Julien's Auctions has announced that George Harrison's first electric guitar—a Hofner Club 40 which has been privately held for over 50 years—will be heading to the auction block on May 19. It will be joined by Eric Clapton's Yardbirds-era Epiphone Granada and the 1965 Fender Telecaster that Bob Dylan played during his infamous "electric" tour.
Harrison played the small blonde with black body binding single–cutaway hollow body instrument in the early days of The Beatles when they performed around Liverpool, England as The Quarrymen. The group had been transitioning from skiffle—played primarily with acoustic instruments—to rock and roll—played primarily with electric instruments—during that time.
John Lennon and George Harrison were the first to acquire electric guitars, which were nearly identical Hofner Club 40 models. Harrison traded his big Hofner President model acoustic archtop jazz guitar for the Hofner Club 40. He played the guitar with Lennon, Paul McCartney, Pete Best and Ken Brown, who were band members at the time, at The Casbah Coffee Club, a teenager’s social club in Hayman’s Green, West Derby.
George Harrison's Hofner Club 40, which was autographed with all four of The Beatles' names by their road manager, Neil Aspinall.
In 1965, Harrison was asked to donate his guitar to a band competition that would help promote The Beatles’ 1966 German tour. The guitar was autographed with the Beatles’ names by their road manager, Neil Aspinall, and was won by the German band Faces. Frank Dostal, the band's singer and guitarist, owned the guitar until he passed away in 2017. His widow, Mary Dostal—who was a member of the Liverpool girl group The Liverbirds—offered the guitar at Julien’s Auctions. The guitar is estimated to sell between $200,000–$300,000.
"Most of the actual instruments that The Beatles used they still own