ECLECTIC COLLECTOR
Rory’s taste in guitars, amps and effects was wide ranging and often driven by the demands of stage performance – but more than a little hero worship, too, as Donal Gallagher explains
During the years when Rory’s Strat saw use in hundreds of gigs, Donal was Rory’s defacto manager – travelling the world with him and handling everything from air freight to negotiating record deals. He was the only person Rory trusted to handle business while he rocked the world’s great stages. He also helped Rory track down an eclectic but hard-working collection of mostly classic American guitars but with a fair smattering of vintage Japanese oddities and rarities, folk instruments and, of course, amps and effects. The motivating force behind Rory’s collection was typically either pragmatic need – say, for a workhorse stage or studio instrument – or the desire to emulate his own heroes, who were drawn from the golden age of pre-war blues and jazz.
“Buying the baritone was inspired by Rory’s admiration for Glen Campbell. So, the next thing, this guitar was coming into his life” DONAL GALLAGHER
“Primarily, he was buying a blues guitar collection,” Donal reflects. “If he’d read an article that said Alexis Korner used Japanese guitars, Rory would investigate the thread of that – maybe to try and get the sound that Alexis Korner got from that particular instrument… it would take him down that avenue.
“But I also remember one of the later purchases he made was a baritone guitar, which he used nicely on Fresh Evidence. It wasn’t something I was familiar with, but I think [Rory was inspired to get one by] Jet Harris hits like Diamonds, which had that big, deep guitar sound. We always thought that was Jet Harris playing the bass but actually there were specific baritone guitars [involved]. I think buying the baritone was also inspired by Rory’s admiration for Glen Campbell and his solo on Wichita Lineman. So the next thing, this baritone guitar was coming into his life. You know?”
Despite being relentless in pursuit of certain instruments, Rory was very particular about what he wanted – and sometimes passed up even highly collectible guitars if they didn’t feel like a good fit for him, including a guitar that was almost a twin to Rory’s ’61 Strat.
“Another time, somewhere in Texas, this guy turned up at this venue and he had a sunburst Stratocaster to show Rory. He came backstage and I met him, and he said, ‘I wonder if your brother would be interested in this? It would be the same age as his.’ And then we compared serial numbers and found it was only one digit off Rory’s Strat and I’m going, ‘Oh my God.’ Rory was always saying, ‘What if anything ever happened to the Strat?’ so I thought it was a certainty he’d want to buy this guitar. I asked the guy to wait while Rory finished his soundcheck, but, to me, it wasn’t even a question of how much. But, actually, it was quite peculiar – when Rory saw the guitar, I remember just feeling in myself, ‘He’s not even going to entertain this.’ And, in fact, he didn’t buy it. Although, for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t.”
NEXT LIFE
Clearly, the decision to sell the collection was not taken lightly – and that both personal factors and long-term practical obligations weighed in the balance. When the decision was made, Donal did so in close consultation with his wider family. One concern raised by fans is that Rory’s Strat could end up in some collector’s bank vault. But Donal says the irony is that the Strat, due to its high value and historic status, already is kept in a bank vault, out of view most of the time.
“Put it this way, if I was a man who could play guitar and enjoyed playing it, that’d be one thing,” he reflects. “If the family had wanted to keep it, that would be another thing. If I didn’t have to worry about the safety aspect of it and that all goes with insuring an instrument like that and it was in my house all day… it still wouldn’t get any use. I always saw it as having a life of its own. I mean, you can still watch the footage of the guy who originally had the guitar [before Rory bought it] on YouTube – he was called Jim Conlon
“The guitar has got to move on. The life it’s got at present isn’t necessarily the kindest one it could have” DONAL GALLAGHER
and he was in a band called the Royal Showband.
“It’s so difficult. The guitar has got a life of its own and it’s got to move on. And put it this way: I think that the life it’s got at present isn’t necessarily the kindest one it could have. To be sitting in a bank vault is not the way. And whatever few years I might have left… I mean, it’s about trying to pass it on before the inevitable happens, you know? You hope that if somebody wants to bid on it and buy it, that they’ll cherish it, and they’re doing it for all the right reasons. But either way, hopefully the instrument gets played and used or featured somewhere.”
While it’s unlikely that everyone will be reconciled to the idea of the guitars being sold, it’s certainly a lot more comprehensible in the light of what Donal has to say on the matter. It would be nice to think that another leading guitarist will buy the Strat – but there are no guarantees. And in the instrument’s life to date there have been few of those anyway. If Rory’s Strat hadn’t been returned after being stolen early on in his career, none of this would be taking place. If Rory hadn’t died, all too soon, perhaps he’d be playing it yet. Perhaps, maybe, what if? It’s only human to ask those questions. But in reality, to paraphrase George Harrison, all things must pass.
In the meantime, while the guitars are still in the family’s possession a little longer, we decided to document them on camera one last time at the scene of some of Rory’s most memorable moments on stage – including the breakthrough moment when Taste supported Cream for the latter’s farewell show – the Royal Albert Hall in London.
With Donal as our guide, in the following pages we share his personal favourite stories about seven guitars from Rory’s collection that will be under the hammer in October…
The Rory Gallagher Collection will be auctioned at Bonhams in New Bond Street, London, on 17 October 2024 www.bonhams.com