The Beatles: Rock Band / 09.09.09

John Lennon was the proud owner of the first American guitar ever owned by a member of The Beatles, and one of the first owned by a British musician. He bought the guitar at a music shop in Hamburg in 1960, arranged a credit deal to pay for it, and played it through the early years of Beatlemania. The guitar was already a rare one when John bought it – it was one of only eight natural finish 325s that were made in 1958 and there are many unique quirks to its design. Unlike most hollow-bodied Rickenbackers, it has no sound hole or elevated pickguard; in fact, the guitar appears to be a solid-body until one picks it up and feels the unusually light weight. Unique as it was, John applied his own modifications that made it one of a kind. He took out the original whammy bar and replaced it with the Bigsby vibrato pedal, and, in 1962, he gave the guitar a black finish. It now matched the color of George’s Duo Jet, and the matching guitars were one example of The Beatles’ ever-sharpening stage presence.