![original 1958 rickenbacker 325 original 1958 rickenbacker 325](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rMhSgw-X-e0/maxresdefault.jpg)
![original 1958 rickenbacker 325 original 1958 rickenbacker 325](https://www.samash.com/media/mageplaza/blog/post/r/i/rickenbacker325cs-58cover.png)
I put the flush trim bit on and it was done in 2 minutes - smooth as I could hope. It soon became clear that doing it by hand would take a long time, and the results were less than satisfactory. I was concerned about tear-out if I used the router. I was a little concerned that it might be too thin, but it seems to be in line with what Rickenbacker has used over the years. Next step is to hollow out and finish shaping the body before joining them together. I'm very pleased with how the neck came out. I only had to use CA glue on one of the frets (I got over-confident and didn't pre-bend the wire enough). This is so much easier and quicker than hammering. Using the fret press caul from StewMac with my drill press. The fret board has a couple of indexing pins in place and is ready to glue on. Truss rod in place with a touch of silicon to prevent buzzing. The headstock is shaved down by about 6 or 7 degrees.ĭrilled out to let the truss rod pass through (dual-action from LMI). The pearloid sits a little bit proud of the board. For the angled cuts, I followed the pencil lines by hand and cleaned them up with files.
![original 1958 rickenbacker 325 original 1958 rickenbacker 325](https://extrachill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/john-lennon-hamburg-1962.jpeg)
The straight cuts were easy - just push the fret board back and forth using the block of plywood as a guide. Using a down-cut router bit, I trimmed out the wood for the inlays. I cut the board at the 3rd fret to approximate the 21" scale of the 325. Eventually, I'll do my own fret boards, but this will do for now. I started with a rosewood fret board from StewMac.
#Original 1958 rickenbacker 325 full
I printed the plan at full scale and transferred that to the blank. The larger piece was just cut to length and joined side-to-side for the body blank. I cut the smaller piece down the middle and turned each half 90 deg so they are now quarter-sawn. I found two 8/4 pieces of hard maple in the garage that are just what I need. Neither the slash-shaped sound hole nor the triangle fret markers were featured on the 320/325, but I like them. Also, the shorter scale of the 325 (21") combined with the smaller body makes this a good size for my 8 and 12-year-old boys. I've always been intimidated to build a "hollow-body" guitar, so this seems like a good first step in that direction. Here's something a little different from the Gibson- and Fender-style electric guitars we normally see: a build inspired by the Rickenbacker 325 made famous in the 1960's by the likes of John Lennon.