 1962:
1962
Gibson J-160E acoustic/electric, sunburst finish. Lennon and
Harrison each bought one of these "jumbo" models (price: £161) in
Rushworth's Music House in Liverpool on 10 September 1962 (shown at right
with guitar/amp department manager Bob Hobbs).
Mersey Beat,
in the caption from its photo commemorating the event, noted the guitars
were "the only ones of their type in the country -- which were specially
flown to England by jet from America." This was probably hyperbole,
as they'd taken two months to arrive after being special-ordered. (Additionally,
these photos may have been taken a few days after the sale, for they already
sport straps and smudges.) These Gibsons were used on the 11 September
recordings of "Love Me Do," but those tracks sound nearly identical to
the earlier takes of those songs, which tends to confirm an earlier purchase
date. Lennon's J-160 E was used through the Please, Please
Me sessions, then stolen during the '63 Christmas show at the Finsbury
Park Astoria Theatre, London. 
(Pity poor Malcolm Evans, who had to break the news to Lennon.) By
this time, however, Lennon and Harrison had gotten their identical guitars
mixed up, so it was the one registered to Harrison that disappeared.
Note: How rich were the Beatles at this point? Well, Brian Epstein had to co-sign for this guitar, and wound up paying it off after a year. The photo at left, from November 1963, shows one of the last appearances of Lennon's first J-160E. Gibson is offering a vintage re-issue in a limited edition of 250. Sale price: about $3,000. |
1964:
1964
Gibson J-160E; Serial #64309. Lennon bought this to replace
the above guitar, even though he often used Harrison's for recording.
It was first used in concert in Montreal on 8 September 1964 and served
as a backup for the '65 world tours. Except for an extra rosette
around the sound hole -- and a visible orange label inside -- it was identical
to his first J-160E, but it wouldn't stay that way for long. 
He
moved the pickup from the neck to the bottom of the sound hole, then in
'67 commissioned Dutch artists Simon and Marijke Posthuma, a.k.a. The Fool,
to give it a psychedelic paint job, to commemorate the "All You Need Is
Love" satellite broadcast. It's seen in rehearsal shots of that event,
but at air time he opted to just sing. Lennon later had it
professionally stripped, replaced the pickguard and put the pickup back
where it was originally. This guitar was last seen in action during
the Bed-Ins, where Lennon scratched two caricatures of himself and Yoko
on the front. Recently on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
Cleveland, on loan from the Lennon Estate.
