Delaney Bramlett had plenty of guitars. The most famous of course was George Harrisons Rosewood Telecaster. If that wasnt enough he made up many stories about several other guitars saying they belonged to Duane Allman (little red and the Les Paul Gold Top)...a 57 Strat he claimed belonged to Eric Clapton, although that story would alter between Eric and Duane and the wear it in health note that came along with it at a hotel in Miami. There was also an (? date)1935 black f-hole Gibson that he claimed he and Eric found in a trash can with the neck broken off , but Eric had passed on it. That guitar became mamos, his mother and it stayed under her bed forever. The story behind Little Red goes like this. Delaney claimed he bought it in a pawn shop in Florida and he showed it to Duane who claimed it was his and was rather upset that Delaney had it, but Delaney would never give it back to Duane. This is the story Delaney told time and time again until in the early 1990s he got an offer to buy it. There was a man who came all the way from northern California to buy it. But before he got there, Delaney had second thoughts and didnt want to sell it . I told him he did not have to sell it. It was a clean ten grand ...but I said Delaney you claim this was Duanes guitar and you dont even know if its true! To which he replied I know. It dawned on me then that the whole story was made up. We did call the man and I told him that Delaney had changed his mind...the guy was very upset..he said we couldnt renig on the deal ( he was the middle man for the buyer), he was driving all the way from up north to make this purchase. Delaney wanted the money. He knew it wasnt Duanes guitar and that is why he was willing to sell. The guy gave me a stack of money with a band around it from the bank and it had 10,000 on it. I counted the money and that was that. He put it in his little convertable and he was out of there. It went to Kunio Kishida, a buyer in Japan who still has it to this day. Delaney had everyone captivated by these stories. Of course it is a well known fact that the real Les Paul Goldtop is owned by one of Bobbys old friends Scott Lamar and is at the Big House . Delaney made up that story too...sad to say. Delaneys goldtop was a beautiful guitar and is still in the possession of his widow. The guitar world is an important one..the truth needs to be told. The Rosewood telecaster was sold after I left by Delaneys brother sister in law at a auction house in Los Angeles. Fortunately it made its way back to the Harrison Estate..but what was originally a loving gift to Delaney turned into a huge money making sale. This guitar and the strat were both brought to the Fender Custom Shop in California where duplicates were made of each guitar. They also had all the specs drawn up on the George Harrison Rosewood Tele because they did not have any original ones. I believe that they have made guitars from those specs taken. There are some stories still circulation today that claim Bobby Whitlock had Little Red..this of course is and never was true as that guitar was sold many years before Bobby even saw Delaney or had any contact with him. There is no truth to any of those stories. I have several photos of the guitars...my brother took some for Guitar Magazine, I took several myself . I would take the guitars out and some of these young guys would show up at the house wanting photos taken with them. They were always thrilled. They were all very well taken care of. I have no idea what happened to them after the probate court when Delaney passed. He had promised his daughters a guitar each. There were four main guitars that were to be passed on to them and one to me (while we were married, but that changed of course). We all picked a name out of a hat, for real. Delaney got a hat and I wrote the names on scraps of paper, no need to mention who drew which guitar. The Rosewood Telecaster (sold at auction while Delaney was alive)...The 57 Strat, The so called Duane Allman Les Paul Gold Top and the National ( Delaney always referred to the National and never dobro). They were all a part of that, sadly the daughters never received any of those. We played a party not long ago and a man came to me saying he bought Delaneys amplifier (at the same auction house where they sold the Rosewood Tele), he said to me you know the one Eric Clapton played through....uhhhh. End of story. I could only smile. Id never heard that one.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 14:14:06 +0000
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