Harrison’s guitar tone is very warm, muted and unusual compared to other Beatles recording, which suggests he may have used a Gibson ES-345 semi-hollow, which briefly showed up in his possession around the date of these sessions. Harrison’s guitar tone is very warm, muted and unusual compared to other Beatles recording, which suggests he may have used a Gibson ES-345 semi-hollowĪpparently, Martin’s unison part was discarded. George, you can do these notes with me on guitar. “I wrote down the notes and said, ‘I’ll play this. “The guitar solo in ‘Michelle’ is my composition, actually,” producer George Martin revealed in a 1993 interview. The big unsolved mystery is which guitar Harrison used for the sultry, horn-like solo heard in the middle and ending of the song.

Harrison’s 12-string is very low in the mix, heard most prominently on the descending line in unison with McCartney and Lennon’s louder six-strings.

Also of interest is a later photo showing McCartney playing his Rickenbacker 4001S bass also with a capo on the fifth fret. One particularly revealing detail is that all three guitarists used capos on the fifth frets of their guitars. Harrison’s part mostly consisted of him doubling Lennon’s riff on his Gretsch Tennessean, most likely set to the bridge pickup as heard in his brief twangy solo. 012-.052), which also contributed to the smoother-sounding timbre. Lennon probably used flatwound Pyramid Gold strings (most likely. The P90 works better with standard nickel electric strings. Ironically, this was Gibson’s attempt to avoid feedback, but the model’s most famous use is to generate feedback.Ī P90 single-coil identical to those found on early Les Paul models was mounted under the top at the edge of the fretboard, with the polepieces extending through the top and covered with a small plastic housing. Unlike a modern acoustic-electric, the J-160E was designed with a heavier top and stiff ladder bracing to suppress vibration. Lennon’s amplified J-160E provided that backbone for the guitar riff heard throughout the song, which has an unusual organ-like timbre. Instead of the usual high-pitched howl, the J-160E’s resonant chamber caused its sympathetic open A string to vibrate – similar to the effect of an E Bow – so vigorously that it buzzed against the fretboard.

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