spent on a set up. It came with a 4 mm action and the wrong strings attached (.010"). When I fitted the new Bigsby I changed the strings a set of 12's and opened out the nut a little to compensate for the larger strings. This guitar needs heavy strings to obtain a reasonable tension due to its short scale neck. I then spent a little time setting it up properly and it now plays like a dream with a nice moderate to low action. The short scale neck and low fret height takes a little getting used to but the upside is it makes some of those finger stretching chords much easier to achieve

I have only owned the guitar a few weeks but would imagine the finish would last the distance and all the hardware appears well made. However I would expect most of these models will be treated with some respect as they are not cheap and will probably remain quite rare.

Dont know as Ive never needed it

Ive been playing for over thirty years and have collected a large number of guitars in that time. I'm a great Beatle fan and own a Rickenbacker 12 string and a couple of Gretsches amongst others. I wish this guitar had come with the Bigsby vibrato already fitted as the removal of factory fitted Kauffman vibrato has left four small screw hole on the end and a small ding on the top underneath where the original vibrato had touched the top. Marks I could have done without. John Lennons black repainted (jetglow) version never existed with a Kauffman so why should this one. It should be saved for the natural finished one. The only reason they have been reissued is because of the JL connection so why doesnt Rickenbacker get it right! The standard of the factory set up was very poor and I would have expected much better at this price.