Tribute to George in Latest GUITAR PLAYER Magazine

musicfan37 · Post by **musicfan37** » Tue Jan 22, 2002 11:55 am

There is a very nice tribute to George in the March, 2002 issue of GUITAR PLAYER.

gbogart · Post by **gbogart** » Wed Jan 23, 2002 9:33 pm

Yes, I agree. Many of the "guitar mags" are running tributes to George, but I thought this one in Guitar Player was the nicest I've seen.

admin · Post by **admin** » Thu Jan 24, 2002 10:20 am

This is one of my favourite memories of George Harrison.

larrywassgren · Post by **larrywassgren** » Thu Jan 24, 2002 3:47 pm

I have to agree with you Peter, it is one of my favorites too. My very favorite though is the photo of George at the Top Ten Club strumming on John's '58 325, all by himself surrounded by everyone else's gear. It was taken by Jorgen Vollmer. Jurgen took this photo and the others of the group in the afternoon as he knew he couldn't capture good photos when the normal bar crowd was there. I think George, being the true professional guitarist and the one who suggested shooting in the afternoon, was the first one awake to meet Jurgen and that's why we have this great shot of him surrounded by equipment. He must have picked up his favorite guitar out of the bunch, the American made Rickenbacker that belonged to Lennon. Could you post this photo Peter? This shot of Harrison with the '58 325 and the shot you already posted of Harrison with John's '64 325 would definitely look cool along side each other. Guess I'm asking quite a bit, especially is I am computer ignorant!

ricnvolved · Post by **ricnvolved** » Thu Jan 24, 2002 7:27 pm

My favorite photo of George is on the front of the "Let It Be" cover. I can't really explain why, but his smile in that pic captures the essence of what the man was all about, IMHO.

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Jan 25, 2002 5:55 am

Larry: At your suggestion here are a couple of photos side by side.

larrywassgren · Post by **larrywassgren** » Fri Jan 25, 2002 10:47 am

Thanks Peter, great job and what cool shots. George loved those Rickenbackers as much as John, he even went looking for one on his visit to the US in late '63. He was lucky to find any model in stock in a music store back then. Seems they usually had to be ordered unless you were in a major city. The 425 he went back to England with more than likely wouldn't have been his Rickenbacker of choice. It's interesting when you think of it that the switch to black for The Beatles was so strong that George even had a new guitar refinished black. That was the look they were going for at the time. If Paul had a back-up lefty bass back then, it's likely his Cavern bass would have been sprayed black too. A black '58 325, black Duo-Jet and 425, black Hofner Cavern bass.. now that would have looked pretty cool!

musicfan37 · Post by **musicfan37** » Sat Jan 26, 2002 9:50 pm

Since John and George went for the black guitars, I wonder why Paul didn't get his Hofner refinished as well. It all worked out well after the matching Epiphone Casinos were purchased.

corey · Post by **corey** » Sun Jan 27, 2002 4:05 am

What a team player Paul was.

larrywassgren · Post by **larrywassgren** » Sun Jan 27, 2002 6:53 am

I think Paul would have had his Hofner refinished black too, but he didn't have a back-up bass to use. John could use his J-160E while his '58 325 was being refinished black. Paul did order his second violin bass out of necessity(the Cavern bass had a cracked pick-up ring and a missing tuner button) and maybe the plan was to repair the Cavern and refinish it to black after the second bass came(just guessing here). But by this time the change to black seemed to be fading as they had new J-160E's in sunburst, George had a new Country Gentleman in dark brown and he would soon get a Tennessean in burgundy and Paul had a new Hofner violin bass in sunburst. Pretty hard to stick with all black and even if they wanted to they didn't have the time to give up there guitars for a couple weeks to have them sprayed. They were very busy at this time.

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Sun Jan 27, 2002 7:36 pm

I don't think Paul had any intention of painting his Cavern bass black. He did refinish the Cavern Bass to a "Fender" sunburst.

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue Jan 29, 2002 12:30 am

Here is a photo of John Lennon and his Gibson 160E from late 1962. I have not been able to come across many showing that he did use his J160E on stage around the time that the 1958 Capri was being refinished. This photo is from the interesting Sam Leach publication "The Rocking City."

larrywassgren · Post by **larrywassgren** » Thu Jan 31, 2002 9:24 am

That's a great shot Peter. But how do we know the '58 325 is not in the case behind John's VOX amp? Ready for the next tune? Possibly he's just using the J-160E for Love Me Do here as that's what the song was recorded with? Then John switches back to the '58 for Twist And Shout.
Just something to think about.

admin · Post by **admin** » Thu Jan 31, 2002 10:29 am

Larry: We don't know that Lennon did not have his 325 at this performance. We do know, however, that there were at least some early gigs in which he used his J160E on stage. This would at least allow for the possibility that the 325 could be away for several days while it was being refinished. My point was that there are very few concerts in which the 160E surfaced on photos during these early days. To be continued...

larrywassgren · Post by **larrywassgren** » Thu Jan 31, 2002 12:12 pm

Good point Peter! I'll be checking my books and magazines again. I wouldn't take what Sam Leach says as gospel, he could have that date wrong. He has several mistakes in his book. The most obvious one is in the second set of photos, the fourth page in this set. He states, 'The Beatles at The Aintree Institute in early 1961, shortly after they returned from their first trip to Hamburg.' These photos are clearly from August of 1961 and The Beatles had already put in two long engagements in Hamburg. The Bigsby on John's '58 dates this photo to 8/61. The biggest thing that puzzles me still is exactly when did John have the '58 sprayed black? I believe it was much later in '62, sometime in December. I have a really good photo of The Beatles playing the Majestic Ballroom on December 15, 1962. This was the night they received the plaque for winning the Mersey Beat poll, so there are several photos of this night. John's guitar looks 'freshly' painted and has all four Hofner knobs on it. From here on we only see three Hofner knobs on the guitar. The next photos of the '58 'freshly' painted black are from The Star Club and would date those photos to December 18-31 1962, their last trip to Hamburg(right after The Majestic gig). Those can be found in the How They Became The Beatles book. At this point they are working on the electronics of the '58 and one pot is actually inside the guitar and of course a Hofner knob is missing. The photo in the Mike McCartney book on page 83 is supposedly from October of '62, but I believe this photo is later as the '58 only has three knobs. They are using the tan VOX amps but I believe this was shortly before they were recovered black. Probably early '63(January). If anyone can show me a photo that can 'definitely' be dated as before December of '62 with the '58 325 in black, I'd appreciate it.