In 1973, Norman Harris received a phone call from a friend, - in a recent interview with The Guardian, Harris told the story - “He said he was with someone who needed a Les Paul,” he says. “But he wouldn’t tell me who it was. I went over to meet them and it was just my friend there. I said: ‘You made me ride all the way down here? You made it sound so important.’ And then in walked George Harrison with Mal Evans.”
At the time, George Harrison was looking for a replacement for Lucy, a one-of-a-kind 1957 Goldtop Les Paul, refinished in red, that had been stolen earlier in the year. The guitar was given to Harrison by Eric Clapton, and had been used on The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
After it was stolen, it was sold to a musician in LA. Harrison managed to track it down, but the new owner argued that he had “purchased Lucy in good faith”. He gave Harrison an offer: he would hand over Lucy if Harrison could get him another 1950s Les Paul and a Fender Precision bass in exchange. A mutual friend became involved who knew that Harris had three 1950s Les Pauls.
When Harrison visited, he purchased two 1958 Les Paul Standards – one for the trade, one for himself.
“We actually spent the day together. I then went to this place he was renting in the Hollywood Hills. Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitarist, was there. To me, The Beatles were bigger than the pope or the president or whoever. I just kept looking at him – I couldn’t believe it was happening,” recalls Harris.
Also during his visit, Harrison offered Harris his Gretsch Country Gentleman, used in his Beatles days. Harrison owned two Gents, and one of them was reportedly smashed to bits in 1965 after it fell out the back of a car (though this has been disputed). Harris regretfully passed on the offer, which he says is “the biggest mistake he ever made”: “I’m not a huge Gretsch fan, and more importantly, I didn’t think anybody would ever believe that I’d spent the day with George and bought his Beatles guitar,” he explains.
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