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Lot Essay
This was one of a set of three 335 12-strings – in sunburst, red, and black – that I acquired in the late 1980s. This red one was used on stage by Chrissie Hynde for the song ‘Back on the Chain Gang’ when I was in The Pretenders. I also played it on The Pretenders song ‘Windows of the World’.
JOHNNY MARR, 2026
Johnny Marr acquired this Cherry Red Gibson ES-335 12-string through British guitar tech Alan Rogan around the time that he left The Smiths in mid-1987 and brought it on tour with The Pretenders when they supported U2 for a string of US dates at the tail end of The Joshua Tree Tour in November 1987. In conversation with author Martin Kelly for Marr’s Guitars, Marr explained how he became a member of the band for a short time: The Pretenders had been supporting U2, who were promoting The Joshua Tree with a huge tour of North America. There was a short break before the last leg, when their guitar player, Robbie McIntosh, left the band. Someone from The Pretenders' office sent me a message saying, The Pretenders want to continue with the U2 tour and they need someone who can stand in. How about it? The first show was about a week after I got the call. I was living in South Kensington and was dealing with the end of The Smiths. The idea of escaping to the USA to play guitar with The Pretenders sounded like a perfect solution at the time, so I said yes… It was an amazing opportunity and a challenge, and just one of those things that happened in my life that was both pretty abstract and quite a big deal when I look back on it.
Marr stayed on to play a couple of South American dates with The Pretenders when they headlined the Hollywood Rock festival at Praça da Apoteose in Rio de Janeiro and Estádio do Morumbi in São Paolo on 6 and 13 January 1988, respectively. A highlight of the set was when Chrissie Hynde played this 335 12-string on stage to perform the band’s 1982 hit single ‘Back on the Chain Gang’. The festival was filmed for broadcast on Brazilian television channel Rede Globo. With no further live shows on the horizon, Marr and the band returned to London, where they went into the studio to record two songs for the soundtrack to the film 1969. Marr used this guitar to record the 12-string part on a cover of the Burt Bacharach song ‘Windows of the World’. Writing in his 2016 autobiography, he reflected: It turned out to be a perfect document of how The Pretenders sounded with me in the band. Cited in Melody Maker in July 1994 for a piece celebrating Gibson’s 100th birthday, Marr raved: People always go on about Rickenbacker 12-strings, but my Gibson 12-string is about the best-sounding one I’ve ever played. It’s a cherry red ES-335-12 – they’re really rare guitars, they only made a few hundred of them.
JOHNNY MARR, 2026
Johnny Marr acquired this Cherry Red Gibson ES-335 12-string through British guitar tech Alan Rogan around the time that he left The Smiths in mid-1987 and brought it on tour with The Pretenders when they supported U2 for a string of US dates at the tail end of The Joshua Tree Tour in November 1987. In conversation with author Martin Kelly for Marr’s Guitars, Marr explained how he became a member of the band for a short time: The Pretenders had been supporting U2, who were promoting The Joshua Tree with a huge tour of North America. There was a short break before the last leg, when their guitar player, Robbie McIntosh, left the band. Someone from The Pretenders' office sent me a message saying, The Pretenders want to continue with the U2 tour and they need someone who can stand in. How about it? The first show was about a week after I got the call. I was living in South Kensington and was dealing with the end of The Smiths. The idea of escaping to the USA to play guitar with The Pretenders sounded like a perfect solution at the time, so I said yes… It was an amazing opportunity and a challenge, and just one of those things that happened in my life that was both pretty abstract and quite a big deal when I look back on it.
Marr stayed on to play a couple of South American dates with The Pretenders when they headlined the Hollywood Rock festival at Praça da Apoteose in Rio de Janeiro and Estádio do Morumbi in São Paolo on 6 and 13 January 1988, respectively. A highlight of the set was when Chrissie Hynde played this 335 12-string on stage to perform the band’s 1982 hit single ‘Back on the Chain Gang’. The festival was filmed for broadcast on Brazilian television channel Rede Globo. With no further live shows on the horizon, Marr and the band returned to London, where they went into the studio to record two songs for the soundtrack to the film 1969. Marr used this guitar to record the 12-string part on a cover of the Burt Bacharach song ‘Windows of the World’. Writing in his 2016 autobiography, he reflected: It turned out to be a perfect document of how The Pretenders sounded with me in the band. Cited in Melody Maker in July 1994 for a piece celebrating Gibson’s 100th birthday, Marr raved: People always go on about Rickenbacker 12-strings, but my Gibson 12-string is about the best-sounding one I’ve ever played. It’s a cherry red ES-335-12 – they’re really rare guitars, they only made a few hundred of them.