Looking for 325c58 Electronic Diagram/Manual

The short-scale model that changed history

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Woozer
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Looking for 325c58 Electronic Diagram/Manual

Post by Woozer »

Hello everyone,

I'm a total newbie to guitars, so please excuse any ignorance. Long story short, a 325c58 I received has an issue with the pick ups. If I'm correct, the up position is neck + middle, middle position is all pick ups, and the down position is bridge only. From what I can tell, the neck and middle pick ups are basically dead and/or have extremely faint volume. Due to the single tone on the middle/down position and the barely any response from the up position, it appears that the neck and middle pick ups are not working properly (or perhaps it is a general electronic issue).

My tech requested a diagram or a manual for the 325c58's particular workings. Would anybody be able to share anything useful for a tech to use to diagnose an electronic issue for this particular guitar?

*Well, I did find a layout of the V59. http://www.rickenbacker.com/service_g_schematics.asp

I guess now my question would be if the schematic for the V59 is similar to the C58, besides the low output pickups?
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aceonbass
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Re: Looking for 325c58 Electronic Diagram/Manual

Post by aceonbass »

All 4 pot Rickenbacker instruments with mono output jacks are wired the same, except for the C58 guitars which have the tone controls wired backwards. All 3 pickup RIC guitars run the neck and middle pickups in parallel through the neck pickup tone and volume controls.
maxwell
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Re: Looking for 325c58 Electronic Diagram/Manual

Post by maxwell »

I thought that more Varsity players would have responded by now, so I'll offer my JV perspective...

Since you suspect that there might be a "general" wiring problem, you're going to have to disconnect those pickups and measure their output. I'd guess they may be in the 4-5k ohm range.

If these check out as OK, you can check you connections (continuity)/solder joints, etc. The pots and caps are identified so you can check those. Unless you suspect that your original wiring has been replaced or modified, a schematic is not going to do much to get you going again. But, take a couple of photos, do a sketch, etc. of your existing harness before you fool around with it.

If you just don't want to fart around with this too much (assuming your pickups check out), just get one of these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324812641916?h ... Swe9tepajM

New components nicely assembled. You'll recognize the ebay seller, who is probably too "proper" to have mentioned this previously. :) He's right here if you have a question! How neat is that?
maxwell
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Re: Looking for 325c58 Electronic Diagram/Manual

Post by maxwell »

Woozer - are you still checking in here? Update?

I've spent hours looking for a 325c58 diagram; I don't think there are any. I did find a several photos of old original '58 wiring harnesses, many of which were on this web site, some posted over a decade ago. There wasn't any one photo that totally revealed the wiring scheme; too "jumbled" up for an inexperienced novice. Maybe studying six or seven good photos might have done it. But I gave up, with this reasoning: What is a 325V59? It's a Lennonesque 325c58, with wiring modification (presumably) limited to disconnecting the middle pickup. (Of course, there is controversy about this.)

The only other variation to the '58 & '59 that I'm aware of is the addition (to their reissued guitars by users) of a third capacitor to alter tone in some schemes. I do not know if the original (& Lennon's '58) had this feature, and possibly removed by RIC for the '59 model. There are discussions somewhere here about this third cap, with some guys not liking the sound and consequently disconnecting it, or simply bypassing it. I'll have to research this third capacitor variation sometime more thoroughly. (Perhaps someone here can provide a brief history/functional explanation.)

If it is true that Lennon disconnected the middle pickup on his modified 325c58, I've wondered if he made this change on his '64 model....
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