Custom Shop George Harrison Tribute Duo Jet Electric Guitar

Meticulously recreated by Gretsch master builder Stephen Stern and his crew from the original guitar owned by George and played during his early- and post-Beatles career. Only 60 Harrison TRIBUTE guitars will be produced worldwide.

Very special extras include:
¢ Original 1987 U.K. 7" picture-sleeve vinyl record of George Harrison hit "Got My Mind Set On You."
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One of George Harrison's actual personal guitar picks.
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Two previously unpublished photos of George Harrison with his original Duo Jet guitar.
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A DVD about the making of the Gretsch G6128T-GH George Harrison Tribute Duo Jet guitar.
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A copy of 1980 George Harrison autobiography I Me Mine.
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A personal letter from the Harrison family.
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A reprint of George Harrison's 1961 IOU to Liverpool cab driver Ivan Hayward as handwritten on the back of the customs slip Hayward filled out to bring the original Duo Jet to England from New York.
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Set of four Gretsch George Harrison pins.

Unique Features: Lightweight mid-'50s chamber body, distressed all-black color scheme (body top, back and sides and back of neck), modified B6C Bigsby tailpiece with black Phillips head tremolo arm pivot bolt, offset mounted strap carriage bolt on butt of body

The background
There's a very famous early film of the Beatles performing at Liverpool's Cavern Club; the dank, cramped cellar where the group played from February 1961 to August 1963. The grainy black and white footage captures the Beatles (mere days after new drummer Ringo Starr officially joined) sweating through a raucous cover of "Some Other Guy," then a staple of their act, before a packed house.

At far stage right, 19-year-old guitarist George Harrison is blasting out the song's infectious chord progression on what he later called his "first real decent guitar"”a black 1957 Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet, serial number 21179, with a Bigsby vibrato unit. The guitar is clearly visible in the footage.

The Gretsch Duo Jet that Harrison plays in the clip was dear to him at the time. He often referred to it as his first truly good guitar. He'd bought it secondhand from a Liverpool cab driver a year earlier at age 18, in summer 1961. After acquiring the guitar, Harrison played it during the historic three-year period when the Beatles made their momentous transformation from local favorites to U.K. sensations to worldwide phenomenon. He used it to record the Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, and the song of the same name that was their first number-one hit. A quarter-century later he returned to the guitar for his acclaimed 1987 solo album Cloud Nine.

So when Gretsch wanted to honor Harrison in 2011 with a signature guitar model”it had to be that guitar.