The Beatle Invasion

John’s Guitars Part 3: 1958 Rickenbacker 325 Capri John Lennon Guitar

by gisrael on February 28th, 2008

This is the third part of a series on John Lennon’s Guitars. See also:

• Part One: Gallotone Champion Acoustic John Lennon Guitar here
• Part Two: Hofner Club 40 Electric John Lennon Guitar here.

Click thumbnails below for larger images:

John Lennon’s most famous guitar was his 1958 Rickenbacker 325 electric. On the Beatles’ first trip to Hamburg in 1960, John took in shows by Belgian jazz guitarist Toots Thielemans and ogled the man’s Rickenbacker guitar. On that same trip, John had the fortune of finding one of these rare instruments for sale in a local shop: an American-made 5/8 size hollow-body electric with natural alder finish and gold pick guard.

Later that same year, John started tinkering with the Rickenbacker’s design. With help from Chris Huston, guitarist of fellow Liverpool-band The Undertakers, John swapped the weak tremolo bar, bridge and knobs for fancier ones. Neither John nor Chris had much experience with guitar modification, but there wasn’t really anyone to turn to in Liverpool at the time so they did it themselves, and were surprised by their success.

In 1962 and 1963 the guitar underwent further modification. John had the middle pickup disconnected, the knobs swapped again, the wiring redone, and the body painted black. From the day he bought it until February 1964, John used the Rickenbacker 325 in every show and every studio recording. By this time, the guitar was quite worn, and John “retired” it later that year, replacing it with a newer-model Rickenbacker 325, which had been designed specifically for him. In 1972 he fixed it up again.

John’s son Sean Lennon is currently in possession of this most famous of famous guitars.

Source: thecanteen.com

Update (23 March 2008) : I just got a new and excellent source for Beatles guitar photos. Here’s another look at John’s first Rickenbacker after all the modifications were complete.

Photo used with permission from Trevino Music Enterprise.

325, Beatles, Capri, guitar, Hamburg, history, John, John Lennon, Rickenbacker

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