GRETSCH 6120 CHET ATKINS NASHVILLE SEMI-ACOUSTIC GUITAR JOHN PLAYED IN 1966 IS SET TO FETCH MORE THAN 600,000 POUNDS

The electric guitar John Lennon played when the Beatles recorded Paperback Writer at EMI's Abbey Road studios in 1966 is set to fetch more than 600,000 pounds (940,000 dollars) at an auction Sunday of rock and roll memorabilia in London.

 

The Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Nashville semi-acoustic guitar is described by auctioneers TracksAuction as "one of the most significant of John's guitars to come onto the market in the last 30 years."

 

The auction at London's Le Meridien Hotel gives rich fans the chance to own an instrument that could also have been used in the composition of I Am The Walrus, A Day In The Life, We Can Work It Out and Help!.There are photographs of John,playing the guitar during the Abbey Road sessions.

 

It is being sold by David Birch, who was given the hollow-body guitar when he visited his cousin in 1967. "I was just cheeky enough to ask John for one of his spare guitars," he wrote in the sales brochure. "I had my eye on a blue Fender Stratocaster that was lying in the studio, but John suggested and gave me the Gretsch whilst we were talking."

 

Cheaper items to go under the hammer include an original Abbey Road street sign and a pick-guard and a set of six machine head tuning pegs left over when Lennon renovated his 1958 Rickenbacker 325 guitar.

 

 

 

In May, a Rickenbacker played by both John and George in 1963 sold for 420,000 pounds at auction.