John's Gallotone Champion
John's first guitar, the Gallotone Champion, was a flat-top acoustic guitar made from laminated woods. He ordered it and had it delivered to his mother's house to avoid being scolded by his aunt, because his aunt thought that a guitar would distract him from his school work. John was playing this guitar when Paul McCartney saw him playing for the first time at St. Peter's Church Fete in July of 1957.
Rod Davis, a former member of John's skiffle group, remembered how John used to play the guitar roughly and frequently broke the strings on it. "[John] would play it so furiously that he'd take the skin off his finger," Rod remembered, "and spray blood into his guitar." John
tuned it like he would a banjo because he learned to play banjo before guitar. He said, "I only tuned five strings, and everybody used to laugh when they saw my sixth string flapping about."
John's Gallotone is now on display at Boston's Museum of Fine Art.
John bought his first Rickenbacker 325 in 1960 in Hamburg, Germany. It would become the guitar most associated with him through the years and John's favorite too. He used it in live performances and many recordings until 1964, when he got a new one. John had his first Rickenbacker painted black in 1962 and also had the volume control knobs changed to cream-colored Hofner knobs with gold "dish" tops. This guitar was recently on display at the Lennon museum in Japan and is now owned by John's son, Sean Lennon.
Earlier in 1962, after the Abbey Road staff complained about the poor state of the Beatles' gear, John and George ordered a pair of Gibson acoustic-electric J-160E guitars. The guitars came later in 1962, and John and George went to Rushworth's Music House in Liverpool to pick them up. John used his J-160E throughout the Please Please Me sessions, and then it was stolen during the Beatles' Christmas Show performance at Finsbury Park Astoria Theatre, London. John and George had gotten their guitars mixed up, though, so it was actually the guitar registered to George that was stolen.
The president of the Rickenbacker guitar company, Francis Hall, heard about the Beatles using his instruments, and he went to see them during their first visit to America in February of 1964 and took along some more of his guitars to show them. George was sick, so he had to stay behind in the room, while the others went to Hall's suite at the Savoy Hilton to see the guitars. John played the 12-string, which Hall had brought with him, and said, "I'd like for George to see this instrument. Would you mind going over with us and letting him play it?" So they took it to George's room and let him play it a while.
Hall remembered that a radio station bought the guitar for George, but his son, John, said that it was Rickenbacker who gave the guitar to George, and a radio station paid for a second Rickenbacker 360-12 that he got in 1965.
In an interview published in 1964, George admitted that one of his big ambitions was to play classical guitar really well. George got himself a Spanish-made classical guitar, the José Ramírez Guitarra de Estudio. He most likely got it at Ivor Mairants's guitar shop in Rathbone Place, London. He used it most notably on "And I Love Her" on the album A Hard Day's Night.
Paul bought this in late 1964. He used it to play lead on several Beatles songs, such as "Ticket to Ride" and "Taxman." Paul has said that this is his favorite electric guitar and still has it today. John and George loved the sound of it so much that they too soon bought their own Epiphone Casino guitars.
This was George's main guitar during the Revolver sessions as well as later studio work. He played it briefly on stage during 1966. The guitar is featured in the "Lady Madonna" video and I also believe George was playing it in the "Rain" and "Paperback Writer" videos. George later gave this guitar to Pete Ham of Badfinger.
Eric Clapton gave this guitar to George in 1968. It originally had a gold top but was refinished in red in the early sixties. George used this on the "Revolution" promo video and during the Let It Be and Abbey Road sessions. This Gibson Les Paul is still owned by George's Estate today.
This guitar was custom-made for George by Fender in 1969. George used it in the studio during the making of the Let It Be album and also at the Beatles' Rooptop Concert. George later gave this guitar as a gift to Delaney Bramlett of Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. As far as I know Delaney still owns the guitar today.