
Nadia Bellingeri
Sale Manager, Private Sales & Themed Sales
Sold for £25,600 inc. premium
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Dónal Gallagher recalls, that in the late '70s, he and Rory were on a 'guitar shopping therapy session' in Guitar Village in downtown L.A. Going outside to feed the parking metre, Dónal noticed a Gretsch guitar in the window of a pawn shop he had parked by. After being told it would cost him $75, Dónal managed to get the price down to $50. On being shown the purchase, Rory was delighted to have such a guitar at such a bargain price saying, "Quick let's get out of here before they find out what they gave you and want it back." From then on, it became a favourite of Rory's and would travel in Guitar Trunk No.1.
"At present I'm using a Gretsch Corvette for slide instead of the Esquire. The Corvette is Gretsch's attempt at a Les Paul Junior, but I took off the Gretsch pickup because it was too weak and I put on a P90, which is an old black Gibson single coil pickup."
- Rory Gallagher, Beat Instrumental, March 1979.
Rory discusses his modifications to the guitar in a 1987 magazine article, "...for most of the open tuning things I've been using a Gretsch Corvette with heavy strings. It's a very tough guitar - my brother got it for me for $75 in a pawn shop in Los Angeles. I took the pickup off that and put a P90 on. I should have hung onto it, in retrospect, because they're very good pickups - similar to the Tennessean. But, in my opinion, the P90 is the best pickup for slide - it has the right overtones."
Literature
Adam Sweeting, 'Rory Gallagher', Beat Instrumental, March 1979, p.20, www.roryon.com/beat.html
Neville Marten, 'Rory Gallagher', Guitarist, June 1987, vol.4, no.1, www.roryon.com/guitarist.html