File:John Entwistle (The Who)'s one of two Gibson Thunderbird IV (1964, serial no. 160065), Pete Townshend's Gibson SG Special (1969, serial no. 561569) - Play It Loud. MET (2019-05-13 19.36.28 by Eden, Janine and Jim).jpg

Entwistle Townshend

Bass used by John Entwistle for Quadrophenia; one of Pete Townshend's many SG Specials.

John Entwistle (The Who)'s one of two Gibson Thunderbird IV (1964, serial no. 160065), Pete Townshend's Gibson SG Special (1969, serial no. 561569) - Play It Loud. MET (2019-05-13 19.36.28 by Eden, Janine and Jim)

• Thunderbird IV (1964, serial no. 160065), Gibson. Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  "​This is one of two Thunderbird IV basses that served as John Entwistle’s primary stage and studio instruments from 1971 to 1975; it was used to record Quadrophenia (1973) and Who by Numbers (1975). The other example was accidentally destroyed by Who drummer Keith Moon when he knocked it over, breaking the neck off, while exiting the stage at a July 1971 concert in Forest Hills, New York; Entwistle then smashed it to pieces. ",
  "​Technical Description: Three-piece mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard; 34 in. scale; sunburst finish on "reverse" body; neck-through-body construction with pearloid dot inlays to fingerboard; headstock with black facing; two humbucking pickups, two volume controls and one tone control; nickel bridge, tailpiece and tuners, one clear and gold, two clear and black plastic knobs, three-ply white and black plastic pickguard with Thunderbird logo; one knob replaced, pickup covers removed ",
  "​Artwork Details ",
  "​Title:  Thunderbird IV (serial no. 160065) ",
  "​Artist: Gibson (American, founded Kalamazoo, Michigan 1902) ",
  "​Artist: John Entwistle ",
  "​Date:   1964 ",
  "​Medium: Mahogany, rosewood, nickel, plastic ",
  "​Dimensions: Length: 50 in. (127 cm) / Width: 14 in. (35.6 cm) / Depth: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm) / Weight: ~12 lbs. ",
  "​Classification: Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted ",
  "​Credit Line: Collection of David Swartz ",
  "​Provenance: John Entwistle; sold at Sotheby's auction as Lot 136, 13 May 2003 "
• SG Special (1969, serial no. 561569), Gibson. Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  "​Pete Townshend used the SG Special almost exclusively from 1968 to 1971, when Gibson changed the production specifications. He played guitars like this one at many historic concerts, including The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (1968), Woodstock (1969), and the Isle of Wight Festivals (1969, 1970). Townshend regularly smashed the instruments onstage and therefore purchased them by the dozens, going to Manny’s Music on West 48th Street in New York. This guitar was customized by removing the Vibrola and tremolo arm units, leaving screw holes visible and the guitar strings attached directly to the stop tailpiece. It was smashed onstage in 1969 and repaired after being sold at auction in 2000. John Entwistle commented that Townshend got his best sound from SG model guitars. ",
  "​Technical Description: Mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard; 24¾ in. scale; cherry-red finish; set neck with pearloid dot inlays and white binding to fingerboard; inlaid mother-of-pearl Gibson logo on headstock; two P-90 single-coil pickups, three-way selector switch, two volume and two tone controls; nickel wrap-around tailpiece and Grover Rotomatic tuners, black and silver plastic knobs, three-ply black and white plastic pickguard; vibrato bridge, tailpiece, and tuners replaced, break at neck-body joint repaired ",
  "​Artwork Details ",
  "​Title:  SG Special (serial no. 561569) ",
  "​Artist: Gibson (American, founded Kalamazoo, Michigan 1902) ",
  "​Artist: Pete Townshend ",
  "​Date:   1969 ",
  "​Medium: Mahogany, rosewood, nickel, plastic ",
  "​Dimensions: Length: 39 3/4 in. (101 cm) / Width: 13 1/4 in. (33.7 cm) / Depth: 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm) / Weight: 6-7 lbs. ",
  "​Classification: Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted ",
  "​Credit Line: Collection of David Swartz ",
  "​Provenance: Sold through Bonhams Auctions, Lot 186, 25 June 2014, $47,901 "