Gibson 70th Anniversary John Lennon J160 Imagine

Made in USA 2010

Limited to 70 worldwide

Serial Number 12970060

Seventy years after his birth and three decades after his untimely passing, John Lennon’s message of peace continues to touch the masses, and his songs still resonate in the hearts and minds of fans around the world. At the request of Yoko Ono, Gibson Guitar offered three 70th Anniversary John Lennon J-160E acoustic guitars in 2010 to celebrate the legacy of this extraordinary artist. Accordingly, only a very limited number of these handmade acoustics were available.

Recreated by the luthiers at Gibson’s Montana acoustic guitar facility in period-perfect detail, the 70th Anniversary John Lennon models are available in three distinct versions to represent the instrument at three periods in Lennon’s life and career. The first, finished in Vintage Sunburst and limited to 500 guitars, represents the guitar as it was when Lennon first acquired it and used it on several famous Beatles recordings from 1963 to ’64, including Please Please Me, With The Beatles and A Hard Day’s Night.

This second version is a stunning Custom Shop “Imagine” model in a Soft White finish personally requested by Yoko Ono to reflect the sentiment of John’s life and music during the recording of Imagine.

The custom shop’s second renditions was limited to 70 guitars, one for every year since John’s birth in 1940, and both include a special 70th Anniversary Certificate personally signed by Yoko Ono and sent to the final purchaser by Certified Mail. As for construction, each version is an accurate rendition of the J-160E of 1962, a guitar originally released in 1954 as one of the world’s first successful “electro-acoustic” guitars, with built-in pickup and electronics and ready to hit the stage for the professional performing musician. Beloved by Lennon, and kept close throughout his too-short life, the 70th Anniversary John Lennon J-160E is a guitar every Beatles fan will want to make their own.

This guitar plays and sounds great, comes complete with original case and certificate. The soft white finish has aged well on this one and only has some slight yellowing where the guitar has hung on a wall hanger as photographed, the sides and back as well as the back of the neck have minimal ageing to the finish, any yellowing is nice and even and subtle. The nature of this type of finish will yellow over time and in different places. Overall the guitar looks great and is an exceptionally rare guitar, 1 of 70.

Please feel free to email or call if you would like to try the guitar or if there’s anything else at all.