D'Addario has launched a new John Lennon collection of picks and guitar straps, including a replica of the guitar strap he used for his Madison Square Garden solo show in 1972.
While the former Beatle enjoyed an impressive solo career in the wake of the Fab Four's split in 1970, he played only one small run of solo shows two years later.
That included a special one-off show at New York's prestigious venue, where he was accompanied by Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Elephant’s Memory band. The show, which was organized to raise money for a children’s school, made headlines after its concluding singalong of "Give Peace a Chance," the Plastic Ono Band's iconic 1969 antiwar song, spilled out onto the streets of Manhattan.
The collection is rounded out by two other replica straps, a commemorative strap and three sets of guitar picks.
The straps include a replica of the black leather model he used from late '62 to '64 and features a shoulder pad. It was fixed onto his black Rickenbacker 325 guitar for the Beatles' iconic Ed Sullivan Show performance on February 9, 1964, viewed by more than 73 million people.
The collection also includes a re-creation of the yellow-and-white flower strap he used for the Beatles’ legendary final public appearance on top of Apple headquarters in London, in January 1969.
The strap held up Lennon’s Epiphone Casino electric guitar, which was his main electric from the time he bought it in 1965 until the end of the Beatles and well into his solo career. It's the model Paul McCartney owned first among the Beatles, and which he would fall in love all over again when making his 2005 solo album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, as he previously told GP.
The final strap pays homage to Lennon's 1973 solo album, Mind Games. Its original artwork has been reimagined for the narrower canvas and is printed on premium leather.
The 10-pack pick sets ($7.99) feature the yellow-and-white flower strap design, a monochrome headshot of Lennon and a pearloid pick featuring his classic cartoon self-portrait on one side and his signature on the other.
The straps start at $24.99 and are available to order today.
Visit D’Addario for further details.
In the summer, John Lennon's first Vox amp was rediscovered after 60 years in obscurity, while his Framus 12-string acoustic, featured on Help!, became one of the most expensive guitars to sell at auction, raising just under $3 million.
Paul McCartney has recently recalled the song he played for John Lennon that saw him ace his Beatles audition, and earlier this month GP uncovered the details of the weird guitar that featured on his final solo album. It would prove to be one of the last guitars he played.
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