“Because of the connection to the Beatles, the guitar is hard to find, especially one in good condition,” Sgro says. The original eventually turned up in 2014 and sold at auction for more than two million dollars. Lennon’s was stolen in 1963 (though, as it turns out, he and Harrison had unknowingly switched J-160s) and was later replaced. Lennon and Harrison received nearly identical J-160 acoustic-electrics on September 10, 1962, and used the guitars in the studio for Please Please Me and With the Beatles. Plug it into a Vox AC15 or 30 and you can immediately hear the Beatles’ tunes on Please Please Me come to life.” Circa 1955 Gibson J-160E 'So there are some distinctions from the standpoint of vintage guitar collecting, but in the end that made it a little bit more accessible, too. Another difference from George’s guitar is that his had a Bigsby, while mine has the original G marked tailpiece. But it has the ’57 DeArmond Dynasonic pickups and the ’57 body. 'Somebody might say, ‘Well, this isn’t the same year as Harrison’s,’ because the neck has the Neo-Classic thumbnail fret markers that were on the ’58 as opposed to the hump block inlays on Harrison’s ’57.

“This example is a ‘transition’ model, likely produced near the end of 1957. “I had been looking for a ’57 Duo Jet for a while, and I found this one at Willie’s American Guitars in St. Harrison once called his ’57 Duo Jet his “first good guitar,” and he played it on early Beatles singles, during the Please Please Me sessions and at gigs of the period. But the guitar itself is in really good shape.” 1957 Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet I never figured out the significance of that number. There’s the official serial number on the top of the headstock, which dates it to 1963, but then on the back, in what looks like white marker, there’s another number. I actually found this one in the vintage section of a Guitar Center in California.” Sgro’s Tennessean “is an interesting guitar, because it has two serial numbers. I got the Tennessean first, because it is a more accessible guitar. “And if you look at his guitars, the first three that people were aware of were the ‘57 Duo Jet, the ‘62 Country Gentleman and the ‘63 Tennessean. “When I first started pursuing Beatles guitars, my focus was on George’s instruments,” Sgro says. George Harrison used his ’63 model both live and in the studio, and it can also be seen in the movie Help! By 1962, it had been altered to feature a slimmer body, two single-coil Hilo’Tron pickups and painted-on f-holes.

The Gretsch Tennessean debuted in 1958 as a single-cutaway, single-pickup offering.

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