Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So much discussion about soundholes in Rickenbackers from the 50's and 60's. How about the 70's? I recall seeing a nice 310jg that had high gain pickups and a 1 o'clock 'f' soundhole. Likely a 70's model. My question is - When did Ric finally cease production of 310 - 325 models with 'f' soundholes? And as a side question, when did the original 'B' series re-issues start?

I think the "B" series started around '81?

One source mentioned that short scale 3 series rics with sound holes went out of production in 1978. Anyone got a confirmation of that?

I do know that they continued on with solidtop production models until '92. My 320jg is a non-reissue model from late 1990.

Both my '83 and '86 320s had F-holes.

That makes it interesting John. By the 80's the B series was running and they were solidtops I believe. Looks like Ric was running both types for a while or was it perhaps solidtops for re-issues and soundholes for production? Although a friend of mine has an '86 320 solidtop.

John, are you sure you had mid-80's 320's with
f-holes? I've owned 320's from '75 and '76 that
had f-holes. I also know of a few other 70's 320's that had f-holes but have never seen any from the 80's with f-holes. The 70's Rick 320's
are cool because they have 60's style f-holes, plus they still have Kluson tuners and the smaller headstocks. The '75 320 I had even had
the old style flat truss rod cover and a '60's
nitro, fire-glo finish. It may have been a 60's
320 finished off in the 70's. I don't think there
was too much demand in the 70's for Lennon style
320's so they are pretty scarce.

I'll try again

BTW, there a ton of differences in these two guitars. The '83 (on the right) was a bit heavier. The body was wider. Look at the placement of the p/ups. The pickguards were different. I liked the '86 much better. The '83 was white but had turned into a uniform cream in color.

Thanks John, great looking guitars. Both very
unusual colors for the mid-80's. You usually just see them in jet-glo. Also, the '86 looks like the 2 o'clock f-hole and the '83 has the 1 o'clock. Maybe they were both custom ordered with
f-holes and at the same time ordered in those rarely seen finishes? Maybe the jet-glo 320's were mainly solid-top because of the Lennon connection and the other colors got f-holes? But again, why 2 different types of f-holes? More questions than answers once again. Thanks for posting those photos and proving me wrong again! I'll have to start watching for 80's 320's with f-holes as I think they are very cool. Maybe those are the only 2 in existence!?

John, Does one[or both] of these 325s have a fairly"thick" top, compared to other earlier Ricks?Seems early 80s Ricks I've seen had some rather thicker than usual tops, and heavier as well.Larry, I don't think that Fireglo on the left is out of charachter for mid 80s Ricks based on samples I recall seeing new back then.This kind of looks like a darker version of what I referred to as "Rhubarbglo". Kinda neat.

The '83 model seemed to have a thicker top, back and sides . The '86 was lighter in weight and sounded better even unplugged.

When did black pick-guards come into production. Look kinda weird, (but cool) on a 325!

Something mentioned in this thread is something I think is important: at some time, Rickenbacker changed the body width of the 320/325; does anyone know when this occurred? I have an October 1981 320 MG with f-hole (yes, another one from the '80s) that I bought without a case, and I found out about the body width issue when I bought an '80s vintage shortscale case - the 320 just barely fits (quite snugly). Of course, I then checked how it fit in my 325v63 and 325v59 cases and found that it didn't fit those at all - the body's too wide! It was a good thing I didn't buy a reissue case for it!

A friend has an '86 320 with a body so undersized that the control plate hangs slightly over the edge. It seems to be another one of those production variables that we can't really put any dates on.