Gary acquired this guitar sometime toward the late 1980s. From then on, it became one of his regular instruments, appearing at many live shows and on several live recordings, including Live at Bush Hall, Live From London, and the 2008 Baloise Session.
It was also used on at least four studio albums. Its first known studio appearance was on “Moving On” from Still Got the Blues. Gary later used it during the sessions for After Hours in 1992, including on “The Blues Is Alright” and “All Time Low.”
The Telecaster also appeared on later albums, including Close as You Get in 2007 and Bad for You Baby in 2008.
Gary often referred to this guitar as his “workhorse,” and sometimes described it as a ’68. However, the guitar was recently inspected ahead of auction, and that inspection showed that it is actually a 1963 Telecaster, or at least largely made up of 1963 parts.
It’s got a later neck on it that someone put on before I bought it but its got character and it really works. You can get some very mournful sounds out of it as well as a hard, in-your-face sound. It’s a real old battle-axe.
Gary Moore, Guitar Buyer magazine, November 2007
One notable detail is the neck, which has a slab rosewood fretboard. Since Fender had moved away from slab boards by late 1962, this means the neck could not have been original to a 1963 body and must have been a replacement. According to Steve Clark, who inspected the guitar prior to the sale, the fretwire was all original.
The Tele has 2.12mm fretwire, unlike most of his guitars, which had jumbo wire on. These look like original frets, in fact – the edges were nice and sharp, there was no over-sanding. There were none of those telltale signs that might have said to me, ‘Oh, yeah, this has had new frets.’ It was like he’d left this one as it is.
Steve Clarke – Bonham’s
The guitar eventually sold at Bonhams for £51,200. Ahead of the sale, Guitarist magazine published a detailed video featuring Chris Buck demoing this very instrument, giving a closer look at how the guitar sounded and played.
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