“The worst-case scenario is if you just hang the guitar on the wall and brag to your rich buddies that you bought it. These things are tools to make music”: Joe Bonamassa plays Rory Gallagher's 1959 Esquire, calling him “one of my guitar heroes”

As Rory Gallagher’s guitars head to auction this October, Joe Bonamassa has paid tribute to the Irish blues-rock legend with a retrospective on his influential career, including a hands-on session with Gallagher’s heavily-modded ’59 Esquire

“I grew up in a very blue-collar part of the world, and my father showed me a Rory Gallagher record. It was called Live in Europe,” says Bonamassa in a new Guitarist interview.

“Here was this guy with long hair and a flannel shirt who looked like he just came out of an auto factory and playing some of the most gutbucket blues and rock you’ve ever heard. I go, ‘Wow, I can relate to that because people around here look like that.’

“He was a working-class hero that transcended just being Irish, and into a global thing. Everybody can relate to a working-class hero. He’s one of my guitar heroes.”

Joe Bonamassa plays Rory Gallagher’s 1959 Esquire – YouTube

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Bonamassa talks about the fact there’s a preconceived notion that Gallagher only used one guitar, namely his ’61 Strat. He sets the record straight, revealing that despite being closely associated with the legendary Strat, Gallagher actually owned and played a variety of guitars and amps.

“If everybody in the ’70s knew that these guitars were going to be five figures or more, you know, if you had a straight ’59 Esquire, you’re looking at $20,000-$25,000 guitar. If everybody knew that when they were buying them, nobody would modify them.

Bonamassa goes on the play Gallagher’s Esquire and after analyzing it, comments, “The front pickup sounds good. May want to look at the back pickup, and they need to be rewound.

“Guitars sitting for 30 years tend not to work. You know, they need a little bit of maintenance. But you know, it’s up to the buyer whether they want to keep Rory’s strings on it or get it rewound or get it back up playing.

“It seems like it was set up for slide, it’s got big frets on it. He tended to like monster frets. It’s a great, honest instrument that should make music again.

“I think the worst-case scenario is if you just hang it on the wall and brag to your rich buddies that you bought it. These things are tools, and they should make music again.”

In other Rory Gallagher news, his ’61 Strat has recently been the subject of a grassroots-led movement in Ireland to keep the prestigious instrument in the country.