Guitar played by Lennon and Dylan up for auction

[Soulsaman]

Hello everyone,

I was reading this article about a Gibson J-160 E Sunburst that is going up for auction.
It claims it was played by Lennon and then given to Dylan. The article also says that Lennon took this guitar to Rishikesh.
However, the pictures I've seen from that period, shows him playing his natural wood acoustic.

Article link: http://www.businessinsider.com/john-len ... ale-2011-7

Apart from the early days of Beatlemania, I've never seen him with a sunburst Gibson acoustic.

Any thoughts?

[kennyhowes]

Scroll down here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Gibson-J-200-Guitar

[Soulsaman]

Cool photo of John but isn't that a J-200?
Its a different guitar than the one that is being auctioned.

[shamustwin]

The natural guitar pictured is a Martin.

[kennyhowes]

Cool photo of John but isn't that a J-200?
Its a different guitar than the one that is being auctioned.

Oops! My bad.

[JM82]

hmmm - Lennon's 160e had been painted around the time of All you need is love and stripped sometime around the time of the White album.

That first link mentioned that Dylan used the guitar in question on Nashville Skyline - take a look at the cover of it:


Perhapse it's Lennon' J-200 up for sale and the author just got the wrong model number when writing the article.

[Soulsaman]

James I think you're right!

I think the article got the wrong guitar.
Seeing that Bob Dylan album cover and the photo Kenny put up, it makes perfect sense.

So then my question is, so who's guitar is that?
I found a link to the actual company that is auctioning it.

It shows the same photo of the J-160 E Sunburst.
http://entertainment.ha.com/c/item.zx?s ... 6433#Photo

[iiipopes]

I'm not "buying" it. Didn't George & John get their first 160E's before Beatlemania hit, @ 1962 ordered in by Hessey's? And after one was stolen, another may have been purchased, but still early?

I thought they were done purchasing Gibson acoustics by 1967; getting Martins on the way to India or thereabouts.

OK - the serial number is quoted. Gibson has their records and logs. They can tell you when a guitar with this serial number actually left the factory and where the original destination was. Yes, it was an expensive guitar; gathering dust in a shop for a couple of years is not unheard of (might explain the 1967 purchase date). (Hey - there's a Gibson SJ200 blonde in my local Best Buy that's been there for I don't know how long, because of the sign of not getting to touch it unless you're buying it means it's actually deteriorating on the rack -- but who am I?)

This "equipment manager" has a boatload to gain and nothing to lose. I'm not saying he's not telling the truth, but the "truth" 45 years later is quite a different thing.

Tread carefully. Now please pardon me while I go get my late-model J45 sunburst with factory piezo, capo the neck 2 frets, play "Norwegian Wood," and sound just like the record. Since I can make it sound just like the record, is there anybody out there who will give me $100K for mine?

[JM82]

the first link quoted this as its source http://acn.liveauctioneers.com/index.ph ... tions/5013 where it mentions that the guitar for sale was bought in 1967 by Lennon. I think the guitar Lennon gave to Dylan was a J200. What it has to do with this auction though is another thing, at best the people organising it have got the model number wrong and at worst they have a 160e that has nothing to do with Lennon/Dylan and they're selling it under the impression that it does.

I can't afford it in any case whatever it is

[Ontario_RIC_fan]

http://entertainment.ha.com/c/item.zx?s ... otNo=46433

FYI

[JakeK]

The J-200 is possibly George's, which he bought in July 1968 during the recording of The White Album

[Soulsaman]

This is exactly why I posted this here.

It seemed fishy to me when I first saw the photo but I wanted to get some feedback from fellow Beatlefreaks.

I think if Lennon ever bought this guitar, some photos of him playing it would've surfaced and I've never seen or even read about this guitar in any Beatles book.

[JM82]

ok I'm getting confused, could be genuine however, this website has loads of info on Dylans guitar - it says that the J200 on the front of Nashville Skyline may have been a present from George Harrison - so there is a possible Beatle connection to that guitar. There are no mentions of a 160e (a gift from Lennon or otherwise). Not saying that this website is credible or not but it does to have a lot of info.
http://bobdylansgear.blogspot.com/searc ... results=20

edit:

there is this website which i've seen many times that mentions a 160e and that it was in Hard Rock Cafe
http://www.thecanteen.com/lennon9.html

[iiipopes]

As the years progress, "Guitars by the Beatles" is becoming the same type of legend as "Beds George Washington Slept In" during the travails of the Revolutionary War.

[Soulsaman]

Has anyone even seen this auction guitar in any of the reference books out there?
Maybe its in Andy Babiuk's Beatle Gear?