Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I am aware that RIC ships its 325 reissues with their own strings (No. 95106) which have listed gauges of 12, 16, 24W, 32, 42 and 54. I can't image who would have had more experience over the years with these short scale instruments than RIC. Having said that, I am wondering if those who own Vintage Model 325s find that the above stated gauges are optimum or whether, through experimentation, other gauges have been found to produce a different sound while still intonating well. Certainly a heavy gauge string would appear to be key. I have heard that it is not possible to intonate the G string unless it is wound. Perhaps this is because it would be difficult to find a plain string in a 24 gauge. Your thoughts?

As a follow-up to the string gauge question, has anyone read any reliable souce that described either the make or the gauge of strings that John Lennon used on his 1958 325 Rickenbacker?

Tuck: Do you have any comment with regard to the strings that you saw on Lennon's 325 in the John Lennon Museum recently?

Peter, Ron DeMarino told me that when he took John's '58 into his shop for refinishing back to
blonde, it had a mixed set of strings on it. The brand as well as the string gauge and type were
mixed. Flatwound and roundwounds, and they were in pretty sad condition. That makes me believe John didn't play it much after he retired it from performing in '64. He may have used it in the studio a short time. The strings he took off and threw away could have been from the Sullivan show!
Rod Davis has stated John hated changing a broken string back in the Quarrymen days. Looks like he
never overcame that and kept changing them one string at a time. Actually, it is not a pleasant
experience changing strings on a 325 with a Bigsby as the ends want to keep popping out before you can get the tuners cranked up! Especially with those heavy gauge strings which you need on a short scale 325.

Peter,
The 325 on display at the museum has rusted/un-cared-for flat wounds, probably a 12-54 set. The high E string doesn't have tension as shown in the pic in the Rittor book, which implies that it hasn't been played for a long time.

I always worry that 12 are too much tension on the neck???
but is 12s the ideal string to use on the short scale Ricks???
Ive always used 11 flats....
FRANK M. ROBINSON III

Remember that when the Bigsby went on at Hessy's, so that round wounds.

Strings guaged from .012 on the hi E are OK on the short scale 325, but if the .011s work for you, leave it alone.

Actually I believe 13's are the recommended guage for short scale Rics. Remember that you don't need the same tension because of the shorter neck. 12's are also used by many players, but I would expect that 11's or less would present intonation and neck problems.

I recently fitted a set of (12, 16, 24W, 32, 42 and 54) compression wound strings to my 1990 model 320 and found that I had to remove the springs behind the E and A saddles to enable adjustment all the way back for correct intonation. This agrees with what we hear around the forum quite a bit. Previously I had a set of 13's on, and the saddles sat along the centre line... In both cases, there was no problem intoning.

I also fitted another set of the same 12 - 54 strings to a 1964 export 325 over the weekend and found that the E saddle couldn't be wound back quite enough to intone properly - not enough to worry about anyway. It looks as if the bridge was correctly positioned for 13's. It goes to show how critical things are with short scale Rics. Certainly 11's would be very difficult to get intoned. You'd most likely have to move the bridge. My conclusion...for 325's stick to 13's or 12's.

And how about a GHS brite flats strings set? You could have both kind of 'feelings' at the same time.
I think there's a set 0.12-0.56.

I'm quite pleased with the D'Addario Chrome 12's on my 325C58. The RIC strings felt lousy and sounded bad. Although they looked good, I assume they were dead from being on the guitar for over a year at Guitar Center.

Mark, thank you for the advice, but between you and I... I don't remember to have seen any picture of Lennon during the 63-64 period with flat strings on his Rick. He's always using roundwounds and, by the way, always full of oxyde. Why everybody insist so on flat strings?

Put some flats on your 325 and tell us if it doesn't sound exact. John's guitar is in a museum right now with flats on it. Sounds right to me, give it a try.

Spencer: I just did it. And that's why I'm discussing on this subject. I've been in Frankfurt, a couple of months ago, and I could get a set of Pyramid Gold, Chrome-steel, flat wire wound. And since I've been playing with that set on my guitar, I don't recognise that sound as a true 'Beatle rhythm guitar sound'. Have you heard the Hamburg 1962 tapes?
Have you heard the guitar sound on the 'Roll Over Beethoven' live in Washington bit on the 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, What's happenning in the USA' documentary?
By the way, those strings on the guitar in the museum doesn't mean anything to me. Lennon has been dead for more than 20 years.
I mean, have you seen any pics of his other 325? Now is with roundwounds 0.10 on it. And I don´t believe that gauge is the best for that guitar, do you?
That's why I mention the good old Beatles' Book pics. Those are the real 'Lennon's strings'.
So long.