Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Greetings, I am a new member to this forum and unfortunately a very disappointed owner of a brand spankin' factory new Ric 325C64 Jetglo (MSRP $3,500) that arrived at my doorstep this past Saturday. When I opened the two cartons, and ultimately got to the beautiful silver Ric case, I was in heaven! At the age of 60, this will be my first brand new guitar since my Yamaha FG200 in 1975; all my other guitars are 2nd hand purchases and I have done well... I ordered this guitar a month or two ago through Guitar Center (GC) and was informed it would not be shipped until August, but it came 4 months early mush to my surprise. My desire was to have the guitar John Lennon once played in the early days of the Beatles.

Let me cut to the chase: I opened the case, took it out and checked it out for any blemishes, which I found none... pulled it out of the case and let it sit in it's case exposed to the temp for a good 48 hours... On Monday I plugged it into my Fender Blues Jr and tuned it up, etc... I experienced severe buzzing from my E, A, & D strings... It was severe... The string height looked to be OK, so I called GC and they said: try taking the allen wrenches that came with it and raise the bridge... I was hesitant to try this so I went to my local GC store on Wednesday and they advised me to leave it with their Guitar Tech for a few days, etc... I was not happy about this and called Rickenbacker Corp yesterday afternoon. The gentleman who answered was very courteous and professional and knew exactly what I was experiencing. He admitted the buzzing is inherent in the 325 saddle setup and it would need to be modified to solve the problem. Well, that's not what I wanted to hear!! The Ric representative said that most go towards the 350v63 guitar with the updated saddle and bridge setup... This might have been useful during the ordering phase...

So, I got home last night and played it through my Fender Blues Jr. and just loved the tone and the jangle of a few older Beatle tunes… I was eventually going to pair this guitar up with a Vox AC10 too! Last night I was trying to decide whether I …
• Can live with the buzz for the sake of owning this cool piece of history
• Modify it? Not
• Return it for a new one?
• Return it to GC and get full refund because I’m well under 45 days, etc…

Can anyone give me advice? Thank you Scott

1975 Yamaha FG-200
1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom
1991 Alvarez Yairi DY-52 Canyon Creek
2010 Larrivee OMV-03
2010 Fender Telecaster 52’ Reissue
2010 Hofner 500/1 63 Reissue
2018 Rickenbacker 325C64 Jetglo

Don't these guitars have roller saddles in the bridge? If so, you can just swap it out for a standard bridge. I suspect the buzzing is the saddles themselves, so you might a bit of thick grease on the saddle threads to help quiet the vibration. Roll the saddle back and forth after applying it to get it into all of the threads.

Dane, I am not sure, but I'll check... ...and yes, the buzz is coming from the saddle itself, I didn't make that clear in my initial post. Thank you for your input!

Scott if you are able please post a couple of photos of the bridge showing the strings in the saddles and its height above the guitar. Welcome!

Sure thing... Will try to have them posted by Saturday!

Hi Scott - what gauge strings are you using?

Most new guitars benefit from a set up, the shop you bought it from should do it for free.

sloop_john_b wrote:Hi Scott - what gauge strings are you using?

Hi John, whatever came from the factory... I'll check when I get home today. The notes that came with the guitar state to use only Ric strings as well...

You're using a set of 12's or 13's, right? Could the store have put 10's (too light for short scale) on the guitar and re-set it up?

jdogric12 wrote:You're using a set of 12's or 13's, right? Could the store have put 10's (too light for short scale) on the guitar and re-set it up?

Hi Jason, my primary reason to get this particular guitar was for the Beatle sound, the Ric Jangle, etc... I'm not sure, but I think it has a lot to do with the strings, the Toaster P/Us etc... I'm open to trying...

Scott, these guitars absolutely require at least 12-gauge strings. The first thing I'd try is a new set of strings. To further that, many 325 players prefer to use flatwound strings on 325s for a more authentic Beatle tone.

sloop_john_b wrote:Scott, these guitars absolutely require at least 12-gauge strings. The first thing I'd try is a new set of strings. To further that, many 325 players prefer to use flatwound strings on 325s for a more authentic Beatle tone.

Yep, that.

In reviewing this thread, I see my earlier post looks dumb - all the other replies were not appearing, so I apologize for what appeared to be me not reading the thread. I really did, I swear!

I bought my Rick used and someone had messed with the roller bridge. There was no rattle, but the little roller wheels wouldn’t turn either - it was, essentially, no longer a roller bridge. Before I learned of Winfield (parts source) I posted my concerns here and desire to get a new roller bridge... somewhere... couldn’t find the post, but someone suggested that:

1. Roller bridges rattle - that’s their nature, inherent in their manufacture

2. Don’t worry about getting a new roller bridge - most / a lot of guys end up replacing those bridges with a regular bridge because of the rattling; just put a regular bridge on.

So, aceonbass is correct about the source of the rattling.

I say just live with it for a while. We’re all concerned to have something new not seem/sound as it should (e.g., rattle in a new car), but when you find that nothing is really broken the concern fades away. If the rattle is not amplified, I’d say just try not to pay too much attention to it. Anyway, congrats, and have fun.

I shall consider it!! Thank you for your post!

maxwell wrote:1. Roller bridges rattle - that’s their nature, inherent in their manufacture

Which manufacturer? I have been using roller bridges on instruments since the early 1980s; none have ever rattled.