Many Beatles fans will bittersweetly recall the band’s final public performance atop the Apple HQ in 1969. During this performance, George Harrison was seen playing a unique all-rosewood Telecaster. This guitar made waves among viewers of the performance as the rosewood body gave the guitar a distinct look and sound. In this article, we’ll explore the history of that iconic guitar.
For the majority of their career, the Beatles didn’t use Fender guitars, as they wanted to distinguish themselves from another popular English band at the time, The Shadows, who played and endorsed Fender instruments. The Shadows had a run of 13 consecutive top 10 UK hits from 1960 through 1963.
The power of an endorsement cannot be understated. Fender had always done a great job of finding new bands to endorse their guitars and featuring them in ads. The Beach Boys proved this on the US side of the pond, while other Fenders found their way into the hands of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck. I think it’s fair to say that many musicians play a certain style or brand of guitar because it’s what their guitar heroes played.
Finally, in December 1964, George Harrison and John Lennon acquired Fender Stratocasters and used them for “Help!” and onwards through to “Let It Be.” The double unison guitar solo on “Nowhere Man” was played by Harrison and Lennon on their new Stratocasters. Harrison especially took a liking to them.
They became his main guitars in the Beatles from 1965 to 1970 and throughout his solo career. Two years later, Paul McCartney bought an Esquire. The fourth Fender instrument to be obtained by the band was the iconic Rosewood Telecaster.
As for the Rosewood Telecaster, that was the brainchild of Roger Rossmeisl a brilliant builder who had started working for Fender after a very successful career with Rickenbacker. Rossmeisl was tasked with coming up with all-rosewood Tele and Stratocaster prototypes.
It’s been said that Rossmeisl made two Telecasters and two Stratocasters, but recent evidence suggests that there were six Telecasters built. A few of them have hit the auction block over the years – one belonging to Elvis Presley, another to Bob Weir. Those guitars were completed in 1968 and 1969, respectively. George Harrison’s was delivered to him at the end of 1968.
As for the Stratocasters, according to a 2022 Guitar World article, one was supposed to go to Jimi Hendrix. That guitar was completed in April of 1970, although he never received it before his passing in September of 1970. Again, according to the article, two were made – one resides at New York’s Well Strung Guitars and the other is missing, and no one knows where it is.
Building a Telecaster or Strat out of rosewood presents some interesting challenges. Because it is heavy, the guitar was chambered to aid weight relief, borrowing production techniques from the Thinline, which Rossmeisl was also creating during this period. The Tele’s pickups were wound by Abigail Ybarra to complement the tonal properties of a chambered rosewood body.
Fender made multiple runs of rosewood guitars over the years, although it never caught on. But some limited runs have been made out of rosewood, such as some of the Jim Root guitars and some of the Sub-Sonic baritones.
As for Harrison’s Tele, he gave his away to an American musician named Delaney Bramlett (of Delanie & Bonnie fame), who auctioned it off in 2003 for $434,750. The buyer turned out to be Olivia Harrison, George’s widow, bringing the guitar back into the Harrison estate where it resides to this day.
