Noel Gallagher’s Guitars and Gear

Bio: Noel Thomas David Gallagher was born on 29 May 1967 in Manchester, England. He is best known as a former lead guitarist, occasional lead singer and songwriter of the band “Oasis”.

Noel is a second child in the family, after Paul Anthony Gallagher. His younger brother Liam, was born in 1972. They spent most of their childhood in the Manchester suburb of Burnage. Noel had an unhappy childhood. He and his brothers were often beaten by their alcoholic father. Due to their unease around their father, Noel and Paul both developed stammers. In 1976 Noel’s parents divorced, and he and his two brothers ended up living with their mother Peggy Gallagher.

As teenagers the Gallagher brothers worked in construction. In the late 1980s Noel lost his job and ended up being unemployed and living in a bedsit. At that time he started working on songwriting. In May 1988, Noel met guitarist Graham Lambert of Inspiral Carpets and he became part of their road crew for two years. After he returned from an American tour with the Inspiral Carpets, Noel joined his brother Liam in the band “The Rain”. They quckly changed the name to “Oasis” and entered a talent show at King Tut’s in Glasgow. They walked out with a six-album contract.
The band became great commercial success in the following years, releasing hit singles like “Wonderwall”, “Live Forever” and “Dont’ look back in anger”.

In 2009 Noel announced his departure from Oasis and on 23 October 2009, he confirmed he would embark on a solo career.

Noel Gallagher Electric Guitars:

Epiphone Les Paul Standard

Epiphone Les Paul Standard For recording the Oasis’s 1994 debut album “Definitely Maybe” Noel used Epiphone guitars, mostly because he was unemployed prior to recording and was not able to purchase a Gibson.

This was a stock Epiphone Les Paul in cherry sunburst. It can be seen in Supersonic music video.

1960 Gibson Les Paul

Noel Gallagher Cherryburst Les Paul Johnny Noel’s first Gibson Les Paul was a 1960 sunburst model which he borrowed from Johnny Marr – ex-guitarist of The Smiths. Noel wrote and recorded “Slide Away” and “Live Forever” on this guitar. Unfortunately he broke the guitar’s neck in 1994 in Newcastle when a fan climb on the stage and Noel used the guitar to defend himself.

Here’s Johnny talking about this whole thing:

19?? Gibson Les Paul Custom “Oasis”

Noel Gallagher Oasis Les Paul Custom After Noel broke his 1960 Les Paul, Johnny Marr was generous enough to give him another Les Paul, this time a Custom. The guitar featured white pickup rings, pickguard, and the switch ring, meaning that it was customized by someone prior to Noel since the stock Les Paul Customs came exclusively with black plastic parts.

Only thing that Noel changed on the guitar was adding the “Oasis” sticker on the pickguard.

1967 Gibson Firebird Non-Reverse

Gibson Firebird Non-reverse double humbuckers This guitar was featured on “Come On Feel The Noise” poster, and for the American version of  “Live Forever” music video. He also used it to recorded a couple of on “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?”

Noel ended up selling his Firebird.

Epiphone Riviera

Epiphone Riviera Noel Gallagher Both Noel and Bonehead started plaing Rivieras on “Definitively Maybe”. Noel’s guitar was from the early 70’s and equpped with two full-sized humbuckers (Rivieras usually have mini-humbuckers), and a Tune-O-Matic bridge.

This guitar can be seen in Oasis’ live gig on David Letterman’s Show in 1995, and it was his main guitar during that year.

Epiphone Sheraton “Union Jack”

Epiphone Sheraton Union Jack After Noel fell in love with his cherry Epiphone Riviera, he decided to take a similar model – Epiphone Sheraton – and make it his own. He had it repainted with the “Union Jack,” the U.K’s national flag, and it easily became on of his most recognizable guitar. As of specs, the Sheraton had a frequensator tailpiece and two mini-humbuckers.
He played this guitar mostly live during the 1996 tour.Epiphone made a custom line of guitar based on this Sheraton. They named it Supernova and it has regular humbucker pickups and a stop-style tailpiece. The guitar was produced for a number of years, but has since been discontinued.

Epiphone Sheraton #2

Epiphone Sheraton Tobacco Burst In the late 1996, and during the 1997 tour, Noel played a tobacco burst Sheraton with frequensator tailpiece and two mini-humbuckers.

Gibson Silver Florentine

Gibson Silver Florentine Used live during the “Be Here Now” tour, parallel with his Sheraton.

This guitar is quite rare, and features hollow Les Paul-styled body, custom pearl silver paint and the usual dual humbuckers.

1960s Gibson ES-355

Gibson ES335 Bigsby During the same tour (Be Here Now – 1997) , Noel made a switch from Sheraton to ES-355. The guitar of his choice was 60’s cherry model of with Bigsby Tremolo.

This guitar remains Neol’s main “axe” for many years now. As he said himself:”My 1960s Gibson 355 – that’s the basis for everything. I’ve got so many guitars, and people just throw things at me. It depends. If I’ve got a definite idea for something and I cannot be swayed, then that’s the end of it. The guitars I bring on tour are either 355s or 345s. Those are what I play.”

Gibson Flying V

Gibson Flying V Noel appeared with this guitar on “D’You Know What I Mean?” video. It is unknown if he actually recorded with it at some point.

Rickenbacker 330

Rickenbacker 330 Noel Gallagher A less know fact is that Noel occasionally used Rickenbackers, most notably his 330 Mapleglo with various sticker on it, which he recorded with on “Go Let It Out” and “Who Feels Love” (Standing on the Shoulder of Giants – 2000), and played during the Wembley concert in 2000 (Familiar to Millions DVD)

Fender Paisley Telecaster

Fendern Paisley Telecaster Noel can be seen playing this unusual Telecaster during the opening song on the “Familiar to Millions” DVD.

Gibson Les Paul(s)

Gibson Les Paul Sunburst Noel used a number of different Les Pauls on tours with Oasis during the 2000s – most of them cherry sunburst and completely stock.

Fender Telecaster(s)

Fender Telecaster Cream White Pickguard Maple He also uses a couple of different Telecaster, one of which, a 60s model, was a present from actor Johnny Depp.

1960s Gibson Trini Lopez

Gibson Trini Lopez Used on “Don’t Believe the Truth” (2005), and haven’t been played since.

Gibson SG

GIbson SG Custom Red Bought brand new in Japan. Recorded with it on “Record Machine” (High Flying Birds).

Noel Gallagher’s Acoustic Guitars:

Epiphone EJ-200

Epiphone EJ200 Since the very beginning of the Oasis, Noel used this as his main songwriting guitar.

It can be seen in Live Forever Live on MTV.

Gibson J-200

Gibson J-200 In the more recent days Noel plays on a Gibson instead on his old Epiphone, and it’s safe to say that (E)J-200 is his favorite acoustic guitar.

Gibson J-45

Gibson J-45 Noel noted in an interview that he owns vintage J-45.

Martin D-28

Martin D-28 He recently started playing Martin acoustics on tours with High Flying Birds.

“It’s a D-28, and I bought it brand-new in a shop, just straight off the peg. It’s fucking incredible. It’s got a new Baggs pickup system in it, which is pretty amazing.” Noel in an interview with MR.

Takamine

Takamine Jasmine Noel used various models of Takamine guitars in the 90s. On a picture is a Takamine Jasmine, which he occasionally played live.

Noel Gallagher’s Guitar Amps:

Noel’s choice of amps began with few very simple picks, but in the more recent days progressed to relatively complex setups. Here’s the list on the ones we stumbled upon:

– Vox AC-30
Used in the pre-Defiantly Maybe era, when they(band) were doing small gigs. In the interview with Music Radar, Noel noted that he began using Vox AC-30 again with his new band, but can’t recall for sure if he ever recorded on one with Oasis – but nonetheless he used it live.

– Marshall JCM 900
Around the time of recording Oasis’ first album, Noel started using Marshall heads and cabinets. The usual setup was two JCM900 heads, each one connected with the Marshall cabinet.
He probably used these amps on most of the Oasis’ albums until 2000s.

– Orange Overdrive OD120
Noel was occasionally seen with Orange heads on stage. It is not known if he ever recorded with one.

– Hiwatt SA-412 Combo
Noel played on a vintage model for a while during the 2008, until Hiwatt offered to make replicas for him to use. These new amps featured 2×12 speakers.

– Hiwatt Custom 100
One of his most recent amps. He records with it and plays it live with High Flying Birds.

– Vox AC-50
A part of his usual setup on stage since around the 2005.

– Fender Blues Junior
Used with late Oasis and more recent, High Flying Birds.

– Fender ’64 Deluxe Blackface
Again a recent amp, used with HFB.

– Fender Bandmaster
Same story as previous two.

Noel Gallagher Guitar Effects:

– Ibanez Tube Screamer
In the early days of Oasis, Noel did not use pedals: “I used to just turn up the amps as full as I could get them”. Since then, he has begun using a large number of effects, but singled out the Ibanez Tube Screamer.

– Boss PN-2 Tremolo/Pan

– Way Huge Aqua Puss
Usually used at the end of Oasis shows to make pitch shifting noise

– Mike Hill’s Foot Controller 

– Boss Digital Delay

– Pete Cornish Sustainer SS-2

– Boss AB-2

– ZVEX LoFi Loop Junky

– Dunlop Crybaby 535Q

– Boss TU-2

– SIB Echodrive

– Maxon AD-80 Reissue

– Digitech Whammy

– Boss SL-20

– EHX Micro POG
Used in the recent days, seen on a photo taked during High Flying Birds tour in 2015.

Noel Gallagher’s Guitar Strings:

– Ernie Ball Regular Slinky String Set (10 – 46)

Noel Gallagher’s Guitar Picks:

– Dunlop Tortex .88mm

Contributors: nladd_9

Feedback

GroundGuitar counts on your criticism and feedback. In case you notice anything wrong with the information posted on this page, or you have knowledge of something that you would like to share, be sure to leave a comment above.

In case you want to talk to me privatly, please use the contact form and I will get back to you as soon as possible. (Dan)