This is the second Gibson ES-355 TDSV that Noel used to play—the first being the one he bought at the end of the Morning Glory tour, which became his main guitar ever since. Noel acquired this second guitar in Paris sometime in the late 90s, but he apparently wasn’t too happy with it. Despite being made on the same day as the first one, based on their serial numbers, it never really came close in terms of feel or performance.
So one day I’m in Paris, in La Pigalle, and I’m in a guitar shop. One of these [ES-355s] comes up. I end up buying this guitar, taking it to a soundcheck, and I already have the other one. My guitar tech at the time recognized that the one I just bought was the next one along from the first one.
We did a bit of digging around—they were made on the same day, by two different fellows—and they couldn’t have been any more different as guitars.
Noel Gallagher – The Pedal Show
According to Noel, the guitar just wouldn’t stay in tune, and the neck was noticeably different from the first one, which had a really thin neck that Noel particularly liked. It sounds like he tried having work done on it—probably taking it to luthiers—but the guitar never played or felt like the first one.
As an explanation for this, Noel himself mentioned the term “Friday afternoon guitar” in the above interview—a phrase used to describe guitars that seem poorly put together. As the name suggests, it refers to guitars that might have been assembled or finished in a rush, likely because the factory workers were hurrying to wrap up their job before the weekend.
Usage
It’s hard to tell whether Noel ever actually used this guitar for any purpose or not. It could be that he picked up here and there, or perhaps carried it as a backup for his main ES-355, but most likely he never recorded anything with it.
Oasis break-up, Auction
This guitar is infamous as the one that symbolized the end of Oasis. At a gig scheduled for Rock en Seine in Paris, France, in August 2009, Noel and Liam Gallagher got into a fight backstage. During the argument, Liam grabbed this guitar and threw it across the dressing room, snapping the neck from the body.
Shortly after, Noel decided to leave the band, marking the end of Oasis as we knew it.
It was a gradual thing that had gone on for most of that tour, it was just a lot of personal insults, but not to my face. My missus was getting brought into it through no fault of her own… but the final straw was he kind of slung a guitar around the dressing room.
Noel for BBC
About a year after that, the guitar was repaired by Philippe Dubreuille – a renowned French guitar luthier based in Paris. From then on it somehow eded up with Didier Duval – a guitar collector, and a notable figure in the vintage guitar community.
Duval then auctioned off the guitar in 2022, and it ended up selling for around $400,000.
Feedback
We value your input at GroundGuitar! If you spot any inaccuracies or have additional info, leave a comment below.
For direct communication, use the Contact Form. (Dan)
