Мой первый журнал SUNRISE November № 1 2018 | Page 57

MUSIC John Lennon’s Nine Guitars 2) HOFNER CLUB 40 Hofner Club is the guitar that was bought for John by his Aunt Mimi for 17 pounds. It happened on August 28, 1959. This is evidenced by the sales check that has been preserved till now. George Harrison, another Beatle, bought the same guitar together with John. Later it became a tradition: John and George chose the same guitar together, and played the same guitar. John first performed with the Hofner at the Liverpool club Casba that he had helped prepare for opening together with Paul McCartney and George. He played the Hofner for several years until he bought a guitar from a newly emerged firm, Rickenbacker. RICKENBACKER 325: 3) NATURAL 4) BLACK 5) MODEL S64 (SEMI-ACOUSTIC GUITAR) November 2018 №1 This is John's most famous guitar. It can be said that Rickenbacker made John and T h e B e a t l e s fa m o u s, a n d J o h n m a d e Rickenbacker famous forever. It can rightly be called the guitar of Beatlemania. But before conquering the world, John performed with it at clubs of Liverpool (The Cavern) and Hamburg (Star Club). It was in Hamburg that he bought his first Rickenbacker made from unpainted wood (the company called it “natural color”). There were only four guitars like that in the entire West Germany and John chose one for himself, at a price of 250 pounds. But he didn't have so much money, and he risked to pay the first installment of 25 pounds for the guitar – it was all that Lennon had earned at the Star Club in Hamburg. Having paid it, he tried to conveniently forget about the 225 pounds still owed. Soon John would buy another Rickenbacker, a black- colored one that time. The same as with the Hofner, George Harrison got himself a Rickenbacker following John – but it was a 425 and not a 325 as John's. Both of them performed with them at TV concerts. Who could know that soon those homely Liverpool guys, having once set foot on the doorstep of the EMI studio (a British recording studio) and recorded their first album in one (!) day, would become world-famous and change the music. When The Beatles became popular, John didn't have to repay his debt for the R i c ke n b a c ke r a s t h e fi r m t h a t wa s overwhelmed with orders for the “Rick” simply gave them the guitars. So, Harrison was presented with a newly produced 12-string Rickenbacker 360/12. At the concerts of the year 1964, John often used a semi-acoustic Rickenbacker 325s64 with a F-shaped hole as in a violin. SUNRISE 56