Rory Gallagher: A Fender Telecaster Electric Guitar, 1966,

guitar 38 1/2in (98cm) long

Footnotes

"It's a very good Tele".
- Rory Gallagher

This guitar was purchased in London, for recording Taste's second album On The Boards, released in 1970.

The first time Rory is seen playing this guitar, with its white finish, is in Copenhagen in early 1970. He then famously used it for Taste's appearance at the Isle Of Wight Festival in August 1970. It became one of Rory's main guitars for live work, especially for slide playing.

In a lengthy interview with Vivian Campbell for the magazine Guitar For The Practicing Musician, August 1991, Rory said of this guitar: "A white '63 (sic) Telecaster. The lead pickup was rewound. It was repainted; I stripped it down to its natural wood, and then I tried to get the natural creme finish that I could get, but it turned out kind of white. I used that with Taste as well. It's a very good Tele."

Having been seen playing the stripped-down Telecaster at Mothers in Birmingham in 1969, it is a matter of speculation as to why Rory had it refinished. The first hardware modification to the guitar was the replacement of the original threaded saddles with steel grooved ones, which were a new innovation by Fender for the 1968/69 season. An exact date for this change is unknown but, the same mod was done to his Fender Esquire in early March 1972, so it is likely that the same thing was done to this Telecaster at the same time. The guitar seems to have remained unchanged until early 1974, when the neck pickup cover was removed. This can be seen in footage of Don Kirshner's Rock Concert TV show, 5th August 1974. By 1975, the guitar appeared in its previous condition, presumably because the mod was not that successful. Rory stated on several occasions that he did not think the Telecaster neck pickup to be strong enough, so the pickup cover removal seems to have been done to boost the sound. The same mod was done to Rory's Fender Esquire around the same time and this is the guitar that Rory then used mainly for slide playing, 1975-1979.

Rory can next be seen playing this Telecaster when headlining the Reading Festival in the UK in 1980. There's no footage of playing this guitar at the Wiesbaden show. The guitar showed some major changes: the neck pickup had been replaced by what appeared to be a Bill Lawrence L220 or L-250 and another Bill Lawrence pickup is in the middle position, making it a three-pickup Telecaster. Photographs taken later at the Reading Festival on 22nd August 1980 show these mods in detail. It can also be seen that the toggle switch is in the treble position, meaning only the bridge pickup is in use, with the two custom pickups silent. Also, Rory does not use this for slide playing so the reasons for the mods are unclear. The guitar was then more or less retired from live work and the Gretsch Corvette became Rory's favoured instrument for slide playing.

After some years, around 1987, the guitar was reconfigured back to its original condition, as was his Fender Esquire. When interviewed by Neville Marten, Rory explained, "I'm a Strat player because of the three pickups, the out of phase thing as well - even on my Stratocaster I've neutered the middle tone control. I think probably the ideal guitar would be like a Telecaster lead pickup on a Stratocaster body...I turned against the rhythm pickup on Teles, years ago, and I put two Strat pickups in the middle and rhythm position, but then lately I've reverted back to the way they were." In the same interview, the removal of the copper plate underneath the lead (bridge) pickup to fix the so-called 'squealing problem' was discussed: "The lead one is always the difficult one. What I do with that, or should I say what Chris Eccleshall does with that one, is just take away the brass plate from underneath the pickup and throw it away. He re-earths it somewhere else and that cures it. Plus, you have to put the petroleum wax in".
- Rory Gallagher, Guitarist Magazine, June 1987.

Exhibition
'The UK Guitar Show', Olympia, London, UK, 2018.
'Born To Rock', National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, Ireland; Harrods, London, UK, 2006-2007.

Live Performance
Taste, Isle Of Wight Festival, 28th August 1970, www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbQy5GlMRyQ.
Rory Gallagher, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert TV show, 5th August 1974, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD26g6g6xSI.

Literature
'The Telecaster Bible', Guitar Magazine, front cover, May 2019.
Vivian Campbell, 'The Wearing Of The Blues', Guitar For The Practicing Musician, August 1991, www.roryon.com/guitar91.html.
Neville Marten, Guitarist, June 1987, www.groundguitar.com/rory-gallagher-gear.