Rare Bartell guitar made for the Beatles

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hamilton_square
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Rare Bartell guitar made for the Beatles

Post by hamilton_square »

“Beatles guitar valued at £400,000 on Antiques Roadshow”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... e-51698031

Apparently, George Harrison made a gift of the guitar to the present owner because he didn’t think much of the instrument.

To watch the relevant clip of the Antiques Roadshow go to …

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mAbw2h ... sp=sharing
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Re: Rare Bartell guitar made for the Beatles

Post by admin »

hamilton_square wrote:“Beatles guitar valued at £400,000 on Antiques Roadshow”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... e-51698031

Apparently, George Harrison made a gift of the guitar to the present owner because he didn’t think much of the instrument.

To watch the relevant clip of the Antiques Roadshow go to …

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mAbw2h ... sp=sharing
Peter, this is great! Thanks very much for this post.
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

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Kiddwad57
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Re: Rare Bartell guitar made for the Beatles

Post by Kiddwad57 »

Thanks for this post and the links! A great story on so many levels: Bartell's relationship to Rickenbacker, the fact that it went to Lennon first, the idea that George passed it onto a professional guitar playing friend. Notice he didn't actually put the guitar's quality down, just that he couldn't figure out a way put it to good use. Frank Zappa bought and played on a version made for Acoustic Control Corporation, under the Black Widow name.
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Re: Rare Bartell guitar made for the Beatles

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Kiddwad57 wrote:Thanks for this post and the links! A great story on so many levels: Bartell's relationship to Rickenbacker, the fact that it went to Lennon first, the idea that George passed it onto a professional guitar playing friend. Notice he didn't actually put the guitar's quality down, just that he couldn't figure out a way put it to good use. Frank Zappa bought and played on a version made for Acoustic Control Corporation, under the Black Widow name.
Nathan, a very rich history here. Thanks for the information on Frank Zappa.
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

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FindingFretless
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Re: Rare Bartell guitar made for the Beatles

Post by FindingFretless »

Hi Folks, it was my friend Ray Russell who was working with George Harrison on the film Water in 1985, that’s when George gifted the Bartell Fretless to Ray. Ray is a very fine musician, composer and a brilliant guitarist who has played with or for some of the biggest names in the industry, think Bowie, Tina Turner, Hendrix, Gary Moore.........the list is endless.
In 2019 he asked on Facebook about the Bartell company, he didn’t know much about them.
I did the research, we took it to the BBC Antiques Roadshow, there were two programmes it featured on, both Ray and myself were on the show https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p096stz7

At the time it was believed that Lennon had the fretless first, subsequent research proved it was in fact given to George Harrison during the first week of August 1967, Al Casey ran a music shop in Hollywood, it was in fact his wife Maxine who took it up to George on Blue Jay Way.

It’s an incredible story in its own right but furthermore it helped me discover the life and times of Paul Barth, the Bartell company and so much more. I have spoken to the friends, family and co workers of the Bartell company owners, Ted Peckels and Mr Barth.

Anyway, it all lead to a book, ‘Finding Fretless’ will be published this summer, it is filled with lots of new discoveries, joins the dots in old stories and proves that Paul Barth’s contributions to the development of the electric guitar is just as influential as his friends and peers, Rickenbacker, Leo Fender, Les Paul etc....
https://thisdayinmusicbooks.com/product ... -fretless/
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Kiddwad57
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Re: Rare Bartell guitar made for the Beatles

Post by Kiddwad57 »

Thank you for the clarity and look forward to reading the book, Finding Fretless, (and thanks to the RFF for providing a platform for these discussions)!
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