Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Does anybody have any information on the white Stratocaster that George used in the Concert for Bangladesh? There's the famous story that Eric Clapton bought a slew of Strats in 1970 and gave some away, maybe this was one?

I believe Clapton found a slew of 50's strats, made one out of a few for himself, then gave the rest to his buds. IIRC, the CFB strat looked '70's.

shamustwin wrote:I believe Clapton found a slew of 50's strats, made one out of a few for himself, then gave the rest to his buds. IIRC, the CFB strat looked '70's.

Looks decidedly pre-CBS to me...this is a great picture regardless.

This is an excerpt from an article about the 50th Anniversary of the Strat.


“Right after I’d seen Steve Winwood playing his white Strat®,” begins Eric, “I was in Nashville and I went into this shop called Sho-Bud where they had stacks of Stratocaster® guitars going for virtually nothing because they were so unfashionable and so unwanted. I bought a big pile of them all for a song - they were really cheap, like three or $400 each”.

Clapton, in fact, bought six Stratocaster® guitars that day. He gave one to Steve Winwood, one to Pete Townshend and one to George Harrison. The remaining three guitars were dismantled by Clapton and a hybrid was made from all the best bits. This ‘Frankenstein’ guitar was dubbed ‘Blackie’.

I remember reading somewhere that he borrowed that Strat for the show, possibly from whoever lent them the rest of the gear for the show (Manny's?).

I'm with Slloop J B. I remember reading that Manny's supplied many of the instruments for that show.

dudley07726 wrote:I'm with Slloop J B. I remember reading that Manny's supplied many of the instruments for that show.

It's listed in the album liner notes:


The Concert for Bangla Desh was held on August 1, 1971 at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The following people contributed their talents and time to help in the production of this event for which we express our sincere thanks.
- George Harrison & Ravi Shankar

INTRUMENTS AND SUPPLIES
Ampeg Corp.
Carrol Music Instrument Rental
Manny's Music
Total Piano & Organ Service

Thanks, guys, weird that he'd borrow the Strat and bring along Lucy the Les Paul. Wonder if the one Clapton gave him ever resurfaced...

I saw the acoustic he played in Hard Rock Cafe NYC a few weeks ago:
Pretty cool Beatles memorabilia there - they had Ringo's first drum set (the Premier kit), the famous gray collarless suits, and personalized TWA flight bags.

Dan, he played Lucy at the Bangladesh show? I've never seen it in it's entirety but i've only seen him with the Strat and that acoustic!

sloop_john_b wrote:Dan, he played Lucy at the Bangladesh show? I've never seen it in it's entirety but i've only seen him with the Strat and that acoustic!

I don't recall seeing it at all... might have been a backup?

He definitely play Lucy during rehersals and if I am recalling correctly, had it on the stand on stage as a backup.

Sorry for the spelling typo above guys. I tried to go back to fix it but I am not allowed to.

lucy is on his left side for the whole show but never picked it up

hjarnett wrote:lucy is on his left side for the whole show but never picked it up

Behind him:

Yep, Lucy was there but remained silent.