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Rickenbacker 325C58
John Lennon bought this guitar during the first tour of The Beatles in Hamburg in 1960. What sets this guitar apart from the rest of The Beatles’ guitars is its shortened scale length. Originally, the guitar had the colour of wood, but John later painted it black and changed the bridge and pickups and altered it just as he had imagined. The C58 series is an exact copy of this guitar with all of its alterations.
Höfner 500/1 62 LH
The most typical instrument of The Beatles is, of course, the Hofner left-handed bass. Distinctive for its round sound, Paul McCartney uses it to this day in both the studio and at his concerts.
Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman
In 1963, George added the guitar Gretsch Country Gentleman to his existing Duo Jet model. He used the Country Gentleman at the majority of concerts in the Beatlemania era. The guitar is distinguished by special mute switches under the strings, which make it possible to play with an unusual percussive sound.
Rickenbacker 360/12
12-string Rickenbacker guitars were used by George in two different periods. The model which we use was given to him in August 1965 and replaced the previous model. The ringing sound of the 12-string guitar accompanies, for instance, the majority of songs from the album “A Hard Day’s Night”. The sound can be heard in later songs as well.
Epiphone EJ-160E
Throughout the creation of their works, The Beatles made frequent use of acoustic guitars. This model was owned by both John Lennon and George Harrison. A rarity is the use of a magnetic pickup (designated primarily for electric guitars) which gives the instrument a very specific sound. An excellent example is the song “I Feel Fine”, which marks the first intentional use of feedback as a means of expression in modern music.
Fender Stratocaster "Rocky"
Both John Lennon and George Harrison bought the same guitar in the Sonic Blue design in 1964. In the so-called psychedelic period, George Harrison, with the help of his then wife, painted his guitar with colourful motifs and called it Rocky. The Beatles particularly used this guitar during their recording sessions, while it also made an appearance, for example, in the film “Magical Mystery Tour”.
Fender Rosewood Telecaster
A prototype of a guitar made almost exclusively out of rosewood was given to George by the company Fender in 1968. It is especially distinctive for the sessions for the album “Let It Be” and, of course, it could not be left out of the socalled Rooftop Concert. Its specific sound is recognizable in songs such as “Let It Be”, “Get Back” or “Don’t Let Me Down”.
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Epiphone E230TD Casino (sunburst)
Paul McCartney was the first of The Beatles to acquire this guitar. John and George liked it so much that they too bought this guitar in 1966. From that moment, it became John’s main guitar and he performed with it, for example, at the famous concert at Shea Stadium. Our guitar comes from a limited edition with only 1,965 made for the whole world.
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Epiphone E230TD Casino (stripped)
In 1967, John sprayed the back of his guitar Epiphone Casino and removed the pickguard. However, in 1968, he came up with the idea that an “ instrument must breathe” and had his guitar completely sanded to the bare wood without any colour. He did not put the pickguard back onto the guitar and exchanged the tuning mechanism for a higher-quality Grover. The altered instrument can be seen, for example, in the video “Revolution” or in The Beatles' final concert on the rooftop of the company Apple in 1970.
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Epiphone Casino E230TD (sunburst with bigsby)
George saw this guitar at Paul McCartney's place and liked it so much, that in 1966, he bought one himself, fitted with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. He used it on perhaps the most famous Beatles album “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” and it can be seen, for example, in the video to the song “Hello Goodbye”.
Gibson J200
This guitar was used from 1968 while recording the albums “White Album”, “Let It Be” and “Abbey Road”. With this guitar, George composed and later recorded, for example, the song “Here Comes the Sun”.
Epiphone FT-79 Texan
Another acoustic instrument from The Beatles collection. Paul used to play this guitar and it can be heard in many recordings from 1964 onwards, the most famous of them all, of course, being “Yesterday”.
Ludwig Black Oyster
Ringo's drum set with a black and white “oyster” design is a distinctive feature of his, as he played the majority of The Beatles’ concerts with it. He owned two similar drum sets, both with different diameters of the individual drums. It is all the more precious to Pangea because the drum set comes from 1966, so there is an ever so slight chance of that Ringo actually playing on it himself :o).