George Harrison’s guitars are as iconic and important as any instruments in the history of popular music. But for Dhani Harrison, they are also family heirlooms that have always been a fixture in his life and home. Now thanks to the new The Guitar Collection: George Harrison iPad app, they can hold a place of pride in your abode as well.
George Harrison played many a classic guitar during the course of his career,
In the Sixties, during his time with the Beatles, he helped make famous the Rickenbacker 360/12 electric 12-string, a rosewood version of the Fender Telecaster, and the Gibson J-160 acoustic/electric. Dhani Harrison, they will be available for all to see and hear in exquisite detail, courtesy of The Guitar Collection: George Harrison, a new iPad app developed by Dhani. (guitaraficionado)
Point the mouse on the pic to know the guitar model
he plays (and/or displays) a Gibson ES-5 (not one of his Beatles guitars, despite the Hamburg-era leather jacket he's sporting as he plays it), his legendary 1963 Rickenbacker 360/12, his original Epiphone Casino (the same guitar he played on the Beatles' final tour in 1966) and his 1957 Gibson Les Paul, also known as "Lucy."
This is the guitar Harrison plays in the "Revolution" promo video, the same ax Eric Clapton plays on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". We also see a few custom instruments, including a 12-string acoustic guitar made by Zemaitis. This is the guitar Harrison plays in the "Revolution" promo video, the same ax Eric Clapton plays on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
Eric Clapton gifted a 1957 Les Paul Standard to George Harrison in 1968. This guitar started as a goldtop but was refinished to cherry red, earning it the nickname "Lucy" after Lucille Ball, at the Gibson Kalamazoo factory. Harrison said, “[Eric and I] used to hang out such a lot at that period, and Eric gave me a fantastic Les Paul guitar, which is the one he plays on [“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”]. So it worked out well.”
Fender Rocky Stratocaster
It was originally purchased by Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, and given to George Harrison. Its original color was Sonic Blue, and was used extensively on the band's sixth album, Rubber Soul. In 1967, he painted it into the way it is today.
It can be seen in the music video for "I Am the Walrus". It was later used as a slide guitar when George went solo. 1965: 1961 Fender Stratocaster solidbody, Sonic Blue: Finally, Harrison got that Fender.
In the studio one day he and Lennon dispatched Mal Evans to "get a couple Strats," and because Brian Epstein was picking up the bill if they were identical, Evans came back with two '61s in a rare blue color.
Used first on "Nowhere Man" and then for the Rubber Soul sessions, and regularly thereafter. In '67, to commemorate the "All You Need Is Love" satellite broadcast, Harrison gave his Strat a psychedelic paint job and nicknamed it "Rocky." "The paint started flaking off immediately," he recalls in the Anthology book. "We were painting everything at that time: our houses, our clothes, our cars, our shop. Everything.
In those days day-glo orange and lime paint were very rare, but I discovered where to buy them -- very thick, rubbery stuff. I got a few different colors and painted the Strat, not very artistically because the paint was just too thick. I had also found out about cellulose paint, which came in a tube with a ball tip, so I filled in the scratch plate with that and drew on the head of the guitar with [wife] Pattie's sparkly green nail varnish." Later in '67 it featured prominently in the "I Am The Walrus" scene in the "Magical Mystery Tour"
a 1968 Fender Rosewood Telecaster. This guitar was extensively used on both "Abbey Road" and "Let it Be". He can seen using it throughout the "Let It Be" sessions.
Gretsch Duo Jet
"It was my first real American guitar," he told Guitar Player magazine in 1987. "And I'll tell you, it was secondhand, but I polished that thing. I was so proud to own that." Indeed, Harrison had procured a truly fine guitar for himself—no small feat for an 18-year-old in Liverpool, where any good guitar was hard to come by, let alone a U.S.-made Gretsch.
In this picture, George Harrison is playing a rare acoustic version with the capo on the 2nd fret of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" in 1968 on a vintage Gibson Super Jumbo Sunburst guitar.
George Harrison can be seen using a 1965 Epiphone Casino in this photo from the Beatles' last public concert at Candlestick Park.
George Harrison can be seen using a Hofner President Archtop guitar in this photo. According to The Beatles Gear, this was George's first "good guitar". He paid 30 pounds for it, with a bit of help from his mother. He also put on a pickup, just to increase the volume of the guitar. He later swapped this guitar for a Hofner Club 40 instead.
Gibson 345 td eorge Harrison used this guitar in 1965 for "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work it out
Vox Kensington Guitar
George played John Lennon's Vox Kenstington during the recording of "I Am The Walrus". chuck_yoakum said in this submission that George used it in rehearsals for "I Am The Walrus" and "Hello Goodbye".
http://equipboard.com/pros/george-harrison/rickenbacker-425
According to Paul McCartney (Bacon interview), it was strictly a do-it-yourself affair. "We got chatting on the bus and he had an interest in guitars like I did, and music. Turned out he was going to try to make one, going to make a little solid-body Hawaiian,which was like a good place to start. You didn't have to get into the hollow body or anything, which was very difficult. And he did that, and we kind of hung out and became good friends. He did that Hawaiian thing and it wasn't bad, real high action of course." There's no record of this guitar surviving.
1963 Rickenbacker 360-12 Fire-glo Harrison started using this guitar directly the band returned to England, first for "I Should Have Known Better," February 25, followed by "I Call Your Name" on March 1 and "A Hard Day´s Night" on April 16. With the arrival of his second 360-12 a year and a half later, Harrison retired this trend-setting instrument.
Epiphone E230TD(V) CasinoHe used it regularly in the studio and on tour through the Sgt. Peppersessions, and it appears in many of the Beatles' performances, including the "Hello, Goodbye"
1968 Fender Telecaster solidbody: This guitar, 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 made the trip from the U.S. in its own BOAC coach seat. Used extensively on the Let It Besessions and prominently seen and heard at the Beatles' last public performance -- the rooftop concert.
After the breakup, Harrison performed a bit with Bonnie & Delaney and gave this guitar to Delaney Bramlett. In 1998 Bramlett, in what I consider an act of monumental ingratitude, offered it for auction through 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. So the fabled Rosewood Tele has come home.
