The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed (50th Anniversary Edition / Remastered 2019)

"Keith Richards reportedly owns 3000 guitars and he once jokingly said, 'give me five minutes and I’ll make them all sound the same.'

But there’s something about the guitar on “Gimme Shelter” that’s very different.

The song contains one of The Rolling Stones’ best-known riffs, it comes from one of their most critically-acclaimed albums and it has one of the most fascinating backstories in their entire catalogue.

And what was Keith Richards playing on it? A Fender Telecaster? A Les Paul Standard? A sunburst Gibson ES-330TD?

None of the above. It was a Maton SE777.

The story of how Richards ended up with an Australian guitar in his hands while recording 'Gimme Shelter' in 1969 is a happy accident.

Like so many things from that time, Richards forgets the name of the person who owned the instrument, but remembers him staying at his London apartment for a while.

“He crashed out for a couple of days and suddenly left in a hurry, leaving that guitar behind,” he recalled in a 2002 interview with Guitar World. 'You know, ‘Take care of it for me.’ I certainly did.'

Well, not exactly. In fact, the guitar ended up in two pieces. Richards played the Maton throughout the Let It Bleed sessions in February and March 1969 and particularly on 'Midnight Rambler' and 'Gimme Shelter'.

'It had been all revarnished and painted out, but it sounded great,” he said. “It made a great record. And on the very last note of ‘Gimme Shelter’ the whole neck fell off. You can hear it on the original take.'"

Brian is seen playing Keith Richards Maton SE777 guitar during the "Let It Bleed" recording sessions. This guitar was famously used by Richards on Gimme Shelter and Midnight Rambler.