Artist Guitars: George Harrison

We'll kick things off at Rock Band Custom Shop with a profile of some of George Harrison's guitars. I've always been a big Beatles fan, and these were some of the first guitars I looked to recreate in the game as an homage to Harrison.

Though in the early days of The Beatles, Harrison was commonly associated with his Rickenbacker 12-string or Gretsch Country Gentleman, he also played on some well known Fender and Gretsch guitars during his career.

ROCKY

George Harrison's "Rocky" Strat is regarded as one of the most famous guitars ever for its extraordinary design that Harrison painted himself, transforming a Sonic Blue Stratocaster into a psychedelic masterpiece that was seen prominently in the Magical Mystery Tour film. Replicas of the iconic guitar are common, even easily available in miniature form as well.

What's hard to find, though, are actual photos of this Strat. Still, the replicas are quite lovingly crafted and provide a good template for what would be a very ambitious Rock Band custom project.

ROSEWOOD TELECASTER

During the filming of "Let it Be", George Harrison is commonly seen with a Rosewood Telecaster, which he used extensively in the album as well as during the iconic roof-top concert. This Telecaster was a prototype especially given to Harrison. By the end of 1969, Harrison has passed the guitar along to legendary blues guitarist Delaney Bramlett after a show at Albert Hall. The guitar remained a cherished part of Bramlett's personal collection until he put it on auction in 2003 with Julian's Auctions, who collected some great shots of the guitar.

The Rosewood is a gorgeous guitar, though its a little tough to recreate in the game. I'd suggest trying different dark reds with either the Maple or Ash skins and seeing which suits you best. The Fender Custom Shop recently did a limited run of Rosewood Telecasters if you're interested in the real thing.

OTHER GUITARS

I admit, I was thrown by how hard it was to find photos of Harrison online, but here are some other shots of him with guitars featured in Rock Band.
This last one is tough to see, so take my word that this is a tri-burst Jaguar with a reddish brown (maybe tortoiseshell but it doesn't quite look it) pickguard. Its from the promo film for "Hey Jude" with David Frost. If you have the Anthology DVD set, you can get a good view of it during Frost's introduction which comes just before the "Hey Jude" Chapter marker.