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
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