The Ur-Rosewood Tele

[Rick]

I remember there being some discussion here (incl. a GOTW) about rosewood Teles, esp. the one George Harrison played throughout the Let It Be movie.

Well, I just got the Festival Express DVD yesterday, & on one tune in it, there's George's old guitar, being played by Jerry Garcia. This was about a year-&-a-half after the LIB sessions. From the little I could make out of his playing (most of the lead on that tune seemed to be being played by Amos Garrett), Garcia was getting a very cool sound out of it -- fairly different from George, although they both played it plugged into similar Fender amps. Anyway, that axe sure has some hip film credits!

[tom]

the whole body on those was rosewood, still hollow, but on the heavy side. ours are generally an alder back and much more hollow.

[Rick]

Was that the production model Fender put out that was hollow? George's 1968 orginal was a one-off, hand-made one (by Phil Kubicki) -- I understood it to be rosewood top & back with a thin layer of maple in between.

[joe1962]

I had one of the Japanese reissues of that guitar back around 1990 and it had a slice of maple sandwiched between the rosewood back and front. It was a great sounding guitar, very beautiful, and heavy as lead! (at least 10 lb, maybe more) I probably should have kept it just for what is was, but I had a friend who liked it more than I did $ :D

[tom]

the US ones back around '69 or '70 were hollow. they had a back and top the same thickness with a maple veneer between them. they were still heavy.

[Rick]

Just to be clear, I wasn't saying anything about Fender's US or Japanese line of rosewood Teles -- never tried any -- just that the original, unique prototype made for Harrison, not one that looks like it, showed up in this movie being played by Garcia, which I found interesting, & it sounded great in both musicians' hands. Its sibling guitar, a rosewood Strat intended for Hendrix, disappeared after completion in 1970 (the Tele was made earlier because the Beatles were due to start recording an album). I'm sure any Anderson version of the design would easily beat any Fender-manufactured version. I do have an old hand-made itty-bitty travel guitar from Phil Kubicki, though, & he was clearly capable of fine work. As to the overall design, I believe he was following orders from the same guy who, when he worked at Rickenbacker, oversaw the design of the Rickenbackers played by both Lennon & Harrison.

Simply an historical note, really, not a Harmony Central review.