Irish rock gods are thin on the ground. Rory Gallagher was one of them and everyone wants a piece of him. He’s claimed by Ballyshannon in Donegal, where he was born in 1948; Derry, where he spent his childhood; and Cork where he moved with his family in 1956.
But, as rock historian Neil McCormick writes, Rory Gallagher was a musician of international status. “He was not just a local hero. Rory was way too talented for that.
He was one of the all-time great blues rock guitarists, with an aggressive yet lyrical touch that made the instrument burn under his fingers. “He wrote songs that expressed his wonder and mystery at the world, and he sang them with growling power.” Gallagher died in 1995 at the age of 47.
The instrument that burned under his fingers — a 1961 Fender Stratocaster — is going under the hammer at Bonhams, London, on October 17 (est. €840,000 to €1.2m).
The guitar is being sold by the Gallagher family, along with the rest of his instrument collection. Rory Gallagher's 1961 Fender Stratocaster The online sale will be on public view at Bonhams New Bond Street, London, from October 12-17. When Gallagher bought the guitar in 1963, he was 15 and still at school.
The second-hand instrument cost £100 at Crowley’s Music Store in Cork. Then, it would have been an impossible amount of money. Gallagher saved for the deposit and bought the instrument on credit.
The guitar had previously been owned by Jim Conlon of The Royal Showband, who’d reputedly ord.
