Rory Gallagher's SG

Wow, never knew he used one. Always thought he just used the same strat for everything for some reason. I know he used different amps at different times through his career, Vox AC30/6, 50 watt Marshall but never knew about other guitars. Be interesting to find info on. I suppose in the studio its possible he tried many different guitars. Cheers
 
Rory Gallagher...one of my hero's...a few interesting facts.

Rory’s best known guitar is most certainly his 1961 Fender Stratocaster, serial #64351....Rory bought it for £100 in 1963 on credit from the owner of Michael Crowley’s Music Store in Cork.

Although he mostly stuck with Fender, using various models from Telecaster to Esquire and Duo-Sonic, Rory also often picked up various guitars from Gibson, and at one time used a 1957 Gretsch Corvette extensively for his slide playing.

For amps, he favored combos such as Vox AC-30, and Fender Bassman and Twin Reverb models.

An recent inspection of Rory's 1961 Fender Stratocaster revealed a DiMarzio FS-1 in the bridge...:)

So the fact that the guitar featured DiMarzio FS1means that although Rory liked how the original vintage-style pickups sounded, in the neck and middle position, the original ’61 single-coil bridge pickup (or a replica of it) just wasn’t cutting it for him.

Other mods include the pickguard, which was replaced sometime in the mid to late 60s with an identical one after the original became deformed over time.

Also, the original tuners were swapped for a combination of five Sperzel and one Gotoh tuner.

Electronics-wise, aside from the already mentioned replacement of the pickups, Rory also rewired the tone controls to have the bottom pot function as the one master tone, disconnecting the middle pot, and leaving the master volume control as it was.

He also installed a 5-way selector switch in place of the vintage 3-way one, which allowed for more variety and control over the sound....
 
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Cool info. I've always been into Rory as well. Years ago I had the double vinyl "Live at Belfast" until some _ _ _ _ swiped it. Still pissed me off. Cheers
 
Rory started on a Rosetti Solid 7 guitar, but he used many different over his career. One of the most obscure RG guitars was the 1965 Danelectro 3021 Shorthorn Model. Rory bought this guitar for $15 in a U.S. pawnshop. He used it to record the songs “A Million Miles Away” and “Cradle Rock” on the Tattoo Album.

Another obscure guitar was the 1968 Coral 3S19 Sitar, purchased for $1500 in Florida by Rory’s brother Donal. Rory recorded the song “Philby” on the same model, which he borrowed from Pete Townsend for the recording session.

Sometime in the early 60's, Rory ended up with a Hofner Colorama. He supposedly found it uncomfortable and hard to play, and very soon moved on to the next guitar – a 1961 Fender Stratocaster.

Rory’s Hofner was most likely an early 60s model with double cutout body, featuring tremolo bridge and either one (Model 163) or two (Model 164) single-coil pickups. It was finished in red, as was all of the Coloramas at that time were.
 
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Rory used various models of amps during his career. He mostly preferred combo amps over heads + cabinets. To make up for the relative lack of power of these amps on stage, he would often link several different combo amps together.

During his time in the “Taste”, Rory played through Vox AC-30 connected to Dallas Rangemaster. In the early 70′s he began using Fender amps, most notably the Fender Tweed Twin, which he also ran through Dallas Rangemaster connected to the second input. He also used 1954 Fender Bassman and 1960 Concert combos.

Stramp 2000a amp was also one of Rory’s favorites. If you ever wondered what are those schematics on the cover of the ”Blueprint” album – they are circuit diagram of this exact amp.

In the late 70′s Rory started experimented with Ampeg VT40 MK I, MK II which he linked up with a VT 22. He also began using Marshall combos and stacks for larger halls.
 
Many comment about the absent finish on Rory's famous 1961 Stratocaster, and although unknown and/or disregarded by most, a little known fact was that the Stratocaster was left in a rainy puddle, behind a front garden wall of a home on South Circular Road in Dublin, for several days in 1966. Rory's guitar was stolen from him after a performance at The Five Club in Dublin. It resurfaced a few days later and Rory never lost it again....
 
Rory and the DiMarzio FS-1:

When Rory first acquired his 1961 Stratocaster, it was of course all original, but over the years he had done a number of mods and changes to the guitar. Most notable, perhaps,s is the fact that two of the pickups were changed sometime in the mid 70s, following a failure.

Rory said, "I sweat a lot when I play and over the years, the body’s absorbed a lot of moisture. I’ve often thought that it’s come to the end of its life. Recently two pick ups packed up together, they just cut out when I was playing. I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to get new pick-ups to sound the same..." – International Musician and Recording World, April 1975

Kent Armstrong had a chance to inspect the guitar in 2013 and found out that it had two mid ‘70s Fender pickups in it (neck & middle) and the early DiMarzio FS1 in the bridge. The dates on the pickups do match the time period when the original pickups went bad, so it is possible that they are the same ones he had since. What is interesting is that even though one of the original ’61 pickups was fully functional in the 70s when Rory replaced the two that failed, he did eventually got rid of that one too. The reason could be the same as with the others (pickup going bad at some point), or Rory simply wanted to experiment with the sound – which seems very likely.
 
Your probably right Gahr.just sometimes people qant some oddball stuff on there guitars but your probably correct on one just broke so they put what ever on it.
 
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