Duane Allman’s 1960s Gibson Heritage

According to Galadrielle Allman [Galadrielle Allman, Please Be With Me, p. 182] Duane bought this guitar together with his Les Paul Goldtop and a Marshall amp, probably sometime in early to mid-1969 (the exact date of purchase is unknown). The guitar is mentioned in a letter that Duane sent to Holly Barr, Ralph Barr’s wife (Ralph Barr was guitar player for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band). This same letter was recently auctioned at Bonham’s – see Duane Allman: A three-page letter and envelope.

Duane with the Guitar

Duane was seen with the guitar on two photos in total – although it is impossible to confirm whether this is actually one exact same J-45 or two of them.

One of the photos was taken sometime in early October 1971 in California by Jim Marshall, with John Hammond on the J-45 and Duane on his Dobro, while the other one is of Duane alone holding the J-45 from around the period he worked as a session musician (probably early 1969).

Unfortunately, at this time we’re not able to show the photos, but a quick Google search (search “Duane Allman acoustic”) should return both of them.