File:Replica of music store front window where the Beatles bought their first instruments in Liverpool - The Beatles Story (by ronsaunders47 at Flickr).jpg

A reconstruction of how the shop front window looked .

Taking the recording studio advice to heart, George Harrison and John Lennon, remembering Tony Sheridan’s impressive Gibson ES-175, decided they needed some Gibson power and finesse of their own and both fancied a J-160E acoustic. The only problem with that was the price. England, in 1962, was still recovering from two World Wars. The economy was still precarious and the average yearly wage was only £800. The Gibson J-160Es cost a cool £161 apiece, a steep price for even a successful live band of the time. Fortunately, The Beatles had a relatively wealthy manager in Brian Epstein and he co-signed for their payment plan at Rushworh's music store in Liverpool. But even Epstein took a year to pay off the guitars!

The famous old music store was one of a select few Liverpool stores for U.S. guitars, which were still tough to acquire in England in 1962. It was the store where Paul McCartney’s father bought the 14-year-old Macca his first guitar. The Beatles purchased a lot of their early band instruments from Hessy’s music store in Liverpool, but their tab had passed £200 when Epstein came into the picture and he had to pay off the debt with a personal check.

So Rushworth's it was for the Gibsons. A photo-op ceremony was set up from Bill Harry’s Merseybeat paper, and John and George were both presented with their prized sunburst Gibson J-160Es by James Rushworth. Peter Kaye took pictures for Merseybeat and the shot was printed in the paper with the caption, “John Lennon and George Harrison of The Beatles, seen at Rushworth’s when they received their Gibson guitars--the only ones of their type in the country--which were specially flown to England by jet from America.”

The J-160Es arrived just in time for the historic London recording sessions the next day, September 11, when at EMI Abbey Road Studio Two London, Lennon played his brand spanking new Gibson J-160E on the sessions for The Beatles' first single.