hibgal
Jan 11, 2011, 02:35 PM
Speaking of George's guitars, can't find that this great article has been posted here yet.
Legendary Guitar: George Harrison's Well-Traveled Crimson Les Paul
Jerry McCulley 05.07.2009
http://www.gibson.com/Files/aaFeaturesImages2009/lucy-001.jpg
During the height of mid-’60s Beatlemania, the guitars most frequently associated with George Harrison on tour and TV/film appearances were the Gretsch Country Gentleman, Rickenbacker 360/12 and the Epiphone Casino that both he and John Lennon wielded on their final 1966 world tour and sessions for the epochal Sgt. Pepper’s album. Harrison had also played a cherry-finish ’64 SG Standard during the Rubber Soul/Revolver era, an instrument that shows up in promo films for “Paperback Writer,” “Rain” and “Lady Madonna.”
But in August of 1968, Eric Clapton gifted Harrison with a 1957 Les Paul Standard, now factory refinished to cherry red, that already had an impressive rock history — and would soon reach even greater heights. Harrison immediately dubbed his new crimson Les Paul ‘Lucy’ in honor of red-headed comedy icon Lucille Ball, then quickly put it to work recording the White Album outtake, “Not Guilty.” Within weeks George also appeared playing it in the Beatles promotional film for the single “Revolution,” which initially aired on David Frost’s U.K. TV show, and later on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour stateside.
kyHVPb8G45Y&hl
In September, it would perform what remains one of the Beatles’, and rock’s, most iconic solos — but not in the hands of George Harrison. After the initial session for “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” Harrison admitted in a 1974 Crawdaddy interview, that because of ongoing tensions with main songwriters Lennon and McCartney he “went home really disappointed because I knew the song was good.”
“The next day I brought Eric Clapton with me [to the studio]. He was really nervous. I was saying, 'Just come and play on the session, then I can sing and play acoustic guitar.' Because what happened when Eric was there on that day … it helped, because the others would have to control themselves a bit more. Eric was nervous saying, 'No, what will they say?' And I was saying, 'F**k 'em, that's my song!'”
http://www.gibson.com/Files/aaFeaturesImages2009/lucy-002.jpg
Harrison also admitted he lacked confidence in his own guitar work during the era, explaining that “I'd played sitar for three years. And I'd just listened to classical Indian music and practiced sitar — except for when we played dates, studio dates — and then I'd get the guitar out and just play, you know, learn a part for the record. But I'd really lost a lot of interest in the guitar.”
“[Eric and I] used to hang out such a lot at that period, and Eric gave me a fantastic Les Paul guitar, which is the one he plays on [“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”]. So it worked out well.”
Harrison used ‘Lucy’ frequently during the final studio dates for the White Album and the subsequent, haphazard Get Back/Let It Be recordings that followed in January, 1969, then played it extensively that summer on the Beatles swan song, Abbey Road. That’s ‘Lucy’ wailing on the middle of “The End”’s trio of brief guitar solos. George also took the crimson Les Paul on the road briefly with Bonnie and Delaney Bramlett later that year.
http://www.gibson.com/Files/aaFeaturesImages2009/lucy-003.jpg
Harrison and ‘Lucy’ during Let It Be
As the legend goes, ‘Lucy’ was originally a late-’50s Les Paul Goldtop that had made its way to the Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian, and then McCoys’ mainstay Rick Derringer, who’d sent it off to Gibson’s Kalamazoo factory for refinishing.
Decades later, Rick would recall “I loved playing it, but my dad — who’s always loved a guitar looking real good — used to comment on how it was kind of beat up. It was a very, very used guitar, even when I got it. But it played great. So I figured that since we didn’t live far from Gibson’s factory in Kalamazoo, the next time the group went there I’d give it to Gibson and have it refinished. I had it done at the factory in the SG-style clear red finish that was popular at the time.”
Yet Derringer noted that the instrument “just didn’t feel the same … it had changed into an altogether different guitar” after refinishing. So Rick traded it for a sunburst finish Les Paul at Dan Armstrong’s guitar shop in Manhattan, which is where Eric Clapton purchased it not long after.
Legendary Guitar: George Harrison's Well-Traveled Crimson Les Paul
Jerry McCulley 05.07.2009
http://www.gibson.com/Files/aaFeaturesImages2009/lucy-001.jpg
During the height of mid-’60s Beatlemania, the guitars most frequently associated with George Harrison on tour and TV/film appearances were the Gretsch Country Gentleman, Rickenbacker 360/12 and the Epiphone Casino that both he and John Lennon wielded on their final 1966 world tour and sessions for the epochal Sgt. Pepper’s album. Harrison had also played a cherry-finish ’64 SG Standard during the Rubber Soul/Revolver era, an instrument that shows up in promo films for “Paperback Writer,” “Rain” and “Lady Madonna.”
But in August of 1968, Eric Clapton gifted Harrison with a 1957 Les Paul Standard, now factory refinished to cherry red, that already had an impressive rock history — and would soon reach even greater heights. Harrison immediately dubbed his new crimson Les Paul ‘Lucy’ in honor of red-headed comedy icon Lucille Ball, then quickly put it to work recording the White Album outtake, “Not Guilty.” Within weeks George also appeared playing it in the Beatles promotional film for the single “Revolution,” which initially aired on David Frost’s U.K. TV show, and later on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour stateside.
kyHVPb8G45Y&hl
In September, it would perform what remains one of the Beatles’, and rock’s, most iconic solos — but not in the hands of George Harrison. After the initial session for “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” Harrison admitted in a 1974 Crawdaddy interview, that because of ongoing tensions with main songwriters Lennon and McCartney he “went home really disappointed because I knew the song was good.”
“The next day I brought Eric Clapton with me [to the studio]. He was really nervous. I was saying, 'Just come and play on the session, then I can sing and play acoustic guitar.' Because what happened when Eric was there on that day … it helped, because the others would have to control themselves a bit more. Eric was nervous saying, 'No, what will they say?' And I was saying, 'F**k 'em, that's my song!'”
http://www.gibson.com/Files/aaFeaturesImages2009/lucy-002.jpg
Harrison also admitted he lacked confidence in his own guitar work during the era, explaining that “I'd played sitar for three years. And I'd just listened to classical Indian music and practiced sitar — except for when we played dates, studio dates — and then I'd get the guitar out and just play, you know, learn a part for the record. But I'd really lost a lot of interest in the guitar.”
“[Eric and I] used to hang out such a lot at that period, and Eric gave me a fantastic Les Paul guitar, which is the one he plays on [“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”]. So it worked out well.”
Harrison used ‘Lucy’ frequently during the final studio dates for the White Album and the subsequent, haphazard Get Back/Let It Be recordings that followed in January, 1969, then played it extensively that summer on the Beatles swan song, Abbey Road. That’s ‘Lucy’ wailing on the middle of “The End”’s trio of brief guitar solos. George also took the crimson Les Paul on the road briefly with Bonnie and Delaney Bramlett later that year.
http://www.gibson.com/Files/aaFeaturesImages2009/lucy-003.jpg
Harrison and ‘Lucy’ during Let It Be
As the legend goes, ‘Lucy’ was originally a late-’50s Les Paul Goldtop that had made its way to the Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian, and then McCoys’ mainstay Rick Derringer, who’d sent it off to Gibson’s Kalamazoo factory for refinishing.
Decades later, Rick would recall “I loved playing it, but my dad — who’s always loved a guitar looking real good — used to comment on how it was kind of beat up. It was a very, very used guitar, even when I got it. But it played great. So I figured that since we didn’t live far from Gibson’s factory in Kalamazoo, the next time the group went there I’d give it to Gibson and have it refinished. I had it done at the factory in the SG-style clear red finish that was popular at the time.”
Yet Derringer noted that the instrument “just didn’t feel the same … it had changed into an altogether different guitar” after refinishing. So Rick traded it for a sunburst finish Les Paul at Dan Armstrong’s guitar shop in Manhattan, which is where Eric Clapton purchased it not long after.