Rory Gallagher’s ’61 Stratocaster is one of the most iconic guitars of all time. Fender’s Custom Shop replica of it is a good guitar, make no doubt, but no craftsperson could truly recreate what that guitar has been through, where it’s travelled and what it represents.
Bought in Crowley’s music store in Cork when Rory was just 15, the guitar was purchased when his mother took a leap of faith to underwrite the hire-purchase agreement for an instrument that was, at the time, beyond the means of most pro musicians.
