Keith Richards - History Of His Guitars

Keith Richards was born on the 18th of December 1943 in Dartford Kent England Keith's early influences included Billie Holiday Louie Armstrong Duke Ellington and one of his first guitar heroes was Elvis's guitarist Scotty Moore the first guitar that came into his hands belonged to his grandfather Augustus Theodore Dupree his grandfather taught Britain with a jazz band called gust Dupree and his boys and the first song that Keith ever learned on a guitar was a Spanish piece called malaguena in December 1958 he talks his mother into buying him his first guitar he recalled it was a matter of knocking on my mother for 15 quid to buy Rosetti a beautiful guitar made of wonderful plywood Rosetti was a UK distributor of of any expensive imported instruments that were branded under the Rosetti name and sold throughout Great Britain at the brink of the stones initial success Doris Richards confirmed I told him I'd buy him one if he actually played it but no mucking about I bought him a cheap acoustic guitar on hire purchase for seven pounds for his 15th birthday Keith bought his first steel string guitar in 1961 he used this with a band called little boy blue and the blue boys consisting of Keith Mick dick Taylor and Bob Beckwith rehearsals will be at dick Taylor's house Keith's estates my guitar this time was an F hole archtop Hoffner steel string this was blue boy the words written on his face and because of that I was boy blue that was my very first steel string guitar you'll only find pictures of it in the club gigs before the takeoff I bought it secondhand at Iver meirin's of Oxford Street you knew it had had one owner because of the patches and sweat marks on the fretboard I left it either on the Victoria Line or the Bakerloo line on the London Underground but where better to bury it than the Bakerloo line it left scars in March 1962 the Blues boys read about the Ealing jazz club in the jazz news newspaper which mentioned Alexis corners rhythm and blues band called blues incorporated this is where Keith Richards and Mick Jagger met Brian Jones and the Rolling Stones was formed they played their first gig as Rolling Stones and named that Brian Jones came with on 12 July 1962 at the Marquee Club in London up until 1963 keith had been using his Hoffner steel string F whole guitar he acquired his next guitar in January 1963 and bought an early 60s harmony meteor H 70 guitar the guitar featured spruce top with maple back and sides bolt on maple neck and 2 dearmond golden tone pickups it was finished in a two tone sunburst and was lightly made in 1960 or 1961 the guitar can be seen on the Rolling Stones first TV appearance ATVs thank you lucky stars it was also featured on their second single I want to be your man and Keith can be seen using this guitars later August 1964 in his February the 13th 1963 diary entry Keith mentioned yet another new guitar got nougaty from Ivers lovely instruments the second guitar in a month Keith bought at Iver arbiters Sound City was a harmony 1270 deluxe jumbo acoustic flattop 12 string guitar Keith useless on a number of recordings including good times bad times and also wrote as tears go by on it as well there's been some dispute as to whether Keith actually owned this guitar in February as these weren't imported into the UK until later however it's quite possible that Keith ordered the guitar and made payments each month and didn't actually receive the guitar until November of that year kids next guitar was a 1962 epiphone casino betty bought just prior to the band's first US tour which commenced on June the 1st 1964 it featured a thin line hollow laminated maple body trippy style tailpiece and two gibson p90 pickups during that tour it was Keith's main guitar was also used on the sessions at chess studios in Chicago and Keith continued using this guitar up until late 1965 it was last used in the studio in early September 1965 when the band recorded I'm free and got to get away one of the last times it was seen with Keith Richards was when he was electrocuted on stage sacramentals Memorial Auditorium on December the 3rd 1965 one of the first births to become famous was Keith Richards 1959 sunburst Gibson Les Paul with a Bigsby vibrato the guitar was bought in you in 1961 from farmers music store in Luton by John Bowen who played with the aspiring English pop stirs Mike Dean and the Kingsmen Bowen had a big speaker Poitier fitted as sohma's music store in London before trading it for another guitar in 1962 soon after a young Keith Richards walked into sohma's and bought it Keith uses Les Paul as his main guitar during the second u.s. tour it was also used on the band's first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on October the 25th 1964 this guitar was used on the Rolling Stones record now and also on the next album out of our heads recorded mostly at RCA studios in Los Angeles this guitar was also used on the song I can't get no satisfaction he used a Les Paul played through a maestro F said one fuzz tone and a Fender showman Keith used this guitar until early 1966 the stones keyboardist in Stuart sold it when the stones were doing their satanic Majesties request sessions in 1967 me Taylor mentioned that his own Les Paul got stolen when he was in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Taylor needed a new list pool because that was the tone that he wanted via mutual friend he found out that Keith would sometimes sell guitars but it was actually Ian Stewart that would arrange the sell Mick went to Olympic studios in London the stones were in the next room Mick's simply bought the guitar and left that was way before Mick was even in the Rolling Stones following Brian Jones's departure from the Rolling Stones Mick Taylor joined the band in May 1969 on recommendation from John Mayall the guitar once again returned to the Rolling Stones but now of course it was played by Mick Taylor he first appears with it at Hyde Park on July the 5th 1969 then he got stolen in the stones heist in France during the early 1970s during the making of Exile on Main Street the guitar ended up with Mike job the guitarist furaffinity who apparently owned it from 1974 in the late 2000s it was sold to a private collector from Switzerland who now the guitar check out this photo of Jimmy Page playing keys 59 on an Andrew Loog Oldham studio session this is a photo in 1964 of Brian Jones playing Keith's first ever Telecaster the instrumental reported in the fall of 1964 Telecaster for Keith Richards Bob Adams of Sound City reports that Keith Richards has bought a new Fender Telecaster before embarking on their fifth British tour which began on September the fifth and ended on October the 11th 1964 the group gathered at Regent sound for another recording session they recorded three songs Little Red Rooster under the boardwalk and off the hook this was the first session at which Keith used his 1959 Les Paul and Brian played Keith's Fender Telecaster kiss next guitar was the 1960s guild freshmen m65 this guitar was used on The Ed Sullivan Show on February the 13th 1966 this guitar was also seen on May the 27th 1966 on the British TV show Ready Steady Go so up until the July 1966 North American tour this guitar served as Keith's main guitar after finishing the sessions at chess the group flew to Los Angeles on May the 11th for another recording session at RCA before leaving Chicago the group visited Gibson who had just given them an endorsement deal Keith and Brian ended up with matching sunburst gibson firebird 7's one of Gibson's top-of-the-line solid bodies at the time also around this time Keith and Bryan received a matching set of Gibson heritage and model flattop acoustic guitars another addition to the gear Arsenal was a Gibson hummingbird Keith uses guitar on the initial recordings of the melody for the song street fighting man and later to record jumping jack flash for that particular song he used open D with a capo on it he was first seen live playing this guitar on Ready Steady Go on May 27 1966 this photo from 1966 shows Keith with a sonic blue Fender Telecaster with a maple fingerboard this was the second Telecaster that keith richards owned not much is known about this guitar if have any further information please leave a comment below another guitar which is a bit of a mystery it's a 1952 Gibson Gold top which Keith Richards used for some time it can be seen here with a trapeze bridge and also the original clusen tuners which may have been changed at a later date to metal tips okay let's discuss another iconic guitar the Keith blade this is a 1957 or 58 Gibson Les Paul Custom this guitar made its debut on The Ed Sullivan Show on September the 11th 1966 this was one of Keith's main guitars from the late 1966 British tour until 1967 around that time is said to have been stolen and that Keith bought a new one or although this has not been confirmed during the 1968 short film sympathy for the devil Keith is seen playing the guitar but it now features a unique hand-drawn design on the front of the body this was done by Keith and his girlfriend Anita sometime in late 1967 or early 1968 Keith continue to use this Les Paul throughout 68 and 69 as his main guitar and it was last seen during the August October 1970 European tour this next guitar is a mate on supreme electric 777 it's a guitar that Keith used for the recording of Gimme Shelter a Midnight Rambler from the 1969 album let it bleed it is equipped with two single coil pickups a big speed v6 tremolo this original guitar is still owned by the Keith Keith has stated about this guitar during the recording of the song Gimme Shelter the neck pickup fell out of the guitar on the very last note well there you can't hear it on the recording due to the fade-out at the end of the track according to Keith not only did the neck pickup fall out but the entire neck fell off this guitar was actually played by Mick Brian and Keith on the let it bleed sessions in late March 1967 after his return from Marrakech in Morocco Keith picked up a gibson es-335 and tour brian would mainly use his guitar and Keith would use his Gibson Les Paul Custom black beauty whisk guitar is an early 60s it gives him Flying V and as can be seen here was a guitar the Keith used a Hyde Park in 1969 although this is a rather unconfirmed story it is said that this is a 1958 model once owned by Albert King he used it for around 2 years it was rather distinctive due to the fact that the guitar was missing the Gibson logo on the headstock it featured korrina wood body gold-plated bridge and tuners and also chrome pickup covers here is a 1969 MPEG Dan Armstrong guitar Keith acquired this guitar was on the 1969 tour this guitar featured a plexiglass body apparently this gave the guitar a long sustained and a very unique overall tone the pickups were designed so they could easily be swapped for any six pickups designed by Bill Lawrence this guitar was stolen in 1971 and Keith bought another two of these guitars which he used during the two-month long American tour in 1972 the next guitar was a gift from Eric Clapton on Keith's 27th birthday it is a 1954 Black Guard Fender Telecaster Keith received it in its factory stock condition Keith's received this guitar in 1971 and it was used on the Exile on Main Street recording sessions held in the South of France we were during these sessions that Keith transformed the guitar into a five string guitar by taking off the low E string and tuning the guitar to G tuning which is G D G B D from low to high this tuning inspired him to write stones classics like box off with this joint tumbling dice and happy in 1972 after the recording sessions the Rolling Stone started off on a worldwide tour during this tour Ted Newman Jones the guitar tech replaced the neck position fender pick up on the Telecaster with the Gibson pass humbucker he also replaced the bridge pickup with a Fender lap steel pickup this is similar to a Fender broadcasters pickup around the 1980s Keith decided to nickname this guitar micawber after Wilkins Micawber from the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield just before the stones embarked on their 1981 tatu Utah Keys next guitar tech Alan Brogan made some more modifications on this guitar as Rogen States you see I had discovered the Schecter Telecasters for Pete Townsend and knew where to get a solid brass Telecaster Bridge that was a time period of all the companies like my team I making better parts for guitars better machine heads likes puzzles for example I got the bridges from Schecter and I got the tuners from Spurs oh I worked on all the guitars to trying to make them better for the tour Keith uses a custom string set made by Ernie Ball nickel one strings are 11 15 18 32 42 as you can see from this photo here the black fret marker at the 17th fret is a missing and there's lots of where on the upper bout this is due to the way Keith's drums the guitar another interesting point is that the lap steel bridge pickup is only mounted with two screws and the pole pieces for the Gibson path pickup in the neck face towards the bottom of the guitar this guitar here is a similar 1954 Telecaster nicknamed Malcolm it's basically set up exactly like micawber the only difference between these two guitars is actually the finish and as you can see here this has got more of a natural finish and more visible wood grain a third Telecaster the Keith use in open G it's this guitar which is a 1967 Fender Telecaster nicknamed sunny and it's basically set up the same way as micawber and Malcolm here we have a 1957 Les Paul jr. finished in TV yellow this guitar was nicknamed dice because of a die sticker which was there when Keith got the guitar the tunas have been replaced with Grover tuners thus adjustable bridge has also been installed dice has been one of Keith's main go-to guitars since he has acquired it as you can see from the photos a pair of fender telling knobs has replaced the original Gibson volume and tone knobs Keith also had in 1960s a wine-red Les Paul jr. with one black p90 in 1973 Richard's added two used guitars to his collection the first of these was a white Gibson SG custom this was an Omaha gimmick guitar with a set neck and abound evany fretboard and pearl block inlays it had a diamond peghead inlay he came with gold-plated hardware and was equipped with three patent number humbucking pickups two volumes and two tone knobs it also came with a maestro vibrato unit the SG custom was rewired with an additional non factory toggle switch mounted to the pig guard which is used this SG at the LA forum show and the subsequent tool particularly on Midnight Rambler which he played in standard tuning with the capo on the seventh fret the guitar disappeared from his arsenal soon thereafter and now resides at a Hard Rock Cafe in Florida the second guitar was a custom electric five string made by Ted Newman Jones the third the first of several five strings that he would construct for Richards this guitars were built of solid mahogany with a laminate rosewood top the guitar resembled a number verse Firebird it featured a bolt-on maple neck and a dot inlaid rosewood fretboard with only 19 frets the headstock had two gold Charlotte tuners on the base side and three on the treble side the guitar was equipped with a black neck position p90 and a gold-plated bridge position Gibson humbucker it also had a chrome-plated badass bridge with individual saddles that could be adjusted okay this next guitar is really interesting it's a traverse beam T b1000 model that Richards acquired around 1975 my concerts he used it on the song you got a move Travis Ben later released a custom-made five string version he also played a black TB 500 during the running stones 1978 Saturday Night Live performance and in the video for she's so cold this is a very cool-looking guitar it's a as a meatus a five string custom made in 1974 by British luthier Tony's amita's the guitar nickname by McCobb and pirates a meatus was decorated with skulls a pistol and a dagger Richard used it as he's main open G guitar from 1975 until 1978 then it was destroyed in a fire at his rented Los Angeles home in 2005 he toured with a Japanese replica of this guitar this is a 1972 black Telecaster custom which is first used as guitar on the Rolling Stones at 1975 tour of the Americas and it was one of his main stage and recording guitars until 1986 it was later adapted for five string and open G tuning and reappeared on the stage in 2005 what's this circuit Olive Garden of wonder inst a stage a rushing fan as a in 1981 and the answer is yes it was okay let's talk about Richards use of the Gibson es350 5 model this es350 5 originally was owned by Mike Bowen Richards Tech Pierre bought this guitar from rainbow guitars in Tucson Arizona Pierre found it in 1995 while the stones were passing through town on the Voodoo Lounge tour he immediately recognized the 355 as something Keith would love as it was a rare combination of period and looks it's been his main instrument for standard tuning songs ever since in this next photo here you can see Keith Richards with a 1964 custom white es 345 and also the original owner with the same guitar it was originally called that white one and that was shortened to the name Dwight this was purchased for Keith at lark street music in 2006 whilst on their bigger bang world tour this guitar features a custom one-off finish this ultra rare guitar was in the possession of his original owner for 40 years before being so privately in 2004 this along with his evany 355 are his main standard tuning guitars this is one of a number of strats that Keith Richards owns and probably is the most famous one it's a 1958 Fender Stratocaster Mary Kay and it was given to him by Ronnie Wood after the band's 1982 tour the guitar features a blonde white finish and maple neck with gold hardware and looks identical to the guitar that Mary Kay was pictured with for the 1956 fender promotional advertisement Keith usually plays his guitar in standard tuning for songs such as miss you this is a 1950s Gibson es350 and Keith has used this on a number Cajuns and he says it's one of his favorite guitars he also uses it in the studio it features a blond finish trapeze style bridge and two p90 pickups okay we're gonna finish on this guitar which is a Gibson ls6 custom this was played around the time of the black and blue album and it appears in the promotional videos for crazy mama for to cry and hot stuff apparently this was a present to Ronnie Wood from person keith is someone that's always been updating his collection of guitars as you can see here with this really tasty green Telecaster unfortunately I've not been able to document all of his guitars in this 20 minute video but please if you know of any other guitars or you know the history behind any of the guitars mentioned please mints in that in the comments okay guys thanks very much for watching this video and I'll be back soon don't forget to subscribe this is Ramon Coe signing out

Channel: The Guitar Show

Views: 381,230

Keywords: keef, rolling stones, rig rundown, a brief history, what guitars did keith richards play, rolling stones guitars, jagger, richards

Id: brEynF12VE4

Length: 20min 23sec (1223 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 23 2019