The Beatles

The Beatles' instruments are some of the best documented in rock, though sources disagree on dates and on which guitar was used on which session. John Lennon's early main guitar was a Rickenbacker 325 Capri bought in Hamburg, which he had refinished black in 1963, and from 1965 or 1966 his main guitar became an Epiphone Casino, a sunburst model whose finish he stripped to natural. George Harrison's Rickenbacker 360/12 twelve-string played a crucial role in the sound of A Hard Day's Night, and Harrison also owned a Casino identical to Lennon's.

Paul McCartney's left-handed Hofner 500/1 bass is the band's most recognizable instrument. He bought a right-handed Casino in 1964 on John Mayall's recommendation and played the solo on Ticket to Ride with it, and he returned to a Rickenbacker bass for the Abbey Road sessions after using a 1966 Fender Jazz Bass on parts of the White Album and Let It Be.

Acoustics included a Gibson J-160E, a Martin D-28 on the White Album and a Framus Hootenanny twelve-string. Amps were mostly Vox, though sources vary between the AC30, AC15 and AC100. Several of these instruments have returned as reissues and signature models, which Guitar Radar follows.