Gary Moore’s Guitars and Gear

Based on few visual clues the guitar seems to be a modified early 50s goldtop. The pickups are P90s with black plastic covers and a matching toggle switch cover, and the guitar is fitted with three 50s barrel knobs and one reflector knob. The finish on the body look amateur-ish red sunburst refinish, since the red seems to fade much closer to the center than on factory models.

The most promising clue to give us the exact dating of the guitar is the trapeze tailpiece. Early 50s Les Pauls had long trapeze tailpiece extending all the way to where ABR bridge was fitted on later models. Gary’s guitar seems to be a conversion from the long to short trapeze tailpiece, with a Gibson ABR-1 mounted into the old screw holes.

As said, Gary used this guitar very briefly and it pretty much disappeared after mid 1972. If you happen to know what happened to it after, be sure to let us know using the contact form at the bottom of this page.

Guitar prior to Gary Moore

Thanks to one of our readers (thanks Wes) the guitar’s history before it came into Gary’s hands is now known. It previously belonged to Procol Harum guitarist Robin Trower, who appeared with the Les Paul on numerous occasions until 1970.

Robin Trower wielding the ’52 Les Paul. Source YouTube Screen-cap (Procol Harum – Piggy Pig Pig)

As can be seen on the photo above – the knobs, the trapeze tailpiece, and the color of the guitar all perfectly match Gary’s guitar. The only difference is the humbucker pickup in the bridge position, which is missing from Gary’s guitar. However, if you look at the footage from the Beat Club (link available in the first paragraph, skip to 2:25 minute mark) you can see that there’s a rather large gap left around the P90 pickup that is now present on Gary’s guitar, which clearly shows that there was indeed a humbucker once in it’s place.

The guitar is pretty much stock, except for the neck pickup magnet which was reversed on one of the pickups – a feature now famously known as a “Peter Green mod”. This was allegedly done accidentally in the Gibson factory when the guitar was first assembled in 1959, as was concluded by Jol Dantzig who had a chance to examine the guitar in the 80s. This mod allowed for the pickups to be the out of phase when the toggle switch is set in the middle position.

The magnet was reversed on one pickup. Because the pickup internals looked undisturbed, I concluded that it must have been a mistake at the factory. With Gibson having made over ten thousand electric guitars that year, the odds of the mistake showing up in Green’s guitar seems incredible. But strangely enough, Joe Bonamassa recently acquired an original ’burst with the same condition! [The Secret of Peter Green’s Tone, Jol Dantzig]

Please not that Jol does not specify which pickup had the polarity reversed, neck or the bridge. If you happen to come across an interview where he does go into more detail, please be sure to forward it to us.

Neck Pickup Rotated

At some point circa 1967, Peter took out the neck pickup, and played the guitar only using the lead (bridge) pickup. He apparently got the idea from listening to Eric Clapton.

The pickups were strong, but I took one of them off. I copied Eric [Clapton]. I heard him play one night, and he was on the treble pickup all night long. It sounded so good, I thought I’d take my bass pickup off altogether. Try and wait for the same luck. As if it was luck! It takes a lot of genuine practice and worry to get a sound like that. [The Deep Secret Behind Peter Green’s “Magic” 1959 Les Paul Tone]

A few months later the pickup was back on, but now installed the wrong way around – rotated 180 degrees.

I put it back on the wrong way around so that the poles—the pickup screws—were facing in the opposite direction. People would say to me, “You got that special out-of-phase sound.” I don’t know what out-of-phase is. Phase for what? Phase—it sounds like a good name for a group. [The Deep Secret Behind Peter Green’s “Magic” 1959 Les Paul Tone]

It is important to note that rotating the pickup around has nothing to do with the out-of-phase sound, contrary to what Peter thought. The out-of-phase sound is achieved by reversing the polarity of one of the magnets. To familiarize yourself with this concept, we recommend watching Wills Easy Guitar’s explanation on YouTube [“in phase” and “out of phase” in guitar pickups and what it means]

[…]

Couple of visuals mods are also worth mentioning. While the guitar was still in Peter’s possession he removed the pickguard, and when Gary got the guitar he replaced the two bottom control knobs with the more modern “reflector” knobs – which he found more comfortable to use.

Gary used this guitar as his main in the early years, and almost exclusively until the late 70s. It can be heard all over his first two solo albums Grinding Stone (1973) and Back On The Streets (1978), and in his work with in Thin Lizzy and Colosseum II. As years went on he started experimenting with different guitars, but without a doubt this one of his favorites.

He did sell the guitar after almost 40 years of owning it, faced with some major financial problems. The instrument reached around $1 million when it was first auctioned in the early 2000s. It was again put on sale in 2014, when Kirk Hammett from Metallica decided to buy it, paying a total of around $2 million.

Gary modified this guitar by replacing original neck pickup with a white DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup, while the rest seems to be pretty much all stock.

After leaving Thin Lizzy during the band’s US tour in 1979, Gary traveled to Los Angeles in an attempt to make a solo rock presence, and ended up recruiting a couple of people and forming a band called G-Force. At the same time he went to Charvel guitar shop on a recommendation from a friend, and ended up ordering a couple of guitars from Grover Jackson himself.

Grover delivered the first guitar to Gary during one of the rehearsals prior to the recording of the album, upon which Gary immediately changed the strings to a heavier set that he was used to, and played with the guitar for the first time.  His Charvel featured metallic red/pink finish on a Strat-shaped body, rosewood fretboard, two humbuckers, and a Kahler 2300 series tremolo.

Although this is pure speculation as there’s no photos from the studio sessions, it is highly possible that Gary used this guitar during the recording of the G-Force album. He didn’t seem to use it live pretty much at all, but it was seen on photos taken of his guitar collection sometime in the 80s.

Not a lot to be said about this guitar except for a few things that are obvious from the photos available. It was finished in custom paint featuring leopard pattern, it featured two humbuckers (probably a pair of DiMarzio, with X2N in the bridge position), a maple neck, and a transparent plastic pickguard.

Gary started using this Strat in early 80s with Greg Lake as his main tremolo guitar. It has been his longest running Stratocaster and one of his oldest guitars overall, since he used it on some of his later gigs as well – including the 2005 The Strat Pack concert which marked the 50th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster guitar. The guitar’s previous owner was Tommy Steele, an English singer popular in the late 50s.

Gary’s Stratocaster was made in 1961, a period which produced some of the most sought-after guitars nowadays. It was finished in either a fiesta-red or salmon-pink color, but due to aging/yellowing and the inconsistencies in early Fender finishes, it’s really hard to tell for sure (not that it matters that much anyway). The only thing that Gary changed on the guitar were the frets, which he replaced with Jim Dunlop jumbos.

The guitar was lost sometime in mid 1984 when Gary traveled to the US to play a tour there. Allegedly, someone at the customs tried to steal it, but soon changed his mind after finding out who’s guitar it was. The guitar then appeared at Interpol in Houston halfway through Gary’s US tour, but he decided to keep playing the white reissue Strat that he bought as a replacement.

Not much else left to be said about this guitari except that it was completely stock, body finished in white, rosewood neck, and three single-coil pickups. Gary didn’t seem to play it much since he received his old Strat back, and around 1985 he switched to Charvels as his main tremolo guitars.

It is also important to note that Gary owned another white Stratocaster in mid 80s that he equipped with a humbucker in the bridge position. If you happen to see that guitar on a video or photo taken around that period, please be sure to send them to us using the contact form at the end of this list.

The red guitar in it’s original state was a direct Stratocaster replica with an addition of a Floyd Rose tremolo and a locking nut. Sometime in 1986 Gary’s guitar tech took out the three single pickups and installed a single EMG 81 in the bridge position. The pickguard was of course also replaced to feature a single cutout above the humbucker cavity, while the empty neck pickup cavity was used to house a 9V battery for the EMG pickup.

Gary used this guitar from around 1986 to 1989, although he did seem to prefer the white one since he used it for most of the gigs.

This is the second of the two Charveles that Gary received in early 1980s, mainly known for being featured on the cover of the 1983 album Dirty Fingers.

This guitar in it’s original state featured black pickguard with two full-sized humbuckers installed on it. In 1986 Gary’s guitar tech got rid of them and installed a single EMG 81 active pickup in the bridge position, fitted on a white single-ply Stratocaster pickguard. The guitar also featured Floyd Rose tremolo, and a maple neck – which was the main different  between this and Gary’s white Charvel.

Sometime in late 80s the neck was replaced with a Jackson replacement neck with rosewood fretboard and the guitar was used extensively during the 1989 “After The War” tour. Prior to that Gary used from 1986 to 1988 as one of his main tremolo guitars.

The guitar is currently owned by John Marks/Rare Star Guitars, and a couple of photos and some of the history of the guitar are available on their website – Gary Moore – Hamer Explorer.

The guitar was made specifically for Gary, although it was mostly based on a mid-80s Hamer Special model. It featured white finish on a mahogany body, two DiMarzio humbuckers, 22-fret mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, and a Floyd Rose tremolo bridge.

Gary predominantly used this guitar on the 1985 album “Run For Cover”, next to another similar Hamer finished in black.

One of the guitars that Gary used was the Ibanez RS1000, which featured alder body with bird-eye maple top. The guitar was equipped with two Maxon Super 58 humbucking pickups and a “Hard-Rocker Pro” tremolo bridge. The RS1000 was produced from around 1981 and at that time it was one of Ibanez’s top-of-the-line models.

Please note that Gary also used another similar Ibanez guitar in the same video during the scene with the ocean in the background, which is a Roadstar II RS 525 BK. This guitar also features black finish, but features gold hardware and smooth body edges without the binding.

Going from the info on that photo, the guitar was made in 1982 and therefore was one of the earliest ’57 reissues, which were the first ever reissue models to ever come out of Fender factory (alongside the ’52 and ’62 models of course). Although somewhat of a collectible item nowadays, back when it first came out, this model was heavily criticized due to several inaccuracies when compared to it’s original counterpart. The main issue was the neck, which featured a very flat radius, while original 50s Strats were known and loved for their round fretboards [Fender’s First Reissues – Vintage Guitar].

That’s right; that guitar’s actually for sale in London. I got that guitar from Greg Lake when I played with him. It’s a very nice one. He has quite a selection of old acoustics. [VintageGuitar magazine – Gary Moore, Back to the Rock]

The guitar is most likely a early to mid 50s pre-Switchmaster model featuring blonde finish and three P90 pickups. As Gary said, it’s been put on sale but we haven’t been able to find any info about it. If you happen to know anything, be sure to send us a message.

The guitar was finished in light blue, and it featured a single humbucker in the bridge position, most likely a DiMarzio. We didn’t find a single occurrence of Gary using this guitar live, but if you happen stumble upon something be sure to let us know using the contact form at the bottom of this list.

The guitar featured a 24-fret neck with dot inlays, and seems to have been equipped with an EMG 81 active pickup in the bridge and a classic humbucker in the neck position.

Gary’s Phantom A5 featured red finish, triple-coil pickup in the bridge, and a slanted single-coil pickup in the neck position. It was also fitted with a Kahler tremolo system.

The guitars were most likely used at least partially on the “After The War” album, since one of them was featured on the front cover photo, and for “Blood Of Emeralds” during the concert in Belfast in 1989.

Gary himself mostly used a modified version of the H150 model which had two EMG 81 active pickups. This guitar was eventually introduced as official Gary Moore signature model, but the company built a very limited number of them.

If there was a Gary Moore Les Paul that was about Gary, – it was that guitar. Stripe remained with him until the very end, which I quite humble that I had the pleasure of selling him that guitar. – Phil Harris in an interview with Guitar Interactive

Gary first used this guitar on the After The War album in 1989, and it can be seen on the music video for the title song. It was then used on one of his perhaps best known pieces – “Still Got the Blues”, and “Oh Pretty Woman” – on the 1990 album. Since then it basically became one of his favorite guitars, and he used it on nearly all the records up until his death in 2011.

The guitar is mostly stock except for the tuners, which were replaced with Grovers, and the original frets were replaced with bigger ones at some point by Charlie Chandler.

It is perhaps important to note that this guitar was not the one featured on the “After Hours” album cover. That was another 1959 Les Paul, which Gary didn’t particularly like, and ended up selling it.

Gary’s Telecaster was made in 1968, and it featured blonde finish and two original Fender single-coil pickups fitted on a black pickguard. The original ’68 maple neck was replaced by the previous owner with a later rosewood model.

The guitar featured light-blue finish on a semi-hollow Telecaster style alder body with solid spruce top. The neck had ebony fretboard with abalone dot markers, and the guitar came equipped with three EMG SA pickups.

The guitar featured cherry red finish, ABR-1 bridge with a stop tailpiece, large block fretboard inlays, split-diamond headstock inlay, and two Gibson humbuckers. It was also equipped with a Varitone switch which is only available on guitars made after 1959 – which gives us a very broad approximation of the guitar’s year of production.

The guitar was an American-built Stratocaster with a humbucker in the bridge position and a Floyd Rose tremolo installed in place of the standard Fender tremolo. It was finished in black, and it featured maple neck and a white pickguard.

Gary’s guitar was most likely a 1961 Gibson SG, or more precisely a Les Paul – since the “SG” branding wasn’t introduced until 1963. It featured cherry red finish, and was most likely originally equipped with the sideways vibrola tremolo since the screw holes are still visible behind the newly fitted stop-tail bridge.

The guitar was originally most likely finished in three-tone sunburst, but the paint was stripped down and the body was refinished with a clear lacquer. All the electronics are alos non-original, including the three Kinman pickups from the Blues set, and the original tremolo was replaced with a modern one.

A beautiful sample of a Gary Moore Signature Les Paul. Photo credit: WIlma M.

The guitar was mostly based on a ’59 Standard, although it did feature a couple of very noticeable differences. The body was finished in amber burst and the neck featured the same profile as a ’59, but the guitar had no binding on the body nor on the neck. It was also equipped with a pair of then newly developed BurstBucker pickups, although Gary’s main guitar which was actually a prototype featured a pair of Tom Holmes pickups instead.

I use Tom Holmes pickups sometimes. On one of my signature Les Paul models, I’ve played around with different ones. Some new pickups are really good. I mean, if you can’t get a good sound today, I think there’s something really wrong with you! – Gary Moore Still Got the Blues – Again!

Gary possibly used couple of these guitars from 2001 onward, but almost every gig around that period seems to feature the prototype model with Holmes pickups. That guitar is easily identifiable since it’s the only of the bunch to feature pickup covers (stock models came with exposed zebra in the neck).

The stock guitars were shipped without the pickup covers attached. Photo credit: WIlma M.

It is of course possible that Gary requested that his personal guitars had chrome pickup cover, but by looking through videos and photos of the guitar that Gary played from 2001, it all seems to be one same guitar. There’s a very distinguishable dark patch on the lower horn of the body where the flames on the wood appear to be less accented, and it is unlikely that two guitars had this same unique feature.

Gary is pictured with one of his signature Les Pauls with the original pick ups, quite a rare sight. This flyer is from BB King’s farewell concert 2006. (thanks Wilma for the scan)

The guitar was finished in white, and everything on it seemed to be pretty much stock. It’s really hard to tell if it was new or vintage, but just watching the Monster of Rock concert it looks like the guitar might actually be brand new. The fretboard has no wear whatsoever, the finish still looks glossy, and all the hardware looks like it’s practically brand new.

I used this 1963 Gibson Cherry 335 in London with ‘The PsychoPats’ until it eventually got passed along to Gary Moore. Gary used it on his 2001 studio album ‘Back To The Blues’ . – Johnny Fean

As said, Gary used the guitar on the Back To The Blues album released in 2001, which also featured this guitar on the cover photo. Gary also used it on the song “Have You Heard?” from the 2007 album Close as You Get.

As far as the usage in the studio, Gary has said that he used the guitar on the song “Preacher Man Blues” from the 2008 album Bad for You Baby.

That very thin, hard sound is a red Gibson Firebird I picked up in Finland last year. That guitar has a nice twang to it, and it really brings out the twang from the spring reverb. – Guitar Player’s final interview with Gary Moore

The guitar is a reissue model of Gibson’s 1957 Les Paul Goldtop, and it featured mahogany body with carved maple top and a glued-in mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard. It was equipped with two Custom Buckers (Gibson-made pickups) which were developed to replicate the sound of the original PAFs.

During the Montreux Festival alone he used at least three different guitars – a ’58 Reissue finished in lemonburst, a ’58/’59 Reissue finished in noticeably darker color, and a ’59 Les Paul Collector’s Choice – a replica of the Peter Green Les Paul that Gary played in the early days.

On the mentioned photo Gary was seen setting next to a Takamine PT-015 which is a 6-string model featuring arched spruce top, rosewood neck, ebony fingerboard, and a palathetic bridge pickup.