Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Well the person who claimed to own the Lennon 325, last year at any rate, was Phil Harris himself. I went down to his place in Beckenham (South London) to pick something up and he brought it to show me. A beautiful guitar. Phil said it had been bought at a sale/auction at Tittenhurst Park - Lennon's home, later bought from JL by Ringo -in the 1980s.

But.....a very odd story. If it was an auction/sale, then no-one else seems to have seen this guitar being bought. As he is the first to admit, PH has no corroborating evidence.

Perhaps PH has sold the guitar on to someone else in the meantime. But on his site he still has a 1964 325 available for hire - http://www.harris-hire.co.uk/guitars.ph ... incat_ID=1 Maybe a different guitar.

Well if Phil is hiring it out (Lennon's actual Rick)........I might well hire it for the weekend........and then disappear............

Is their any video footage of John palying the 1996 ?
Billy

jwilli wrote:Melma, any reference to that? Who played John's old RM 1996 on one of Ringo's old albums?

The song in question is "Satisfied",

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOR0njun914

and a bloke called Mark Hudson is the one who offered the (very charming) anecdote on the guitars used on the song.

http://www.thecanteen.com/hudson.html

Now, obviously if someone has new information to the effect that Ringo has another 325 and for some reason thinks it's the original when it isn't, I'd be fascinated to hear about it - but it'd have to be a pretty compelling story.

Now, obviously if someone has new information to the effect that Ringo has another 325 and for some reason thinks it's the original when it isn't, I'd be fascinated to hear about it - but it'd have to be a pretty compelling story.

Absolutely agree. Extremely difficult to see how Phil Harris could have bought Lennon's guitar completely unnoticed. And (obviously) why would Ringo make up a story? Phil Harris is contactable by email via his website. Might be worth someone dropping him a line though.

I remember PH saying something about the heel and the finish of the guitar that Ringo has "not being right" - but I've no idea how, as he relates things, he saw Ringo's guitar to know.

8mileshigh - yes, let's hire the guitar that PH lists on his website and not return - you can have the body, I'm happy with the hardware.

Folks I have discovered the final fate of John Lennon's FG 1996!!!



It was butchered to become a clock...

BILLYC58 wrote:Is their any video footage of John palying the 1996 ?
Billy

As far as I remember: Ticket To Ride in the movie Help - but it's not that guitar on the record...

Actually Phil Harris wrote a Rickenbacker article in the October 2007 issue of Guitar and Bass Magazine (Vol 18, no 9, page 85) in which he shows a picture of his 325S 1996 and where he mention John Lennon a couple of times - but not that the shown guitar or other 325 in his collection should have belonged to JL.

It's at least 35 years since Tittenhurst was sold (and changed to a record studion btw). So wouldn't he have mentioned in the article in 2007, that he was owner of JL's 325 1996??? Phil Harris also wrote (I quote the article): "I gave my son a 325 to play with when he was small, and he'd drag it around the living room. If I'd known how much it would be worth - around £ 20,000 - I would have put a stop to it...". Good memory - but not a word of "the fact" that he owned JL's guitar. So my conclusion - he probably doesn't or didn't!

Last I heard, Ringo owned it.

kiramdear wrote:Last I heard, Ringo owned it.

That's what I've heard too - and it has been somewhat damaged in a house fire Ringo had a few years ago in Monte Carlo.

See now ... that wouldn't have happened if he'd let me hold onto it.

I'm sure that Ringo's having it must be right. Phil Harris is a lovely chap and an engaging storyteller, but......stories are stories no matter how often repeated or modified. Recently his involvement with the "wholly admirable" Music Ground has been raised - http://vintageamps.com/plexiboard/viewt ... 53&t=97589

I read that he gave it to ringo and he smashed it on tour...I don't beleive that though.

"That's what I've heard too - and it has been somewhat damaged in a house fire Ringo had a few years ago in Monte Carlo"

That's probably not the case; there was no mention of fire damage when the guitar was used on the Ringo song "Satisfied" a few years ago.

Still, I hate to think of the Beatley stuff that might've gone up in smoke!

hamiltone wrote:John gave the RM1996/325FG to Ringo who owns and treasures it to this day.

That is correct. It was used on Ringo's "Satisfied" from the "Choose Love" album played by Mark Hudson - 2005

I recall reading somewhere that there was at least one picture taken sometime in the mid/late '60's which showed John's home studio and that his Rose Morris 1996 was shown...has anyone seen that/got a copy? I'm attaching a less commonly seen shot taken at the Xmas shows when he briefly used the 1996 while his 325 was being repaired.