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Lot Essay
Building on the success of their two hit singles and chart-topping debut album, the Beatles spent most of 1963 on the road, sustaining a relentless schedule of live shows, radio and television performances that would include a staggering 71 UK concert dates over the summer months from mid-June to mid-September, as their popularity continued to reach new heights and a frenzied fandom began to spread across the country. At some point in late July or early August, probably around the time that the Beatles taped sessions 11 and 12 for the BBC radio show Pop Goes The Beatles at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester on 1 August 1963, George Harrison began to experience issues with the tuning pegs on his Gretsch Country Gentleman and sent road manager Neil Aspinall to Manchester music store Barratts to have it repaired. When interviewed by Andy Babiuk for Beatles Gear in 2002, store manager Brian Higham recalled He had George’s Country Gent and said it had problems with two faulty tuning pegs, so I offered to replace them for him that same day. We had a used Maton in the shop, so I said to Neil to take that as a backup.
Although Higham reportedly returned the repaired Gretsch that same evening, he recalled that Harrison was so taken with the Maton MS500 Mastersound – which was one of a very small number of the Australian-made guitars that made it to Britain in the early 1960s – that he requested to hang on to it for a while. The Hollies’ then bass guitarist Eric Haydock, however, records in the accompanying letter that, during one of the band’s frequent visits to Barratts, the Hollies’ road manager Johnny MacDonald was asked to deliver the Maton guitar to George Harrison due to the fact that George’s original Gretsch Guitar was in for repair at the store and had not as yet been completed and he needed an instrument for several important dates for which the band had been booked. Howsoever the guitar made its way to George Harrison, he proceeded to use the Maton for several live performances over the next couple of weeks, as seen in surviving concert photographs from Liverpool, Blackpool and the Channel Islands.
Harrison was first pictured playing the guitar on stage for the band’s final appearance at the Grafton Rooms in Liverpool on Friday 2 August, which was followed by the Beatles’ last ever performance at the Cavern Club on Saturday 3 August 1963, after almost 300 appearances at the venue since 1961. The Beatles had hit the big time since their last performance at the Cavern the previous April, and the tickets sold out within thirty minutes of going on sale. Presumably due to the excessive heat and condensation caused by overcrowding, the venue suffered a power cut during the Beatles’ set. Guitarist Tony Crane, who appeared on the bill before the Beatles that night with his band the Merseybeats, recalled the scene for Andy Babiuk in 1997: When they went on, within about five minutes all the electrics went off. The place was so full, the walls were pouring with sweat, with water… everything was wet. All their amps went, the lights went off, it was pitch black. Whatever could go wrong went wrong on that night. While waiting for the electricity to return, Lennon and McCartney reportedly launched into an acoustic rendition of ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ – a song they wouldn’t release until 1967. Presumably taken either just before or just after their set, Combo photographer John Dove captured the only known photograph of the Beatles that evening, dripping with sweat and grasping their instruments off-stage. The rare photo, featuring a smiling Harrison with the Maton Mastersound, indicates that he most likely used this guitar during the Beatles’ final performance at the Cavern.
Following engagements at the Queen’s Theatre in Blackpool on 4 August and the Urmston Show in Lancashire the following day, of which no stage photographs have surfaced, the Beatles travelled to the Channel Islands for a series of four concerts at the Springfield Ballroom in Jersey from Tuesday 6 – Saturday 10 August, broken up by a one-night appearance at the Candie Gardens Auditorium in Guernsey on Thursday 8 August. According to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, the band made the 30-mile journey from Jersey across to Guernsey in a 12-seater plane while their equipment was transported by ferry. Several photographs taken for the Guernsey Evening Press confirm that Harrison played the Maton during at least one of the Beatles’ two performances at Candie Gardens that evening. Before the show, the band were pictured reconnecting with beat poet Royston Ellis, who they had befriended in Liverpool back in 1960. A number of color photographs have also surfaced of Harrison playing the Maton at the Springfield Ballroom during their run of Jersey shows. Following their last night in Jersey on 10 August, the Beatles travelled back up north for an appearance at the ABC Theatre in Blackpool on Sunday 11 August 1963, where they were photographed by Blackpool-based postcard publisher John Vale, who had obtained a license from the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein to produce promotional postcards of the group in return for a commission on sales. Harrison can be seen playing the Maton in a few of the Valex photo postcards produced from these shots (one of which is included in this lot).
The Maton was subsequently returned to Barratts music store, most likely on Wednesday 14 August 1963 when the Beatles travelled to Manchester’s Granada TV Centre to record two performances for broadcast on the current affairs television show Scene at 6.30. Harrison reverted to his Gretsch Country Gentleman for the Granada recording on this date and was not seen with the Maton again. Not long afterwards, the guitar was acquired by Roy Barber, then guitarist with Dave Berry & The Cruisers, when he made a deal with Barratts to exchange his Fender Stratocaster for the Maton Mastersound previously used by George Harrison, and retained the guitar until his death in 2000. An article on Dave Berry in the August 1983 issue of Record Collector features a photo of Barber with the Maton, dated March 1964. The accompanying letters from Dave Berry and former Cruisers’ bassist John Fleet confirm Barber's acquisition of the guitar [and additionally note that the guitar was said to have been owned by a member of the Hollies at one time. Photographs of the Hollies' guitarist Tony Hicks with former band Ricky Shaw and the Dolphins show him using a Maton Mastersound in the early 1960s].
Maton Guitars was founded by Bill May in Victoria, Australia, in 1946. The MS-500 was the company's first solid body electric guitar, available with or without the vibrato, and only 278 examples were produced between 1957-1962.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:
M. Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Chronicle, London, 1992.
Maton, ‘The Maton Legacy’, https://maton.com.au/maton-history/.
Although Higham reportedly returned the repaired Gretsch that same evening, he recalled that Harrison was so taken with the Maton MS500 Mastersound – which was one of a very small number of the Australian-made guitars that made it to Britain in the early 1960s – that he requested to hang on to it for a while. The Hollies’ then bass guitarist Eric Haydock, however, records in the accompanying letter that, during one of the band’s frequent visits to Barratts, the Hollies’ road manager Johnny MacDonald was asked to deliver the Maton guitar to George Harrison due to the fact that George’s original Gretsch Guitar was in for repair at the store and had not as yet been completed and he needed an instrument for several important dates for which the band had been booked. Howsoever the guitar made its way to George Harrison, he proceeded to use the Maton for several live performances over the next couple of weeks, as seen in surviving concert photographs from Liverpool, Blackpool and the Channel Islands.
Harrison was first pictured playing the guitar on stage for the band’s final appearance at the Grafton Rooms in Liverpool on Friday 2 August, which was followed by the Beatles’ last ever performance at the Cavern Club on Saturday 3 August 1963, after almost 300 appearances at the venue since 1961. The Beatles had hit the big time since their last performance at the Cavern the previous April, and the tickets sold out within thirty minutes of going on sale. Presumably due to the excessive heat and condensation caused by overcrowding, the venue suffered a power cut during the Beatles’ set. Guitarist Tony Crane, who appeared on the bill before the Beatles that night with his band the Merseybeats, recalled the scene for Andy Babiuk in 1997: When they went on, within about five minutes all the electrics went off. The place was so full, the walls were pouring with sweat, with water… everything was wet. All their amps went, the lights went off, it was pitch black. Whatever could go wrong went wrong on that night. While waiting for the electricity to return, Lennon and McCartney reportedly launched into an acoustic rendition of ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ – a song they wouldn’t release until 1967. Presumably taken either just before or just after their set, Combo photographer John Dove captured the only known photograph of the Beatles that evening, dripping with sweat and grasping their instruments off-stage. The rare photo, featuring a smiling Harrison with the Maton Mastersound, indicates that he most likely used this guitar during the Beatles’ final performance at the Cavern.
Following engagements at the Queen’s Theatre in Blackpool on 4 August and the Urmston Show in Lancashire the following day, of which no stage photographs have surfaced, the Beatles travelled to the Channel Islands for a series of four concerts at the Springfield Ballroom in Jersey from Tuesday 6 – Saturday 10 August, broken up by a one-night appearance at the Candie Gardens Auditorium in Guernsey on Thursday 8 August. According to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, the band made the 30-mile journey from Jersey across to Guernsey in a 12-seater plane while their equipment was transported by ferry. Several photographs taken for the Guernsey Evening Press confirm that Harrison played the Maton during at least one of the Beatles’ two performances at Candie Gardens that evening. Before the show, the band were pictured reconnecting with beat poet Royston Ellis, who they had befriended in Liverpool back in 1960. A number of color photographs have also surfaced of Harrison playing the Maton at the Springfield Ballroom during their run of Jersey shows. Following their last night in Jersey on 10 August, the Beatles travelled back up north for an appearance at the ABC Theatre in Blackpool on Sunday 11 August 1963, where they were photographed by Blackpool-based postcard publisher John Vale, who had obtained a license from the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein to produce promotional postcards of the group in return for a commission on sales. Harrison can be seen playing the Maton in a few of the Valex photo postcards produced from these shots (one of which is included in this lot).
The Maton was subsequently returned to Barratts music store, most likely on Wednesday 14 August 1963 when the Beatles travelled to Manchester’s Granada TV Centre to record two performances for broadcast on the current affairs television show Scene at 6.30. Harrison reverted to his Gretsch Country Gentleman for the Granada recording on this date and was not seen with the Maton again. Not long afterwards, the guitar was acquired by Roy Barber, then guitarist with Dave Berry & The Cruisers, when he made a deal with Barratts to exchange his Fender Stratocaster for the Maton Mastersound previously used by George Harrison, and retained the guitar until his death in 2000. An article on Dave Berry in the August 1983 issue of Record Collector features a photo of Barber with the Maton, dated March 1964. The accompanying letters from Dave Berry and former Cruisers’ bassist John Fleet confirm Barber's acquisition of the guitar [and additionally note that the guitar was said to have been owned by a member of the Hollies at one time. Photographs of the Hollies' guitarist Tony Hicks with former band Ricky Shaw and the Dolphins show him using a Maton Mastersound in the early 1960s].
Maton Guitars was founded by Bill May in Victoria, Australia, in 1946. The MS-500 was the company's first solid body electric guitar, available with or without the vibrato, and only 278 examples were produced between 1957-1962.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:
M. Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Chronicle, London, 1992.
Maton, ‘The Maton Legacy’, https://maton.com.au/maton-history/.