This guitar is a commission sale. If you have a high-end or vintage guitar you are interested in selling please contact us.
 
Mainland UK buyers ONLY. Delivery by specialist courier only. Prices start from £55 depending on location - please inquire.
 
Here for sale we have a Fender Custom Shop Rory Gallagher Tribute/Signature Stratocaster. Rory's original guitar was lent to Fender by Rory's brother Dónal in 1997, and a prototype replica was created by John Cruz of the Custom Shop - not yet a master builder. Dónal was so impressed with the instrument that he approved the production of 40 Rory Gallagher Tribute Stratocasters, all personally hand-built by Cruz. In 2004 the Custom Artist model was launched, with the entire Custom Shop team being trained and supervised by John Cruz. This guitar is one of the earliest examples of the Custom Artist versions, dated 15th November 2004 on the COA. Indeed, a notification letter that a pre-order had been placed with a London music shop dated 30/10/04 is included in the case, outlining that due to high demand, the lead time for the instrument was 'rather indeterminate'.
 
Widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists to ever live, Rory's 1961 Fender Stratocaster has taken on legendary status, accompanying him throughout his career right from beginning to end. Since his death in 1995, Rory's guitar has been cared for by his brother Dónal, being released with special permission just a handful of times to be played on-stage by the likes of Joe Bonamassa & Johnny Marr. In 2024 Dónal announced that the guitar would be auctioned. It was purchased by Denis Desmond for £700,000, and donated to the National Museum of Ireland where it has been on display since September 2025. 
 
Rory purchased the guitar in 1963 second hand from Crowley's Music Shop in Cork for £100 - an unimaginable fortune for a 15 year old boy to spend on a guitar at the time, and equivalent to around £2700 in 2025. It has been claimed that this 1961 Fender Stratocaster was the first ever to ever make it to Ireland. In 1976 the guitar was stolen alongside a borrowed Telecaster, with the Strat eventually turning up in a ditch behind a garden wall before being reunited with its rightful owner. As well as the scars it acquired during theft & time in the ditch, as Rory's main instrument the Strat saw extensive use throughout his career. The story goes that his sweat was particularly acidic, contributing towards the extensive deterioration of the finish. Indeed, by the time of Rory's last gig in '95, most of the finish had stripped off leaving the majority of the body completely bare.
 
As a working instrument, Rory's Strat saw several modifications and repairs throughout its life. These include the changing of the original Kluson machine heads for Sperzel tuners. Later, one of these was changed for a Gotoh tuner to keep the instrument in functional condition. Similarly, one of the original Clay dot inlays at the 12th fret went missing during Rory's use of the guitar, and was replaced with a mismatched white plastic inlay. As a result of the numerous re-frets that Rory's guitar underwent, the radius of the fingerboard was notably flatter than the 7.25" that it left the factory with. Along with reproducing the inlay & machine head modifications, the Custom Shop replica features a 9.5" radius, adding to the authentic homage that this instrument pays to the original. 
 
In the '70s, Rory had the neck and bridge pickups replaced as the originals had cut out during a performance. Despite his fears that he would not be able to find pickups that sounded the same, the replacement pickups fit his sound perfectly, leaving just the middle pickup original. The pickups in the Custom Shop Tribute are custom wound to replicate the characteristics of Rory's guitar as closely as possible. These pickups are wired to 'vintage spec' controls: a 3-way blade switch, master volume & tone controls for the neck and middle pickups only - just as Rory's Strat would have been when it sat in the window of Crowley's Music in 1963. In fact, Rory modified his guitar with a 5-way switch and the removal of the first tone pot from the circuit, leaving just the 2nd tone control to act as a master tone. On later versions of the Tribute/Signature a 5-way switch was included in the case, and later still it was fitted from the factory. 
 
An outstanding early example of one of the Fender Custom Shop's most iconic builds, itself based on one of the most famous Stratocasters of all time. With all of its original documentation included & the accessory pack still sealed inside the case- not to mention a letter confirming the original order of the instrument, this is a fantastic opportunity for the discerning Rory Gallagher fan to own and enjoy a pristine example, either as a collector's piece, investment, instrument to play or all of the above.  
 
This guitar is a commission sale. If you have a high-end or vintage guitar you are interested in selling please contact us.
 
Mainland UK buyers ONLY. Delivery by specialist courier only. Prices start from £55 depending on location - please inquire.
 
Please be aware that for international buyers import fees are not included in our postage and packaging cost, this only covers the cost of the guitar being sent to you. Import fees will be charged by Customs upon the guitar's arrival in the recipient country. Due to Brexit, this also applies to EU buyers. We advise checking the total import cost with Customs as this is not information we are able to accurately provide.