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"  At
Guild we had heard that the Beatles were going
to conduct a press conference at the Warwick Hotel in New York," Mark Dronge
remembers. "A friend of a friend was at that time a photographer
for the Associated Press. He arranged for me to attend the interview.
We had enough advance time to think out what might best represent Guild,
and best appeal to George or Paul or John. The decision that my father,
myself, and Carlo Greco came to was to build one guitar for John.
We thought the guitar should be an electric, double cutaway.
We would make it with the best flamed maple we could find, and the best
pickups we could buy, which I believe were single-coil DeArmond 2000s.
We thought the brown stain the most interesting color we produced.
I do not remember if the fingerboard was ebony or dark rosewood.
The day of the interview I somehow was allowed into the large conference
room with the guitar and case.  As
the interview came to an end I took the guitar out of the case and
made my way onto the platform where the Beatles had been sitting behind
a long table. George thought the guitar was for him, and was annoyed
when I passed him and presented the guitar to John, who seemed surprised
and delighted."
Thanks to Mark Dronge of D&R Handmade Strings |