Hi everybody! This my first post at the ripe old age of 61 I'm writing a history of the 60's Blues Boom. But the Beatles aren't a blues band you say. But they opened the door for groups like the Stones, Animals, Kinks, Yardbirds etc who were more blues-based and had the affect of turning us Yanks onto the blues and R&B that was already here in the US. As a guitar player (since 1964)I'm very much into the gear and the backline of the various groups in the different years. Some Beatles sites offer tantalizing bits of gear info but as a historian I want to know more. So imagine my delight when I came over to tour the UK with my band The Richard Black Project in 1994 (our 2nd tour)and I ran into the lads at the old Clissold arms in Swansea (Terry Williams et al) and Clive Johns said "Here Paul, wanna play one of Lennon's guitars?" and he hands me this 1960 Fender Musicmaster, kind of a cream color finish, going a little green with age. I said "I've read all the Beatle books and this isn't in any of 'em!" "Right" he says" this one wasn't in his hands too long, he sold it to a guy down the road shortly after he got it and now it belongs to a guy in Swansea here." As a Beatle fan I'm excited but as a historian I'm skeptical, this is unsubstantiated bar talk...after a few more John Smith Bitters I go up with my bass player Brian and Terry and we play the Pirates "Please Don't Touch" and, as they say, the crowd goes nuts and everyone wants to tell me their best Pirates story which is great. I love Mick Green but I'm still holding this Lennon guitar and it plays great. One pickup, pretty hot, like my old Strat that I've brought along to gig on. I give it back to the owner , remember to take a picture of it while Clive plays it and then back to chatting and drinking. Years pass, we return to the Clissold arms one more time in 1995, when I come back in '96 with my band Paul's Broken Radio we stay pretty much in and around London and don't make it up to Swansea to see my friends or ask about the "Lennon guitar". Fast forward to this year and I'm learning that John got himself a Fender Deluxe amp in October of 1960, but that's when the lads are in Hamburg according to every calendar that I've seen. So I'm wondering ; did John get this Fender (its a 3/4 sized instrument "ideal for students and adults with small hands" says the Fender catalog in 1959)in a "package deal" at Hessey's the week before going to Germany and sell it to get money to buy his first (again 3/4 scale) Rickenbacker? OR did John go to Hamburg and buy his Fender equipment there? There's only one picture that I've found that shows John holding what looks like a light colored Fender guitar and its in the Merseybeat article on "A Beatle Named George" on the 3rd page. The boys are wearing leather jackets and jeans. Can anybody help me? Does Tony Bramwell remember the Fender?