George Harrison – richard cleaver

MastersoundMS500

In 1958 Bill May (Maton founder) introduced the MS500 Mastersound series to the world. Played by some of the biggest names in the business including George Harrison, the guitar has been prized by many for its revolutionary design and extreme playability. The tradition continues today with the re-issue of the MS500 series, which has been extended to include the world class MS2000 carve top solid body that even Bill would be proud of today.

Maton is still in business, building guitars. You can find them here.

George Harrison borrowed a Maton Mastersound MS500 from Barratts music store in Manchester during the summer of 1963. Although Barratts is now closed, there is an interesting history of the shop here.

The Mastersound that George borrowedÂ is the one pictured above. He only used it for a few months. His other guitar was being repaired at the time.

The guitar became a collectible and it was on loan to the Beatles museum in Liverpool for many years.

The guitar came up for auction last Friday at Julien’s Auction and it sold for $490,000 to an undisclosed bidder.

There has been some interest in the opening chord of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. The chord was attributed to George Harrison and his Rickenbacker guitar, but how he played it has eluded Beatles fans and guitarists alike.

Dr Jason Brown, of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, came up with a way to break down the chord’s components by digitising it and using a mathematical equation.

He reached the conclusion that there must have been another instrument involved. He broke the chord down to show that Harrison played eight notes on his 12-string Rickenbacker.

Lennon is responsible for one note that probably came from a six-string guitar, while McCartney played one note on bass. George Martin, the man who produced the Beatles music, played five notes on piano.

Imagine, using effects when recording a guitar to create a bigger than life sound.

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