Paul McCartney playing a 'F-47'?

[Steve Hook]

This nice yet pretty obscure pic (it was supposedly taken during The Beatles' tour in Australia in 1964) has been floating around on the Internet since several years now, and it looks like McCartney is playing a Guild F-47 in his hotel room here - would that indeed be the correct model name of this guitar?

 

[hansmoust]

This nice yet pretty obscure pic (it was supposedly taken during The Beatles' tour in Australia in 1964) has been floating around on the Internet since several years now, and it looks like McCartney is playing a Guild F-47 in his hotel room here - would that indeed be the correct model name of this guitar?

Nice photo Steve,

That would be an F-47 indeed. Never saw it before. Do you know the source of that photo?

Sincerely,

Hans Moust

 

[Steve Hook]

Hi Hans,

unfortunately I do not know when and where this photo was first published, but I remember that I first saw it ca. 11 years ago on the web as part of a Beatles photo-gallery; the pic did not have a caption which could shed a light on the exact location nor the date when it was originally taken, but I've been informed by a collector of Beatles-pics that this photo was taken during The Beatles' tour in Australia.
My educated guess is that the Guild did not belong to McCartney himself, as this is as far as I know the only occasion where he can be seen with this guitar - it was probably just loaned to him by its owner on this occasion.

Kind regards,
Steve

 

[JerryR]

Perhaps he nipped over to Newsy Land and borrowed it from Coastie :roll:

 

[walrus]

I saw that phto (and mentioned it on this site in a previous post) in a Guitar Player magazine article on Paul a few years ago. No source of the photo in the magazine either. Cool, though...

walrus

 

[walrus]

Just looking at this photo a little closer and it seems like Paul has not restrung it for a lefty. Weird...

walrus

 

[grantgsc]

I would say it is someone elses guitar and he is just giving it a go.

 

[Steve Hook]

Just looking at this photo a little closer and it seems like Paul has not restrung it for a lefty. Weird...

walrus

McCartney is known to have the ability to play guitar/bass strung for right-handed players as well - there's a.o. a quote in Bill Wyman's book 'Rolling With The Stones' where Wyman recalled how stunned he was when he saw how McCartney picked up one of his basses - during a chance meeting between Lennon & McCartney and the members of The Stones in '63 - and play the right-handed instrument without any problems...

 

[sitka_spruce]

I'll never get used to the Gibsonesque headstock on those Guilds, me. I guess I'm so used to the South American pyramid style thing most models has/ had any exception from that doesn't... look quite right - espec. a type of headstock so closely associated with another brand of guitars beginning with an G.