Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I don't know if this has been posted before, but its an interesting interview with Mark Hudson about playing Lennon's 1996 and George's Country Gent.

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

Wow! That was great. One of those Beatles fantasies we all wish we could have done...

I thought George gave away his first Country Gent and his other one was smashed after falling off the top of the vehicle while it was moving.

The only Gretsch I've read of which Harrison gave away was his 12 string to John St. John of Sounds Incorporated.

The Babiuk book (and other sources I've read) says that it was his 1st Gent that flew off the group van and got crunched by a truck behind them (and a great quote from the truck driver about them losing one of their "banjos").

He still had the 2nd Gent (the one he used on Sullivan) and he it and his Rick 360/12 on many 1964 appearances after that. By late 1964 he was using the Tennessean more often in recordings and concerts. He used the Rick for the appropriate songs and kept the Gent nearby as backup.

Then by late-65 or early-66 he decided he didn't like the Gretsch sound and supposedly gave the Gent to Brian O'Hara of The Fourmost during an Abbey Road session. O'Hara (now deceased) was quoted as saying he had no memory of what he did with it.

It would be nice to think that the 2nd Gent IS the one that Ringo might have now. I'm hoping there will be more info on all GH's guitars in that upcoming "The Beatles Equipment Guide" by Thiei, Elyea and Kehew. Would also be nice to think one of them gave ol' Ring a call and asked if they could take some pictures.

Of course no one knows where the Tennessean is either.

Ringo had so much fun in the 70s, I don't think he could really remember where that guitar came from.

Steve Dudas, mentioned in the Hudson interview, was the guitarist in my band in Pittsburgh in 1973. He was a major talent even then, and a downright nice guy. Ringo split with the Roundheads after the last album, Choose Love, but I hope he still uses Steve.

Similar stories: My best friend was the manager of the Beacon Theatre in NYC for 17 years. When Keith Richards and The Expensive Winos played there, he brought me up onstage before the show and showed me all Keith's guitars in a large rolling case. There they were; all the old Telecasters, including the famous black Tele Custom, an ES-335, a Stratocaster, and I don't know what else. I ran my fingers across the strings of one of the Teles and it was like I was touching deity itself.

Another time, I was at Peter Frampton's house in Croton-On-Hudson, NY. Peter took me downstairs and let me play his triple pickup black Les Paul, his Fiesta Red Strat, and the Gretsch Duo Jet he used in The Herd and Humble Pie. The first two guitars were destroyed not long afterward in a plane crash.

I LOVE stories like that!