Looking at the life of John Lennon through his guitars
Few musicians could ever dream of enjoying the career that John Lennon had forged for himself until his tragic death in 1980. Lennon saw it all, from the early days of the Quarrymen in Liverpool to a brilliant solo career, via being one of two primary songwriters in the most influential band ever to grace the earth.
To trace Lennon’s career in the music industry, let’s take a look at the famous guitars that Lennon played and wrote several of his best songs on, beginning with his first-ever instrument, the Gallotrone Champion.
Lennon’s mother, Julia, had first introduced him to music and taught him to play the banjo. Lennon had been raised by his aunt Mimi, so it’s not entirely certain who bought him the Gallotrone. Regardless, it was that guitar that Lennon played when he first met Paul McCartney at an early Quarrymen gig. Pretty soon after, Lennon would put history on its course when he invited McCartney to join the band.
As for the first electric guitar Lennon owned, it was a Hofner Club 40, which had come about not through the most legal of means. After Julia’s death in 1958, Lennon had something of a rough streak about him, and one night after a gig, he stole the guitar as he wanted to abandon skiffle for the new age of rock and roll.
Come 1960, the Quarrymen were going by the new name of the Beatles. In August, the band departed for a legendary residency in Hamburg, where Lennon bought a Rickenbacker 325. The guitar has gone down in Beatles folklore, given that Lennon painted it back when the Beatles signed their first contract, and he recorded ‘Please Please Me’ with it, which George Martin said “would be their first number one”.
Possibly the most important guitar of Lennon’s is the Gibson J-160E. Lennon used the acoustic to write most of his work from Beatles For Sale right up until his untimely death in 1980. Lennon frequently painted over the guitar during his ownership of it, including some cartoons of Yoko and himself. The Gibson was also the guitar that Lennon played the iconic ‘Give Peace A Chance’ on.
Yet arguably the most ubiquitous of John Lennon’s guitars is undoubtedly the Epiphone ES-230TD. He used it everywhere, from Revolver to Abbey Road in the Beatles and from Plastic Ono Band to Imagine in his solo career. The guitar was also spotted in Lennon’s hands at the infamous rooftop of Apple Corps gig in 1969. It’s genuinely Lennon’s quintessential six-string.
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