A piece of Beatles history is once again for sale, as the guitar George Harrison played during his last-ever appearance at Liverpool's iconic Cavern Club is heading to auction. And it's expected to fetch quite a pretty penny, as the guitar is estimated to sell for a whopping £400,000 (or roughly $673,000 CAD).
The guitar is a Maton Mastersound MS-500 and was first played by Harrison after he sent his Gretsch Country Gentleman for repairs at Manchester's Barratts, whose owner then lent him the Maton as a temporary fix. Harrison ended up keeping the guitar, however, and played it during a series of Beatles gigs, including the band's last-ever show at the Cavern Club on August 3, 1963.
"After the Maton was returned to Barratts, Dave Berry and the Cruisers guitarist Roy Barber swapped it for his Fender Stratocaster," the auction listing explains. "He was told that the guitar was the Maton used by Harrison. Barber used the guitar for several years, later putting it into storage."
This isn't the first time the guitar has gone up for auction, as Barber's widow sold it in 2002 before it landed a home at The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool from 2014 to 2018.
Maton Mastersound MS-500 was made in Australia and, according to the item description, it has a "natural flame maple finish, sunburst maple back, bound Back Bean 22 fret fingerboard, black scratchplate, two pickups, two volume and two tone knobs, three-way selector switch and Bigsby vibrato."
You can see a photo of the guitar below and learn more about the auction over here.
The guitar is a Maton Mastersound MS-500 and was first played by Harrison after he sent his Gretsch Country Gentleman for repairs at Manchester's Barratts, whose owner then lent him the Maton as a temporary fix. Harrison ended up keeping the guitar, however, and played it during a series of Beatles gigs, including the band's last-ever show at the Cavern Club on August 3, 1963.
"After the Maton was returned to Barratts, Dave Berry and the Cruisers guitarist Roy Barber swapped it for his Fender Stratocaster," the auction listing explains. "He was told that the guitar was the Maton used by Harrison. Barber used the guitar for several years, later putting it into storage."
This isn't the first time the guitar has gone up for auction, as Barber's widow sold it in 2002 before it landed a home at The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool from 2014 to 2018.
Maton Mastersound MS-500 was made in Australia and, according to the item description, it has a "natural flame maple finish, sunburst maple back, bound Back Bean 22 fret fingerboard, black scratchplate, two pickups, two volume and two tone knobs, three-way selector switch and Bigsby vibrato."
You can see a photo of the guitar below and learn more about the auction over here.
