George Harrison Bought a Guitar in Small Town America

Believe it because it’s true.

In September 1963, the Beatles took a break.

The group had been on tour for almost two years straight without stopping. While the John, Paul and Ringo visited foreign countries during vacation, George Harrison decided to visit his sister, Louise, in her small town of Benton, Illinois.

She lived in this mining town with her husband Gordon and her children. When George and their brother Peter tagged along with him, they had quite the time together.

George did most of all.

During his stay, he experienced American life at the time. He attended a drive-in movie, watched a Shriners parade, bought meat at the local Kroger and camped in Shawnee National Forest.

George Bought a Guitar Too

Probably his most exciting time in America is purchasing a 425 Rickenbacker guitar at Fenton Music Shop in nearby Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

Local musicians Gabe McCarty and Vern Mandrel accompanied the Beatle to the shop to find the guitar was originally sunburst orange. George had it painted black before the purchase to look like John’s guitar back in England.

George bought the guitar for $400 at the time, a great amount of money back in the day. But the guitar has much more of a story than that.

The Guitar’s Fate and Final Spot

After his visit to America, he returned to England to regroup with his band mates on the local show called “Ready Steady Go.” He played his new guitar on the show.

He also played the guitar on another local show called “Thank Your Lucky Stars” and to an extent on the “With the Beatles” album.

As years went by, the Beatles eventually broke up, but George went on to have a successful solo just as well. He never used the 425 again so rumor has it the guitar was probably stored somewhere for a long time.

In the last decade or so, the guitar appeared at a music auction for nearly $700,000. Flash forward to the present day.

Nowadays, Fenton’s Music Shop is an active auto mechanics garage and George’s 425 Rickenbacker currently sits in the Beatles exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Closing Thoughts

Had you heard of this story before? I hadn’t until last year, and it still fascinates me.

Who would’ve thought a guitar bought in small town America would end up at a famous museum, having been played by an actual Beatle. No one can make that up.

It’s a pretty unknown story, but one for any Beatles fan or music lover. It’s almost like a timeless tale.

Long live music.

Noah Nelson is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in journalism with minors in political science and history. He serves as a senior columnist for The Daily Illini, a writer on Medium and the host of his blog called Nothing But Noah. “Life: A Collection of Short Stories” is his first book available now on Amazon.