BEATLES GUITARS

In the well known picture of The Quarrymen playing the Woolton Fete, July 1957, Lennon is playing a Gallotone Champion and on the right is a photo of his actual one, which sold at Sotheby's for $250,000 to Adam Sender in 1999. It now lies at the Boston Museum of Fine Art. .

1959, John went up in the world with this Hofner Club 40 - his first electric guitar. He is pictured with George in 1969 at the Indra Club, Hamburg.

1964 John asked Rickenbacker to make him a 325 Jet-glo 12 string which he acquired in March. It belongs in the Lennon estate.It has been displayed at Clevelands Rock & Roll Hall of fame museum.

PAUL

1960, Paul's Rosetti Solid 7 - he thought it was a bit of a rubbish guitar. The pic on the right shows that Paul has transformed it to a 3 string bass !

1956, George's first (possibly) guitar, an Egmond acoustic.

The guitar was auctioned off in 80s, and was on loan to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland from 1995 to 2002. In 2003, now worth approx. $800,000 was displayed at The Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool

1958, George bought (maybe with mum's help !) a Hofner President. He later put a pick up on it. It had no name on the headstock. He swopped it (although this is questionable) with Ray Ennis of The Swinging Blue Jeans for his new guitar. It's whereabouts is unknown.

1959 he acquired (bottom left) this Hofner Club 40, slightly different to John's. It has all 4 signatures (by Neil Aspinall) and auctioned at Juliens Auctions, after Frank Dostal decided to sell - it raised $430K

1959 George bought this Neoton Grazioso Resonet (later Futurama III when Selmer bought it to UK) , red sunburst from Hessy's, Liverpool.It later ended up in the hands of Sean O'Mahoney, editor of Beatles Monthly, who still owns it. The picture on the right is similar (III), and credited to Dusan Palka, California, USA

1960 a 1958 Rickenbacker 325 capri - bought in Steinways of Hamburg, natural finish,
gold pickguard, kaufmann vibrato.John had a Bigsby b5 vibrato put on it and painted black in Sept 62.In 1972 it was restored to it's natural colour, and is owned by Sean. It's last public appearance was on the 1964 Ed Sullivan show. It's that sacred that even my knitted doll has got a replica !

10 Sept 62 John & George bought identical Gibson J160e from Rushworths, Liverpool for £161. As they were identical apart from the serial numbers, they got them mixed up.George's was stolen at the 1963 Finsbury Park Xmas show - John thought it was his that was stolen, so replaced it with the one underneath.

1964 John bought another J160e to replace his 'lost' one. In 1967 The Fool painted in psychedilic colours and had it stripped later for the bed in.It was on display at Cleveland rock n roll hall of fame on loan from Lennon's estate.

1964 Another Rickenbacker 325 Jet-glo -an improved model ,it was sent to the Deauville rehearsals for the 2nd Ed Sullivan show- it immediately replaced his previous one until late 65. It was displayed at the Lennon museum, Japan. Lennon dropped it the Hammersmith 64 Xmas show and cracked the headstock. Also in 1964 he got Rickenbacker to make a12 string 325.It belongs in the Lennon estate.

1960 and John lent Paul his Hofner Club 40 as he had bought his Rickenbacker, and as you can see, Paul just re-strung it left handed. Lennon soon sold it.

1965: 1963 Gretsch 6120 used on the "Paperback Writer" session. Lennon gave it to his cousin David Birch,
Birch loaned it to The Beatles Story in Liverpool 2010. As of June 2012, this guitar is
on loan to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1965: 1961 Fender Stratocaster Sonic Blue:
In the studio one day John and George sent Mal Evans to "get a couple Strats,"
Evans came back with two '61s in a rare blue color.

Paul was given this Rickenbacker 4001S (leftie) at The Beatles' 1965
Hollywood Bowl performance
Post-Beatles, he sanded it back to reveal its natural finish,
favouring the Ric’ as his main bass while recording and touring with Wings.

George bought this Rickenbacker 1962 425 in Sept 1963 whilst visiting his sister in Illinois (113 McCann Street, Benton) from Fenton's, 601 South 10th St,Mt. Vernon for $400 and it was originally Fire glo.

1963 he aquired a Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman from Sound City in London.It went for repair, was stolen and they gave him another one and the original one was later found. He preferred the new one ad December 65 it was run over ! Pic far right with both of them.

1963 Maton Mastersound ms 500. This was the one lent to George while his CG was being mended at Barratts of Manchestr. It ended up with the guitar player of Dave Berry's Cruisers.

FIRST ONE in 1964 a 1963 model. Serial No. CM107.
In Feb 64 just after the Beatles arrived in New York for their first Sullivan appearance, George was ill and the Rickenbacker president F.C. Hall gave this to him. He started using it when he got back to the UK , firstly on "I Should Have Known Better, "I Call Your Name" and "A Hard Day´s Night"

1963 Gretsch 6119 Tennessean He first used it for the '63 Christmas shows and later at Carnegie Hall,
and used on the Beatles For Sale sessions,touring and TV into 1965.Nobody seems to know where it is now !

1963: Jose Ramirez Guitarra de Estudio acoustic
This
Spanish nylon-string guitar was used for n "Til There Was You" and "And I Love Her." They are quite expensive (£2Kish) - see right

SECOND ONE in 1965 radio station WDGY gave Harrison a brand spanker when they went to
Minneapolis (Aug 65)
Harrison retired his first 360-12 and used this one for performances and recording
(beginning with "If I Needed Someone" on 16 Oct. '65). This guitar was last spotted
in March 1969 at the Abbey Road studio, from where it is reported to have been stolen.

' ROCKY'
1965: 1961 Fender Stratocaster. As mentioned with Lennon's Strat above, they both had one of these in 1967, to commemorate the "All You Need Is Love" satellite broadcast, Harrison gave his Strat a psychedelic paint job and nicknamed it "Rocky." In his solo years, Harrison had it set up for his slide work, and dusted it off for "Free as a Bird."

1966: Epiphone E230TD(V) Casino Harrison and
Lennon bought
Epiphone Casinos. Not top-of-the line instruments, but
the Beatles just liked them. It appeared on the "Hello, Goodbye"
promo (its last appearance). Harrison, like Lennon, stripped
the finish off his Casino to bare wood.

1966: Gibson SG and first used during the Revolver sessions, the promo film for "Lady Madonna" and "Hey Bulldog" video. It makes its only public appearances on 1 May 1966 at the NME Poll Winners concert in Wembley and in Munich
at the first show on the '66 tour. In 1969 Harrison it Pete Ham of Badfinger. Just before his suicide in April 1974, Ham left this guitar at his brother John's home. John Ham took it out in 2001 and loaned it to the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame for display. In 2004 Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Isray picked it up for
only $567,000 at Christie's.

Harrison bought this Gibson J-200 in the U.S. in 1968.Late 1968, he gave it to
Bob Dylan, who posed with the instrument on the cover of his 1969 release,
Nashville Skyline and used it when he performed
at the Isle of Wight on August 31, 1969 - it's a big bugger !

1961 Hofner 500/1 - Hofner Violin bass.When Paul was 'lumbered' with playing bass, he bought this cheapish bass, in Steinways, Hamburg.Some b.....d stole it.

1966 He acquired an Epiphone Ee230td Casino sunburst. It was used for the Revolver sessions and the1st live gig was 1 may 66. In 1968 he had it sanded to natural and appears with it on the Apple HQ rooftop
& the Live peace in Toronto. It belongs in the Lennon estate

Paul's first guitar - apparently he traded in the trumpet his dad had given him. He still owns it ! I can remember I had a Zenith guitar once -- a little red semi acoustic number !

1968: 1968 Fender Telecaster, rosewood with a maple middle,
was a gift from Fender and one of only two made, and arrived at EMI Studios one
day in December, having come from the U.S.
Used mainly on the Let It Be sessions and on the rooftop concert. After the breakup, Harrison
performed a bit with Bonnie & Delaney and gave this guitar to Delaney Bramlett.
In 1998 Bramlett offered it
for auction at Bonham's but withdrew it after his asking price of $200,000
was not met. In 2003 he offered it again at a Hollywood auction, insisting that
Harrison had recommended he sell it before somebody killed him for it. Ed Begley
Jr., bidding for Olivia Harrison, bought it for more than $470,000, including taxes
and premiums.

LUCY -1968 August -
originally a gold top 57/58 owned by John Sebastian of The Lovin Spoonful, he changed it to red but didn't like it so he sold to Dan Armstrong guitar shop in New York. Eri Clapton
bought it and gave it to George in Aug 68. Clapton played it on While my guitar gently weeps in September. It was stolen fron George's Beverly Hills home, but later recovered and he kept it until he died in 2001.