Rory Gallagher's 1961 Fender Stratocaster

Rory Gallagher is one of the most criminally underrated guitar players of all time. He is a legend pure and simple, and his mastery of the fretboard is beyond repute. Over the course of his career, Rory of course played a number of guitars, but the most iconic and his favorite that he played until his dying day was his 1961 Fender Stratocaster.

Rory and his Strat

Rory Gallagher bought this Fender Stratocaster (Serial Number 64351) in 1963 for around £100 at Crowley's Music Store in Cork, Ireland. The guitar is thought to be the first ever Stratocaster to be shipped to the Emerald Isles. Another thing that made this guitar unique was the wood used for the body as Rory would relate, "It has a very flat kind of neck.  Although they were making the bodies out of Alder and Ash, somebody said mine is actually Maple - which is really a one off!" 

Gallagher was able to get his hands on the instrument after Jim Connolly, a showband member performing with The Irish Showband, ordered a Strat from Fender in red, and due to a mishap they shipped one finished in Tobacco Sunburst instead. Conolly opted to wait for a red one, and Rory managed to scoop up the one he discarded.  Rory himself would later relate the tale, "Early on, I got the Stratocaster - in fact it was the first one I ever saw.  It’s supposed to have been the first Strat brought into Ireland.  The guy who had it before me was in a show band and he ordered a red one.  They actually sent a sunburst so he decided to wait for a red one to arrive, and I had the sunburst - it was luxury!  It was easy to play from the start and I’ve kept it ever since."

 Over the years, Rory made some modifications here and there to the instrument. The tuning pegs were replaced oddly enough with five Sperzel pegs and one Gotoh peg. The nut has been replaced and a number of times througout the life of the guitar, and the pickguard was swapped out during his time with Taste. When it comes to electronics, at some point Rory switched out the pickups on the guitar and rewired it disconnecting the bottom tone pot essentially providing him a master tone control along with the master volume control. He also installed a 5-way selector switch in place of the vintage 3-way one.

 Of course, when one sees the guitar one of the most striking things is the worn down condition it is in. Rory was a guitar player, and when it came to his Strat he really played it. Hundreds of gigs over several decades took its toll. It didn't help that Rory had a rare blood type that was high in acid, so when he sweat, it acted almost as a paint thinner on the instrument. He didn't seem to mind though and would later say, "It was in good condition when I bought it, but it’s got so battered now it’s got a kind of tattoo quality about it. There’s now a theory that the less paint or varnish on a guitar, acoustic or electric, the better. The wood breathes more. But it’s all psychological. I just like the sound of it. It’s also a good luck thing."

Rory's Strat in 2007

At one point in the 1960's the guitar was actually stolen from Rory. His brother Donal would later tell the tale, "I remember the incident happening in Dublin. Just the sheer horror of it! What made it doubly bad is that a friend of Rory’s in York lent Rory his Telecaster for an upcoming gig in Dublin. To play in Dublin was the next big step for Rory at the time, so he borrowed this Tele so he could play slide. Sadly, they stole the Tele as well. That whole week felt like someone we knew had been kidnapped. It was that profound! Rory was so depressed. And, as family, you’d take on the depression as well."

“In Ireland at the time, there was a television show called “Gardia Patrol.” They featured Rory’s stolen guitar. And, since there was only one television channel in Ireland - everyone watched and the item became hot property. The next thing that happened was the cops found that it had been abandoned. We were very grateful. But, at the same time, when they aired the recovery on “Gardia Patrol,” the cop said, “The thief was probably doing the neighbors a favour!” The corny comment made Rory cringe. I remember screaming at the television, “If you only knew how good this guitar player is!” But, Gardia Patrol was instrumental in getting it back to him.” 

For Rory Gallagher, his beloved Stratocaster was a part of his identity. He played it from almost the very beginning of his career until the end when he sadly passed away due to complications with his liver in 1995.  "The guitar is a part of me." Rory would state, "BB King might have several Lucilles, but I’ve only got the one Strat. I don’t even call it a woman’s name. It’s what it is. I still play it every day, I just love playing it.” 

After Rory's passing, the guitar passed into the hands of his brother Donal who essentially retired it. However, in 2011, the guitar made a rare onstage appearance at a show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London in the hands of blues rock God, Joe Bonamassa. The event happened as a birthday gift to Bonamassa courtesy of his girlfriend Sandi Thom, "Sandi said to me one day, 'I'm going to give you your birthday present and your Christmas present all in one,' says Bonamassa. "So I'm thinking, OK, this is going to be pretty good, right? I had no idea that she would this off! She told me that she just spoke to Donal, and he was going to come to my London show…with the guitar! She said that if I wanted to play it, Donal would be happy to lend it to me. I was like, 'Are you kidding me?!'"

Bonamassa would go on to add, " I got to spend a couple of hours with it before I went on stage. I changed the strings – probably the second time the strings have been changed since Rory died – plugged it in and started to play. Immediately I was in 'Rory mode'. The pinch harmonics, the feel of the neck...there was big 'Wow!' factor. The thing is, this was a great guitar. If it belonged to Jerry Abrams from Peoria, Illinois, it'd still be a fantastic Strat. But it was Rory's guitar. The contours, the heel, the fretboard…you could really feel that he'd played it and made it his own."

Joe Bonamassa with Rory Gallagher's Fender Stratocaster