Rory Gallagher’s 1961 Stratocaster valued at £1m

Rory Gallagher’s 1961 Fender Stratocaster, one of the most iconic instruments in Irish music, is to be sold later this year.

The Donegal-born Cork musician died in 1995 aged just 47.

The Stratocaster is being sold by Rory’s brother and former manager Dónal, who told the story of the guitar on RTÉ’s News at One programme.

Dónal Gallagher believes that the Strat was one of the first imported into Ireland.

“It came via a guy called Jim Condon, who was the guitar player with the Royal Showband, and he had picked it up in New York,” said Dónal.

“There’s another version that it was imported to Crowley’s in Cork city. Either way, it ended up being sold after six months, so it was offered at Crowley’s in Merchant’s Quay, for the princely sum of £100.”

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That was a huge sum of money at the time and Rory was just 15 or 16 years old. He had been offered gigs with a showband after an audition and by telling them that he was 17, going on 18.

Rory needed a better guitar and he spotted the Strat in Crowley’s. He was a big fan of Buddy Holly and wanted a guitar like his.

From the RTÉ Archives: Rory Gallagher dies aged 47

“My mother had signed a hire purchase agreement for a £12 guitar. So Rory went in and negotiated with Michael Crowley to see if he could extend the payments to the sum of £100,” said Dónal.

“The showband that Rory was with, called ‘The Fontana’ later ‘The Impact, had a run a dates, so Rory was able to show him a date sheet and the possibility that he had the funds to pay for it. Michael kind of agreed.”

The guitar was hidden under Dónal’s bed out of sight of their mother. But she bumped into Michael Crowley and he asked her how Rory was getting on with the Stratocaster.

“The instrument was how Rory expressed himself”

“That was the first time she was aware of it. The poor woman just she couldn’t cope with that amount of money. But Rory promised her faithfully that he would pay,” Dónal said.

Rory said that he needed the Strat to improve and that he might even be able to play both lead and rhythm and get double the pay.

“So there was all sorts of yarns spun at the time to convince my mother, who then did go down and officially signed the forms,” Dónal added.

Asked how important the Stratocaster was to Rory, Dónal said that it became like one of his limbs.

“The instrument was how Rory expressed himself. When he formed ‘Taste’, after one of the first gigs in Dublin the guitar was stolen,” recalled Dónal.

And that was like losing somebody. It was like a bereavement for a week until Garda Patrol put it up on the television and the guitar was returned to him. It never left his side since that point.”

Watch on RTÉ Player: Rory Gallagher: Calling Card

The guitar has been in a bank vault in London to keep it safe since Rory died. It has occasionally been played by some famous guitarists like Johnny Marr and Joe Bonamassa.

It has also gone out on exhibition to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the US.

Dónal said exhibiting the guitar has become more difficult because of rules around the hardwoods it is made from and its ivory pegs.

He cannot play guitar himself, so he has decided to sell it and put the estimated value of £1m into ‘Rory projects’ and to other good causes.