Playing Rory Gallagher’s Guitar in Cork

“I was wondering if you would be interested in doing something. I’m sure you heard that Rory Gallagher’s guitar collection was auctioned recently. I managed to buy one of his electric guitars that was auctioned. It was missing a neck pick up and needed a bit of work after being in storage for nearly 30 years. I’ve since sourced a period correct Seymour Duncan pick up and had the guitar fixed up and set up, so it is ready to be played.

While it was not one of the most desirable guitars from the collection and I don’t believe that it was played live or any records, it’s an interesting guitar that was a collaborative project between Rory Gallagher and luthier Mark Pugh of Roka’s Musical Instruments, 5, Denmark Street, London, and was created around 1985-6. Rory visited Mark’s workshop in the basement of Roka’s on a few occasions and went through options of guitar necks and parts available. So unlike most of the guitar collection, it’s a custom piece and not an off-the-shelf guitar.

I’ve been in touch with Mark who was able to tell me about meeting Rory and putting the guitar together and he was delighted to hear the guitar was in Ireland and was going to be played. Donal Gallagher also said that he was hoping that the guitars from the collection would be played.

So I was wondering if you would be interested in playing it for a song at the Coughlans gig? And/or maybe play a track or two before the gig (after sound check) that we could record on the phone, for your social media. You’d be the first professional musician to play the guitar since Rory.”

I said “Yes, please”. I joked that if I dropped it I’d have to buy him a house. I played it for a few songs at the recent gig at Coughlan’s. As you know I don’t play a lot of electric guitar live but I plugged this and felt comfortable right away. I very much enjoyed playing it and whilst I’ll never be a shadow of the guitar player Rory was, I hope you enjoy listening too.

Happy New Year,

Niall