John Lennon - History Of His Guitars

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[AliasMark]

My mother assembled John Lennon’s, 1964 Rickenbacker 325 Guitar.
My mother... Dorothy J. Tandle "Dotty" was working at (RIC) Electro Strings Rickenbacker Guitars back in February 1964 in Santa Ana California. There was only 10 employees at the time and two woman. Mom was the first woman factory worker hired at Rickenbacker.
Francis C. Hall, CEO of Ric had the idea to meet with the Beatles when they came to do the Ed Sullivan Show and give them some new guitars. Mr. Hall gave Harrison a new twelve string guitar when he met them. (assembled by Dotty)
When Francis C. Hall got back from N.Y., after talking to John, Paul and Ringo he had a new guitar made for John.
F.C. Hall presented Lennon with a new 325 to replace his road weary 1958 one during the group's first trip to New York City. Rush shipped to the Hotel Deauville in Miami where it was used for the second performance in "Ed Sullivan Show" on February 16th.
Nicknamed at the factory… “Miami Special”
John used the new guitar on The Beatles second Sullivan appearance and on the group's subsequent tours and albums.

My Father was the insurance man for "RIC" for 19 years. He used to go Bowling a lot with Ward Deaton, the GM at the time. (“Kona Lanes“, Harbor Blvd Santa Ana) I was there many times with them. Dad told Ward that Mom did soldering at Rockwell International and was very good. Ward hired mom to solder their guitars. She went to the factory with Dad and was shown what they wanted her to do, she thought it would be simple. My dad asked if she could assemble the parts at home with her five young children after her full time job. Ward agreed to pay her by the units produced, “Under The Table” cash. She did just soldering at first but soon developed a system and could produce four days worth of production compared to the past, after 3 months she wanted to quit working full time and asked if she could do more for RIC but continue working for cash/no taxes, so she asked for something else to do when she was ahead. Ward Deaton GM agreed and she worked at her own bench with no record on the Books, later she was added to the official records due to insurance liabilities. Ward liked the work she did and trained her to do everything she was comfortable doing.
She learned the sanding process next doing the bodies neck/heads and Ward said…. “Dotty gives our guitars the woman’s touch, that’s why they are so sexy looking”
Hand cutting pick guards and name tags.
She was taught how to do the frets/finger board finishing. My dad has watched my mother several times do all the work on custom guitars at the factory. He would give them advise on safety issues. I have been to the factory in Santa Ana as a kid.
Mom worked full time from 63 through 66/67, then she did part time for a while and did some soldering at home the last few years and brought the work in to the factory.
The phone rang at our house at 6:10AM with the GM of Ric Ward Deaton asking if my mom could come in ASAP to work on a special rush order guitar
My mother was asked to follow Lennon’s Custom guitar from start to finish.
This was the Black & White semi-hollow bodied “Miami” model (serial number db122, d=1964, b=Feb.).
After the woodshop cut out the body, she sanded the body, then worked on the neck & fret board, then she assembled the guitar after the finish was applied.
She did all the work herself.
She did the same for many custom orders at that time.
She was trained in all areas except the wood shop and finishes.
She did all the sanding, fret board assembly, hand cut the pick guard, electronics soldering and put all the other pieces on John Lennon’s Custom 325.
John’s 325 was the first one with the fifth black tone knob.
Mom said she was surprised at how small the guitar was and asked if it was a child’s model because it is so little compared to the Ric Bass..
She liked John’s guitar because it didn’t have an f hole or edge binding to fuss with.
I don’t know how long it took to assemble the guitar, but I know she said it is all that mom worked on that day in February 1964.
After finishing the guitar, she gave it to the tuner/inspector. He was a good friend and gave mom a ride home three times per week. He asked my mother “Since you built it, what song would you like to hear?” My mother said…“Peanut Butter And Jelly”.
That was a song she wrote and the tuner knew the cords. My mother sang the song as it was being played. SO… The very first song ever played on John Lennon’s famous 325 was a song my mother wrote about the messes I made as a child.
There is a “GREEN” check mark inside the guitar.
The guitar assembled in February 1964 by Dotty custom made specially for John to replace his 1958 model 325 “Capri“ was dropped and the head was damaged, later repaired.. It now hangs on display at the Rock N Roll HOF. It is priceless.
John’s “Miami” was replaced with a “1996” Fire-glo model from the Rickenbacker London sales rep/dealer Rose-Morris Ltd.
Ten years later…..In the 1974, I worked for “Fender Musical Instruments” in Fullerton California.
I made two Fender Rhodes Electric Pianos for John Lennon/Apple Studios.
The one used on “Walls and Bridges”

“Well if they’re gonna send one, send two cause I’d like one as well”
John Lennon ordering a Fender Rhodes Electric Piano at the Apple studios.
(Elton John recorded “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” with the same piano)

My mother and myself are the only mother/son that both built an instrument for John Lennon.
My mother made guitars for many famous Rockers, including the red guitar that was smashed by Peter Townsend of the WHO and is in the Rock HOF. Chris Squire, Roger Waters, Paul McCartney (left-handed 1964 4001S FG Rickenbacker bass), John Entwistle, George Harrison’s 12 String. Roger McGuinn 12 string and many others.
I have built pianos for “You name it”
just about everyone IE: “Pink Floyd” on “Dark Side Of The Moon”
It is our little contribution to Classic Rock.
I’m very proud of that fact.

[SPIKE]

I'm sure John Lennon bought his first guitar earlier than that because I was in the same class as John and Pete Shotton at Quarry bank and played guitar with John round at Petes house on a couple of occasions - I bought my guitar in '56 around the same time as he did. Eric Griffiths was also there and Rod Davies plus a pal of mine Geoff Lee who played the washboard.

[edbenson]

Interestingly, his 1962 Gibson Acoustic guitar 7:04 went missing for almost half a century and it resurfaced in a pawn shop! John lost it during the Beatles’ Finsbury Park Christmas Show and it was one of his favorite guitars. It was auctioned off in 2015 and fetched $2.4 million!

[haldumille]

John Lennon listened to Elvis Presley records when he was 11 years old in 1951? That's pretty amazing considering the fact that Elvis' first recording was released in early 1956...

[PaulWalkerKarenPfeiffer]

Very informative & extremely enjoyable. I first saw John Lennon on The Beatles 1962 tour with Helen Shapiro. I'll never forget that he walked onstage & said "My name is John Lennon, I'd like to introduce you to my group".

[lungflogger]

Thank you for this fascinating history. I have a modest collection (2 dozen or so) of the British Monthly Beatle Books I used to buy them in Hollywood at a newstand in the late '60's. There are loads of photos of them in studio with their instruments. I would just stare at these photos while listening to their LPs imagining being there in studio as they were recording the songs I was listening to (the captions often mentioned what LP they were working on at the time). I am a retired musician; I was definitely influenced by them in those days.

[obcmissions]

Love that the lead picture at the beginning of this video is his 12-string Rickenbacker!

[skibo]

Yo Guitar Show, This is freaking fantastic!! Thank you guys so MUCH for taking the time to compile this list, (and then posting it of course)!! ~Mark~

[downwindjaxon]

What an amazing technical knowledge of John Lennon’s guitars you have. Nice work. Brought back some great memories and filled in a bunch of details for this old Beatle fan. Keep it up!

[michaelmendillo]

John was an amazing guitarist, , it wasn't something that was ever focused upon during his career, but anyone who has ever tried to play and sing, with the complete ease that John did while performing will know and appreciate what a talent this man had, , , , 😁🖒✌

[jw_au]

Brilliant job as always... and wow, the Lennon’s have a Burst just sitting in the attic somewhere, that’s cool... can’t wait to hear about the amps!

[eternalme]

AWESOME VID! John is my FAVORITE BEATLE and as a kid I
used to draw pictures of him and his Rickenbacker. I have Always been interested in ALL OF THE OTHER Guitar's he played, so this
Video is right up my Alley. Again Thank you so VERY much for Posting this Beauty

[St.petersEye]

Been trying to find a video about this, my god you blew me away. What a masterpiece, thank you. What a collection, so over looked.

[dannyc.jewell]

The amount of research required here is mind blowing, simply the best, I am taken aback, from a lover of quality

[fredthebass]

63 year old Beatles fan and musician lucky enough to have a home studio and library of mainly (but not exclusively) Beatles history. Includes a framed letter from Apple declining an invite to tea and a jam session from 1970! Fantastic documentary! Well researched and presented. Thank you very much.

[EltonoutoftheclosetOfficial]

Well done on a very informative video. 😊 A few trivial points:

1. Presley released his first US single on July 19, 1954, so Lennon couldn't have been listening to his records at age 11;

2. regarding the Ramirez, the nylon-string parts on 'And I Love Her' and 'I'll Be Back' are played by Harrison (although he may have been using Lennon's guitar);

3. "luthier" is pronounced "LOO-ti-ər";

4. the November 28, 1974 concert with Elton John was not Lennon's last. You alluded to the actual last concert when discussing Lennon's 1962 Martin D28 acoustic (16:54): the 'A Tribute To Sir Lew Grade' show, April 18, 1975;

5. In 1967 the members of The Fool were Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger (pronounced "mar-AYE-kər").

[goldtopgrandeur]

These are brilliant videos! Can't wait for the one about their amps. Thank you and take care...

[genatzvalee]

Never paid attention to John's guitars... until now! Great recommendation. This was very interesting, thank you! And as always, there were pics I didn't see before, like this one at 11:14 Gorgeous!

[timothysullysullivan]

i'll never forget the first time I played a 325. Felt like a toy at 3/4 scale! and sounds like a banjo (understandably since John started on banjo. He always played his D form chords banjo style.)

[Glicksman]

I am a friend of Ron DeMarino. I have had many discussions with him about Lennon's first Rick 325. Ron was the one who, at Lennon's request, restored it to the original natural finish. He told me that the black paint was terribly applied by brush, he could see the brush strokes. He said that it came off easily as there was no undercoat or primer used and that the original natural alder wood was unharmed. Ron is now retired as a luthier and wishes to remain anonymous.