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DARK SECRETS: 3 | Rare Historical Photos

“That beautiful thick Irish accent could melt anyone’s heart. And the lady ended up selling the guitar to Rory for $50!” How Rory Gallagher’s sweet talk secured him his bargain ’61 Kay Value Leader – with a little help from Eric Clapton

This vibey early ’60s electric looked too pricey to buy, even with the help ofblues musician John Hammond Jr– but Rory’s charm secured it in a New York minute, as his brother Donal explains

Guitar World

Joe Bonamassa to perform Rory Gallagher's legendary Irish Tour '74 set at two shows in Ireland

Joe Bomamassa's one-off tribute to Rory Gallagher will take place in Gallagher's hometown of Cork next summer

Louder

“I went backstage and said to Rory, ‘There’s a guy out there called Slash who’s come to see you…’ Rory’s eyes lit up”: The night Rory Gallagher gave the Guns N’ Roses guitarist a taste of affordable Gibson via his 1960 Melody Maker

Modded with a Gibson humbucker, this 1969 student guitar has lived a life, and was the star of the show when Gallagher jammed with Slash in 1991

Guitar World

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“I walked through the ‘Nothing To Declare’ lane, though it was in an embarrassment of a guitar case atthat point”: The remarkable story behind Rory Gallagher’s 1968 Coral 3S19 Electric Sitar

Famously used on Philby, the electric sitar is one of the most unique instruments in the Rory Gallagher Collection. Donal Gallagher tells us how he found it and its glam Transatlantic journey home

Guitar World

All three-and-a-half hours of the show to raise money to bring Rory Gallagher's guitar back home can now be watched online

The evening featured a special guest appearance by Rory Gallagher's longtime bassist Gerry McAvoy

Louder

“I said, ‘Well, Rory, look, you’ll probably kill me for this, but I spotted they had a guitar”: Rory Gallagher’s 1963 Gretsch Corvette was a pawnshop find that cost just $150

Vintage guitars hard to come by? Over-priced? Back in the day you could find happy accidents, like when Donal Gallagher found his brother a red Corvette while shopping for a case

MusicRadar

“He looked at it, closed the case and said, ‘Let’s get out of here before they realize what they’ve sold you’”: How Rory Gallagher grabbed his iconic 1963 Gretsch Corvette for the princely sum of $150

Can you judge a guitar by its case? Not usually, but when Donal Gallagher was shopping for cases for brother Rory, he found one with a very special guitar inside, and there was a deal to be made

Guitar World

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“Even for a beginner to pick it up and play it, it almost plays you. I can tell you, it brings power to your hands”: The story of Rory Gallagher’s 1932 National Triolian – the resonator that had all the mojo but not the volume for his raucous live show

Rory’s battered National Triolian could be seen as the acoustic sibling ofhis infamously weathered 1961 Strat – though this metal workhorse could howl,too

Guitar World

“Rory was a peaceful man, but I thought he’d thump poor Chris on the spot”: The story of Rory Gallagher’s 1959 Fender Esquire, the guitar crushed on a runway with a refinish job worth fighting over

Heavily modded over the years, thishot-sounding Esquire was, outsideof the Strat, Rory’s go-to Fender for slide work – but it nearly came to an untimely demise on anairport runway…

Guitar World

“It’s so difficult. The guitar has got a life of its own and it’s got to move on”: Why Rory Gallagher’s iconic Strat is up for auction now – and the political pressure to keep it in Ireland

Nearly 30 years after Rory Gallagher’s death, we join Rory’s brother Donal to find out why it’s time to let go of his legendary 1961 Fender Stratocaster as it heads to auction

Guitar World

“When I heard Nirvana’s Live at Reading it became less about learning solos than putting the guitar in front of an amp and making it scream”: Fontaines D.C.’s Carlos O’Connell on playing Rory Gallagher’s Strat and why a spring reverb is the best overdrive

One half of the Fontaines D.C. six-string machine talks songwriting and influences, and admits that he, too, is a disciple of YouTube’s Kurt Cobain tone guru Aaron Rash

Guitar World

“There were six guys dressed as emergency gas men with bolt-cutters. It was horrifying how quickly they got into our unit”: Rory Gallagher’s family on why safety and security concerns for his guitar collection encouraged them to sell it at auction

The safety of the guitar has become an increasing concern over the years as several attempts to rehome it in a museum have failed

Guitar World

“Rory Gallagher’s a saint in my house. There’s even a saintly painting of him above where I hang my guitar”: Meet Louise Patricia Crane, the solo-loving songwriter, seeking new prog sounds with King Crimson’s Jakko Jakszyk

Netherworld is the sound of Crane and producer Jakszyk testing the boundaries of where guitar can go, in the company of special guests Tony Levin, Gary Husband and Ian Anderson

Guitar World

“The worst-case scenario is if you just hang the guitar on the wall and brag to your rich buddies that you bought it. These things are tools to make music”: Joe Bonamassa plays Rory Gallagher's 1959 Esquire, calling him “one of my guitar heroes”

Bonamassa debunks the rumor that Gallagher only had one guitar throughout his career, namely, the '61 Fender Strat

Guitar World

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MusicRadar

“It’s a real honour to actually hold the man’s instruments and spend a few minutes playing them”: Watch Joe Bonamassa play throaty slide blues on Rory Gallagher’s Tele-modded ’59 Esquire and explain what made Gallagher a global guitar icon

“Here was this guy with long hair and a flannel shirt, and looked as if he just came out of an auto factory, and playing some some of the most gutbucket blues and rock you’d ever heard”

Guitar World

“Rory was in a state of shock and couldn’t bring himself to step on stage. Afterwards he said, ‘It was lovely, but never do this to me again’”: That time Rory Gallagher got crippling stage fright because he was performing in front of his guitar hero

Gallagher's brother secretly invited one of Rory's biggest heroes to attend a show at the Royal Albert Hall – and even had him introduce the blues rock legend to the stage

Guitar World

“I saw it on the wall in a store in Chicago and thought it looked interesting, as it was so distressed to look like his old guitar”: Fontaines D.C.’s Carlos O’Connell on why he opted for a guitar legend’s signature model as his “workhorse” instrument

Alongside two Fender Mustangs, the relic’d model is one of the main guitars that features on the band’s upcoming album, Romance

Louder

“Rory was one of the first to put Irish rock on the international stage so it’s an important item culturally.” The Irish government is hoping to acquire Rory Gallagher's guitar as a national treasure

Could Rory Gallagher's guitar be enshrined as a national treasure in Ireland?

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Guitar World

“I would love to keep it in Ireland if we could”: The Irish government wants to ensure Rory Gallagher’s iconic Fender Strat remains in the country

The government's interest follows a grassroots campaign that's hoping to raise enough money to keep the guitar in Ireland

Guitar World

“We need to become the custodians of that magical guitar”: €1,000,000 campaign launched to buy Rory Gallagher’s iconic 1961 Fender Stratocaster and keep it in Ireland

Sheena Crowley – the daughter of the man who originally sold the guitar to Gallagher in 1963 – set up the fundraiser after it was announced Rory's Strat would be heading to auction

Louder

"This guitar means so much to us in Cork": The daughter of the man who sold Rory Gallagher his iconic Stratocaster in 1963 is trying to raise €1,000,000 to bring it back home

Rory Gallagher's famous Fender Stratocaster is due to be auctioned later this year

Louder

"I remember looking at this battered Stratocaster and thinking, how does that come out of there?": Rory Gallagher's iconic 1961 Stratocaster is to be auctioned

One of music's most recognisable guitars is going under the hammer

MusicRadar

"It was an enormous part of Rory Gallagher’s life and was with him from the very start of his career right until the end": The Irish bluesman's legendary '61 Strat is going up for auction

The first lot from Bonham's Rory Gallagher Collection is a big one indeed

Guitar World

“On this guitar, he carved out his legacy of being one of the greatest guitarists of all time”: Rory Gallagher’s iconic ’61 Fender Stratocaster is heading to auction for the first time ever

As legend has it, Gallagher's Strat was the first to ever reach Irish soil, and it was used by the blues rock ace to cement himself as one of the all-time greats of guitar music

Guitar World

“Bernie went into the studio with a host of guitars – but ended up using this £125 Squier for 95% of the sessions. It was one of the best Strats he ever played”: Inside the Bernie Marsden guitar auction – featuring rare Strats and a Greeny-esque ES-335

An epic collection of the former Whitesnake member’s guitars, amps and other highly collectable gear has just gone under the hammer – and we got up close and personal with his prized possessions

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