Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Came in the mail today! I'm going to upload an unboxing video to Youtube, although I won't link to it here because I may have let off a couple of cuss words and I wasn't sure what the policy is here.

Anyway - been playing it for a few hours. The guy shipped it to me with light strings so it doesn't hold a tune for very long unfortunately, but I'm surprised how playable it is. I've got big spider fingers but the short scale really doesn't bother me at all.

In any case, couldn't be happier with it. It's a delightful little guitar!

Great pics! Congrats on the new guitar and welcome to the world of Ricks!

Congrats, Scotty! Welcome to the short scale gang!

What year is your 320? Have you run the serial number through the decoder?

I've got one just like it, except that mine just got a makeover in Ruby and checkerboard. I bought mine new in 1983.

Great little guitar!

Jetglo rocks! Again, congrats Scotty! Can you PM the video link?

February, 1991!
I was in the bidding on one that was from '86, my birth year, but alas it got a bit above my limit.

As I was so often saying during my long courtship .. I really did want a Natural. There's a bit of the wood peeking through near the top strap button, and it taunts me .. but having played the guitar now, I'm kind of in love with it the way it is. Rest assured, if I ever did get it stripped, it'd be done professionally. This thing's just too nice - scuffs and all.

I'll PM the video when it's up. These unboxings always go a little astray - in recent years I've pretty well forgotten any Party Pieces I used to know, so I generally have to vamp a lot.

Anyway! Feels good to be a member of the club!

Wow, that's some guitar.

I never knew of a 320. Clearly the 325 is the famous short scale Ric. What's the difference? No vibrato on the 320?
Heck, I always wanted a 325, but if the only difference is the vibrato, then maybe I'll search for a 320.

From what I know as a relative newbie, it was (I guess) the model that came between old 325's and the reissues that started with the V series. Someone can correct me there as I'm not sure what kind of overlap there might've been.

What's the body rout like? I was tapping on the body earlier to try and figure out how hollow the thing is in comparison to newer models.

Congrats on your new arrival Scotty ... after you were sitting on pins and needles there wondering if the the e-bay seller had shipped it afterall as promised.

Curious, is the only difference between 320 and 325 the R tailpiece, knobs and High Gains ??

Congrats. 320 does not have a vibrato and 325 does. 310 is the 2 pickup version and 315 has 2 pickups with vibrato. Not sure, but I believe that the pickups and knobs are year related. This is not a reissue but a 325 that was still in the line at that time.

Tommy wrote:Wow, that's some guitar.

I never knew of a 320. Clearly the 325 is the famous short scale Ric. What's the difference? No vibrato on the 320?
Heck, I always wanted a 325, but if the only difference is the vibrato, then maybe I'll search for a 320.

Your guess is correct, Tommy; lack of a vibrato makes the model a 320, rather than a 325; a "5" in the third digit position of a Rick guitar model number indicates the guitar is a vibrato-equipped model.

Congrats Scotty, i know how it feels to get your first Rick! Leave it jetglo!!!

Congrats, great little guitars!!

I've just put the unboxing video up. I won't link to it on here because I remember seeing someone say that it's not cool to link to anything that has curse words in it. My channel is called Zebonka and it's the most recent video, if anyone wants to skip the blabbing at the start and see what the guitar sounds like.

Cheers all!

There are also a couple more subtle differences between the late-'70's-to-early-'90's 320s as opposed to the "vintage" 310-15-20-25's and the reissue models: the lower bout is a tad wider, and the scale length is 21 inches instead of 20 3/4. But the pickups are routed as the older and reissue models, so the bridge pickup is a tad farther from the bridge so it only has about 97% of the "bite" or "jangle" as the others. Also, it might have the mis-matched pickups, with @ 6 to 6.5 kohms' worth of wire on the bridge higain pickup (and possibly the middle) and anywhere from 12 to 14 kohms' worth of wire on the neck pickup, all to try to get the maximum contrast of tone which was the order of the day.

I redid my 320 by routing out of the top a sliver of wood on the bridge side of the bridge pickup magnet cutout so I could move the pickup closer to the bridge as the vintage and reissue models, re-centered the middle pickup accordingly, and I switched out the 14kohm neck pickup with the 6.2 kohm bridge higain from my 12-string (long story on the pickups on the 12-string -- see my other threads) to have three matched pickups. Finally, I rewired it according to my mods with a push-pull on the 5th knob to make it a very versatile instrument, strung with 12's rounds. I haven't gotten around to trying it with flats yet, even after all these decades (now 31 years old -- purchased new in 1981).

One thing that you can do with these 320's that is completely different: string it in "terz" tuning. Assemble a string set of 9-11-17w (yes, D'addario makes the odd wound gauge) -22w-30w-40w and tune the guitar up four frets to G#-D#-B-F#-C#-G#. This gives a wonderful chimey sound that is not 12-string, and not mandolin style, but its own unique voice. I've done that to great effect on a few songs where a little chime or sparkle, but not full jangle, in the mix with other guitars, suits the song.

Have fun!

Great video! Just posted it in Clank & Jangle.