John Lennon

Lennon bought a Sunburst Epiphone Casino with a white pickguard and the standard Epiphone “trapeze” tail in 1965 and used it as his main guitar until his early solo year ('70s). He play it live during the Beatles tour at Japan (1966), he also used it in all Beatles' studio albums since Revolver, and during the Beatles self-titled white album sessions he sanded his Casino and removed the pickguard, this model would result in a variety of reissues known as the Revolution Ephiphone Casino. After Lennon's death, the guitar was kept by Yoko Ono.

In this photo, a young John Lennon can be seen holding and playing a sonic blue Fender Stratocaster. The details that can be discerned are a white pickguard and a rosewood fingerboard.

Both John and George used it on and off during The Beatles India trip in early 1968. This Gibson acoustic belonged to folk artist Donovan who taught Lennon the "Travis Picking Pattern", which Lennon would use to write songs like Dear Prudence, Julia, Look at Me, Happiness Is a Warm Gun and many more

Both John Lennon and George Harrison used Fender Twin reverb amps in their final years in The Beatles, in the recordings of the Let it be album, and in their ultimately famous final public appearance in the Apple offices rooftop.

The amps used by John Lennon and George Harrison weren't "68 Custom Twins" as the title of this entry states. They were just "Fender Twins". You could put "Fender Silverface Twins" if you like.

The 68 Custom range came out in the 2010s as a modded reissue of the Twin and Deluxe Reverb (and maybe the Super Reverb). In 1969 there was no such thing as a 68 Custom Twin, it's a modern take on a Twin with tweaked channel voicings and Reverb and Vibrato on both channels. It looks the part and is pretty close but I think the negative feedback ha been rolled back a bit with reduces the clean headroom.

In this photo John can be seen playing a Fender Jazzmaster.

John Lennon acquired a candy apple red “Strat” with 22 carat gold electroplated brass hardware in 1980.

This photo of John Lennon with a Sardonyx guitar made by Ken Schaffer was taken by photographer Roger Farrington during a studio session. There appear to have not been many of these guitars, and not much information available on their whereabouts.

John Lennon frequently used the Shure SM57 microphone for recording most of his studio vocals, as noted in the Shure Blog.

John, along with the rest of the Beatles used a Vox AC30 for the first half of his career with the Beatles. Confirmation of Lennon's use of this amp can be found in this Guitar World article where they write "McCartney used his 1962 Epiphone Casino and Epiphone Texan acoustic, both of which he still performs with today, and his 1963 Hofner 500/1 bass. McCartney played through a Vox AC100 amp and a Fender Bassman while Lennon and Harrison played through Vox AC30 and AC100 guitar amps."

John used this guitar since 1969, he used this one during the Get Back (Let it Be) Sessions and also during Abbey Road Sessions

John Lennon played 325s and their assorted variants during the 1960s (Including a 12-string made to match his second 325). These instruments gained prominence due to John Lennon's use of a 325 during the early years of The Beatles. John Lennon's 1958 model was among the very first batch made and has the pre-production feature of a solid top, i.e., no sound hole.

This guitar was modified with Bigsby vibrato and nonstandard control knobs. Lennon used this guitar during their first public appearance of the Ed Sullivan Show.

John Lennon played a Fender Telecaster during his performance with Elton John at Madison Square Garden, as reported by The Beatles Paraguay.

According to this article from Dolphin Music, "Another fuzz pedal the Beatles have used was an WEM Pep Rush, reportedly used on the Paperback Writer recordings. There is a photograph, taken around that same era, shows Lennon fiddling with the Pep Rush fuzz pedal." Another photograph can be found here.

Used during the ‘Imagine’ sessions in 1971. Own by Rob Lynton who was at the sessions. Never owned by Lennon but was picked up and played by him.

This video of "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)" features John Lennon using Frank Zappa´s Gibson SG guitar(not a 1962 model).

This image captures John Lennon performing with The Silver Beetles during their May 1960 tour backing Johnny Gentle.

The photo was likely taken at one of the venues in Scotland during the tour, possibly the final date at the Rescue Hall in Peterhead on May 28, 1960

In this photo, John can be seen playing a Martin D-28 for the promo for 'Hello Goodbye'.

In this photo from the Ed Sullivan Show's reharsal room, you can see Lennon playing this guitar. I'm pretty sure it is Geroge's one but who cares, John's playing it

This guitar (with a single P90 pickup) was used by Lennon in Mid-Late 1970 on his first solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. It’s unknown who or where Lennon got this guitar but it was mostly purchased during his Primal Therapy sessions in June of 1970. Lennon supposedly used this guitar on My Mummy’s Dead, Look at Me (along with either his Martin D-28 or Gibson J-160E) and Well, Well, Well. At this moment, the guitars whereabouts are unknown though it is possible that Yoko Ono still has the guitar in her possession.

In this user-uploaded photo, John Lennon is seen with a Gibson J-200, highlighting his use of this iconic acoustic guitar.

In this photo of a young John Lennon, one can see that he is playing a Gallotone Champion.

You can also see him playing with the Quarrymen here

This article from Dolphin Music says that in this image a Vox Tonebender can be seen bottom right, on top of the amp head.

In this photo, John’s original Vox AC15 can be seen at The Cavern Club

“This unassuming 1962 Vox AC15 Twin may have just become the most valuable amp on the planet” Guitar World Magazine 2024

This guitar was bought in Hessy's Music Store in Liverpool. Lennon somehow convinced his aunt Mimi to co-sign for this guitar. He later loaned it to Paul McCartney, who re-strung it and Hofner Club 40 became a lefty model. He later became a bassist, so he didn't need that guitar anymore.

In this photo, we can see Lennon playing a lap steel guitar.

In 1964, a Vox V251 Guitar Organ prototype that almost belonged to Beatle John Lennon sold later at auction for $305,000. John had received it for an advertisement but somehow the deal never came about and John eventually gave the guitar along with his Höfner Senator to road manager and friend Mal Evans

In The Beatles Hey Jude music video, we can see John's blackface Fender Deluxe amp at 0:40 of the video.

According to This article from Dolphin Music, "One of the first fuzzboxes invented was the Maestro Fuzztone, and the Beatles have used it. It can be seen on some photographs that seem to be dated from the 1963-1964 days."

John Lennon used this guitar extensively throughout Beatles recordings. It can be seen in the promotional video for the song "This Boy", where bandmate George Harrison can be found playing the same model.

According to Daily Mail, this guitar was sold in 2015 to unknown buyer for 2,4 million dollars. Here, we also find out a lot of things about it. He wrote a lot of songs on this guitar, including "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Love Me Do". He bought this guitar in 1962 in Liverpool for a little more than 160 dollars.

John Lennon is pictured using the AKG K240 headphones in the image titled "johnLastSongs.jpg" on Beatlebrunchclub. Additional images of Lennon with these headphones can be found on Tumblr and his Wikipedia instrument page.