original '58y 325

1958 Rickenbacker 325 Natural (Serial Number V83) Very Good All-Original Condition, Includes Original Case

Two serial numbers away from John Lennon's (Serial Number V81), the "Holy Grail".
Only 6 325 Solid Tops ever made, and only 4 with Natural finish.

In my 50+ years collecting guitars, this guitar required the most in-depth detective work and research to track down and acquire.

We came to know about the elusive and rare (ONLY SIX MADE) 1958 Rickenbacker 325's, 5/8 scale, hollow-body electric 6 string guitar during the Birth of the Beatles "Early" Hamburg days. The Holy Grail of guitars lovingly referred to as," V81" , Lennon's 58' Rickenbacker serial number. *"Lennon bought this guitar with a natural finish, gold pickguard, and Kauffman vibrato, on the Beatles' first trip to Hamburg, after he saw a Jazzman "Toots" Thielman playing a Ric model". With the advent of Beatles gear type "forums" such as Voxtalk's, and Rickenbacker Forum, many many more facts would begin to flood Cyberspace. Yes, there were ONLY were "SIX" solid top 325's ever made. Their serial numbers as follows:

V81 natural

V82 natural

V83 natural for sale here, now!!

V84 Two tone brown , and no photos known to exist.

V85 natural , considered lost or stolen

V86 Two tone brown





Interestingly enough, Mr. Lennon ended up with the first one made, V81. Enter childhood friend of a young John Lennon, Mr. Christopher Huston, lead guitarist from The Undertakers. Probably more than any one person Mr. Huston recollects "John was not happy with his tremolo so I mounted a B-5 Bigsby Vibrato unit and "bowtie" bridge. *"At the same time they replaced the "oven knobs" with the new ones from Curry Electronics. Somewhere along the line , Lennon disconnected the middle pickup and in September '62 had it painted black". The Bigsby has been on the guitar (and remains) up to the present day. Some suggest the Beatles manager,Brian Epstein was having "everything painted black" arguably to spruce up the band's look even "refinishing" black~ a few of the Vox Amps~ now matching John's Rickenbacker guitar. *"Another source credits the refinish to coach painter Charles Bantam, who reportedly sprayed the Rickenbacker with black coach paint while the band took a brief holiday. Later inspection led Ron DeMarino to speculate the finish had been brushed on! At any rate, in '63 Lennon changed the knobs again when he had some electrical work done by Burns of London."

Yes, before Lennon's untimely death in 1980, in 1972, DeMarino stripped V81 back to its original Natural finish from the color black. John had also stripped a few of his guitars used with the Beatles. To follow suit with his band mate,George Harrison, he stripped the paint off of his 1965 Epiphone Casino believing it sounded better. John also stripped (or had it done) his "second" Gibson 1964, J-160E, he later stripped his 1965 Epiphone "Casino", also called his "Rooftop Guitar". **"Only 28 of this model were made in 1958 but still several did not sell, and in the late '58 or early '59 those guitars were reconfigured from two knobs, one switch to four knobs , two switches. Lennon's V81 was long thought to be maple, but the body and neck are actually Alder. Some who have actually researched the matter insist the Musikhaus Rotthof in Hamburg wound up with the prototype from the '58 New York Trade show and sold it to Lennon. Scrutiny confirms that the pickguard screw arrangement . the wood grain., and an unusually bent Kauffman vibrato arm are identical". This guitar would have been priced about 100 GBP's in 1960, but because it apparently had been hanging around the store for a while, John probably picked it up for much less. Outakes from website information via *John Crowley and **Ron DeMarino.

I became aware of early Rickenbacker's (and their specs in the early 90's) via the Internet explosion of information~ some facts discussed, true~ some not so much. The truth eventually found its way to the top of the heap thanks to "Vintage Rickenbacker" collectors and personal friends and fellow Beatle gear historians like John Williams, Peter McCormack , Ron O'Keefe, Larry Wassgren, David McLaughlin, John Simmons, Ron Cascisa, Andrew Andrade, Phil Angotti, to round out the bunch. We all know that John Lennon played this guitar onstage, and in studio right through to the first Ed Sullivan show, and the Carnegie Hall shows. Then except for a bit of work on Beatles for Sale, retired the beat-up V81 workhorse. Many collectors /listeners, including myself maintain that *"it makes its final appearance on the Double Fantasy sessions (Stepping Out) , and some believe , but cannot substantiate, that Lennon used V81 on Yoko's "Walking on Thin Ice" in December 1980". Yoko displayed V81 at the John Lennon Museum located inside the Saitama Super Arena in Chuo-ku , Saitama, Saitama Prefecture Japan from October 9th (Johns birthday) 2000 to September 30, 2010. V81 currently resides with Yoko Ono undisclosed location.

This very rare 1958 Rickenbacker, V83, now in a private collection is considered to be the "Holy Grail" for guitar collectors. It remains in its "original" condition , the same as the day it was manufactured in 1958. It is the only guitar currently available on Earth, exactly like John Lennon's original #V81 in every way, and is WIDELY considered by dealers/collectors alike to be as good as it gets. Serious inquiries only please . All questions will be answered in a timely manner, as time permits, and held in the strictest of confidence. Please feel free to contact me by phone 213-400-4244, or by email:


...上は８ヶ月ほど前に掲載終了した個体であるが、なんと14,000,000円程のお値段がついていた模様である。リフィニッシュではなくオリジナル塗装(NTなので仕上げ?)で総製造数28本中6本しか存在しないと言われるソリッドトップ仕様の内の一本ででジョンの個体とも２番違いと言うものだ！現存するものでご本人のもの*もある意味リフィニッッシュだが^^;; を除けばBESTの個体ではなかろうか？

加えて５ヶ月ほど前にはJGにリフィニッシュされたV91が掲載されていた。`いずれもReverbよりの情報です。




我が一本は、コンディション的にこのV91のニュアンスにきっと近いのだろう..。Kauffmanに換装してしていただいた後は特にですね^^？

この28本の1958年製 325の特別な存在意義は...粗削りに、このギターを抱え搔き鳴らしたアイコンに憧れを抱きし..




つづく