A Maton Mastersound MS500 electric guitar, authenticated to have been played by George Harrison during a series of concerts by the just starting Beatles in 1963, sold for $485,000 USD at Julien's Auctions last Friday. The exclusive auction event, which happened at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square, offered one of the most amazing assembly of Rock n' Roll royalties that includes unique guitars from the world's iconic musicians, and memorabilia from The Beatles.

The $485,000 Maton electric guitar, fitted with a Bigsby bridge and Bigsby Vibrato, features an Australian solid body with mahogany neck with a bound rosewood fingerboard, flame maple natural finish top, a sunburst back, dark sides, and dot inlays, two volume knobs, two-tone knobs with an input jack mounted on a black pickguard, two pickups, and a three-way pickup selector switch, according to Julien's.

The Barratts Music Store in Manchester has loaned the Maton guitar to the musician George Harrison while his Gretsch Country Gentleman electric guitar was under repair. The Beatles guitarist however retained the guitar even after his Country Gent was returned. Harrison used the Maton at closely a dozen live performances from July to August 1963, which includes a hometown concert in Liverpool.

Roy Barber, Dave Berry and the Cruisers' guitarist, purchased the Maton guitar after its return to the Barratts Music Store. Barber played the guitar for several years and he deposited it in a room locker for twenty years until the widow of Barber auctioned off the electric guitar at Sotheby's in 2002. After thirteen years, the Maton Mastersound electric guitar returned to Julien's lot with an estimated range of $400,000 up to $600,000.

Taken from Tech Times

For a slightly more affordable Mastersound check out the MS500 50th Anniversary