Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird
George Harrison shows up playing this guitar in some photos from early 1963 at the Cavern Club, during a rehearsal. The guitar is a Gretsch Jet Firebird, similar to a Duo Jet, but without a Bigsby, different pickups, "fingernail" inlays, and red with a black pickguard. In a Tony Bacon interview in 1995, Harrison cleared up the mystery with this guitar - "It was someone else's, I just tried it out at the Cavern." However, photos show George posing with the same guitar on a different day and a different location. Perhaps he borrowed the guitar for a longer period of time.[/color]
.... but what I couldn't see was what was happening with George's shoes.When zoomed in you can see he has his ankles crossed.... and the shoes are Beatle-esque

brammy wrote:

beat-gen-6273.jpg

John's Rick still looks mapleglo.

It became black shortly after "Love Me Do" was recorded.

it was refinished back to mapleglo..... and then some IDIOT put the white pickguard on

brammy wrote:it was refinished back to mapleglo..... and then some IDIOT put the white pickguard on

I think that idiot. Was John himself. I believe he asked for the white pick guard to be placed on it. It was done at the same time the black paint was stripped off. I think the guy who did the work was named Ron Demarion or something like that. John had him either get or make the new pick guard. From what I understand John autographed the gold guard and gave it to Ron. I believe it was on display in his shop.

However, I could be completely wrong.

Yes, Kent, John was the idiot. He wanted it, and the guy who did the work made a gold guard, but John refused and wanted a white one instead. He wanted it to look as far away from his Beatle days as possible, apparently. John wanted it stripped to that brown honey finish you see today.

All this is recounted in the Beatles Gear book.

I heard somewhere that DeMarino's dead and that the pickguard is AWOL.

Any truth to that?

Ron DiMarino mentioned to JL when he stopped by the Dakota to pick up the 325, that the original guard was looking shabby, as it had cracks and the typical green tarnishing around the rubber grommets. He suggested to John that the guard be replaced as part of the "restoration", and John agreed. Ron replaced it with white acrylic, as he had neither inkling nor desire to match the gold on the TRC. A logical, though game-changing, choice.

An even odder choice was his decision to stain (that's correct--stain!) the maple with Colonial Maple oil stain to darken it and give it a warmer tone. Today, the guitar's color is simply wrong, but it's now quite distinctive, anyway.

I think the very first topic in my "Curmudgeon" column is this very subject, and I go into it in some detail. September 2006.

I hadn't heard that Ron died, or that the guard was missing. Any quotable source?

Admittedly it was a Youtube comment, but I don't write it off purely on that basis - 1 time out of a 100, Youtube can actually be a kooky way of meeting people in the oddest ways. (Which is how I wound up on a Spinal Tap DVD).

I did do some Googling at the time and couldn't find any mention of DeMarino having died. The only links I could find about him were articles about John's guitar. Which, by the by, I think looks alright. Probably not the shade I'd have on a guitar of my own (I like 'em paler) but it's ok. Really not sure about that pickguard though ...

Another Google, and he's mentioned on this site, about a 3rd of the way down the page :

http://www.edroman.com/general/testimonials.htm

Ends with, "But that's enough of my old buddy Ron. He's retired now and his son took over his business and since I don't live in New York anymore I wish them both the best".

That seems to have been a couple of years ago, so I guess he's either still retired or dead, as someone suggested. If I see the comment again I'll let you know.

Last post, I promise!

Commented was posted here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jTZmuXJB6o

Guy claims to have met DeMarino and says he died 'a few years ago'. To be taken with salt, I guess!

It sounds to me like it was DeMarino, not Lennon, who put that white pickguard on. I say they should do another makeover and return
it to its original form... or as close to it as possible.

Anyways, its too bad that John had the original one refinished to black to begin with. He should have just left it alone and gotten a new black one.
But we've all made dumb mistakes with our guitar collections, thats for sure.

Jake, thanks for that. I had never heard that before. That was great. Mark