Rory Gallagher: A Coral 3S19 Electric Sitar, 1968,

sitar 40in (102cm) long

Footnotes

Rory had written the track 'Philby' for the 1979 album 'Top Priority' and wanted an Eastern-flavoured sound for it, as provided by the Coral Sitar, but it was a rare instrument. However, Pete Townshend owned one and this was rented for the sessions. The problem then was of duplicating the sound live and it would have been expensive to hire it for the whole of Rory's next tour.

Dónal Gallagher, Rory's brother and manager, happened to be in the US at the time and, by chance, picked up a flyer for a guitar trading company in New Jersey advertising a Coral Sitar for $1,500, which was cheaper than hiring Pete Townshend's. Dónal recalls, "I came back on a flight with Cliff Richard and his band and when it came to customs I tried to walk through as one of his session players, but a customs officer stopped me. I acted coy and explained that it was my brother's guitar and was old and not worth much but he pulled out the same flyer I had seen in New York from his catalogue book and said it was $1,500! That taught me a good lesson."

Live Performance
Rory Gallagher, Rockpalast, Germany, 28 August 1982, www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyY5_8IcRao.
Rory Gallagher, 'Philby', Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, 1985, version with sitar, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxwT_-UZiSQ.

Coral:
The Coral Electric Sitar was developed in the early 1960s by session guitarist Vincent Bell in partnership with Danelectro and released under the brand name Coral in 1967. Only around 50 of these models were made and therefore remain rare and collectable. George Harrison is often credited for introducing the Indian sitar into popular Western music in the 60s, with Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones also being an early exponent of the instrument. However, it is generally considered a difficult instrument to learn so, as a solution, the electric sitar, with its standard guitar fretboard and tuning, was more familiar for a guitarist to play . The twangy sitar-like tone comes from a carefully designed and contoured bridge surface adding the necessary buzz to the guitar strings.