Pete's Guitars

This is Pete Townshend's # 5 Les Paul Guitar. It was used on stage and in the studio from 1976 to 1979. It can be seen pictured in the 1979 Tour program as well as in the movie The Kids are Alright. Pete had numerous Les Paul's modified by adding a humbucking pickup. He had them numbered from 1 to 9 based on the tuning requirements of various songs. Over the years several of them were broken and never replaced. At this time the following numbers can be accounted for: #1, #3, #5, #6and #9.

	#1 - Wine Red - Retained by Pete
	#2 - Sunburst - Whereabouts Unknown
	#3 - Gold Top - Hard Rock Vault - Orlando, FL.
	#4 - Wine Red - Broken And Not Replaced
	#5 - Wine Red - Represented Here - Serial No. 00129875
	# 6 - Sunburst - Private Collection - Serial No. 99222939
	# 7 - Black - Broken And Not Replaced
	# 8 - Sunburst - Broken And Not Replaced
	# 9 - Sunburst - Hard Rock Hotel - Las Vegas - Serial No. 9921766

Click on the links at the top of the page to see Pete's Gibson SG from 1971, his Schecter from 1979-1980, his Takamine acoustic from 1989 and the Hiwatt speaker stack and power amp.

Displayed at the Rock & roll Hall of Fame from April of 1998 to January of 2007.

Go to Litgo's Les Paul page for more info on Pete's Les Pauls.

Both of these photos were taken at

Oakland Stadium October 10, 1976

Youtube Link of Baba O Reilly at Shepperton Studios 1978 with the #5 Les Paul

The color photo was taken by Ed Perlstein @ MusicImages.com Ed sells these photos on his website and the quality is just fantastic! This web photo hardly does this picture justice. Totally worth the money! This photo appears courtesy of Ed Perlstein who is the photographer, so please respect his copyright.

This is a 1970 vintage Gibson SG that was owned and played by Pete Townshend on the first leg of the 1971 U.S. tour. It was given by Pete to a guitarist who was a contemporary of Pete's by the name of John Turnbull. John Turnbull's band at that time was named Bell & Arc and featured Graham Bell as the lead singer. Bel & Arc had an LP at the time and was the opening band on the first leg of the 1971 US tour. After his time in Bell & Arc John went on to play with Ian Dury and was an integral part of his band The Blockheads. This guitar was played throughout John's career and was used on a couple of Blockheads LP's. When I acquired it from him he wrote me a nice letter detailing his acquisition from Pete and stating that he was a little embarrassed by the fact that he had " Slept with the guitar for a couple weeks afterward." Serial No. 969973

Displayed at the Rock & roll Hall of Fame from April of 1998 to January of 2007.

Go to Litgo's SG page for more info on Pete's SG's.

This photo shows Pete playing the SG onstage at an unknown venue on the 1971 tour.

This is a set of two Hiwatt speakers and a 100 watt Hiwatt power amp. This model of power amp was made by Hiwatt specifically for the Who since they were such good customers! It is a special model called "The Who". It is engraved on the plate on the front of the amp. According to one source these were boosted to 120 Amps from the usual 100 Amps. Pete used these speakers and amp from approximately 1976 to 1982. Pete favored the Hiwatt amps and speakers from the late 1960's all the way through the 1982 era.

Displayed at the Rock & roll Hall of Fame from April of 1998 to January of 2007.

Go to Litgo's Hiwatt page for more info on Pete's Hiwatts.

This is a Schecter guitar owned and played by Pete Townshend onstage during the 1979 to 1982 period. Around the middle to the end of the 1979 tour Pete switched over to the Schecter guitars. Like the Les Pauls' he had numerous different ones configured for each of the songs in the set list. When I acquired the guitar it came with the guitar strap that Pete had last used with it in 1982. Serial No. S 8474

Displayed at the Rock & roll Hall of Fame from April of 1998 to January of 2007.

Go to Litgo's Schecter page for more info on Pete's Schecter guitars.

This is the front and back view of Pete's Takamine acoustic guitar from the 1989 tour and following few years. It was played at almost every show on the song "A Little Is Enough" and occasionally on "Baba O'Reily" and "Join Together". This particular guitar is numbered 4 for identification purposes. Pete played about five different ones on that tour. Most of them were the cutaway model. This is the only one that was a non cutaway model. So far the following numbers can be accounted for:

	# 1 - Cutaway model used extensively on 1989 tour. Whereabouts unknown, but presumably still with Pete.
	# 3 - Cutaway model. Apparently smashed by Pete in front of the Hard Rock London as part of a fund raising/charity event. Unknown if ever played in concert or merely a spare. Sold at auction in 1999 to raise funds for the Nordoff Robbins charity. Currently owned by a Northern California private collector.
	# 4 - Represented here. Model Number EN-20. Serial Number 88100291. Used on the 1989 tour for the song " A Little Is Enough" every time and occasionally on the songs "Baba O'Reily" and "Join Together".
	# 9 - Model Number PP-360SC. Cutaway model used extensively on 1989 tour. At some point the neck was broken about half way down. Sold at auction in 1999 by Pete on his website to benefit the Oxfam charity. Resold on E-bay in May of 2003 for 4,200 Dollars. Click here for photos.
	No # - Model Number EN-10C. Serial Number 84041044. Cutaway model used at Pete's Brixton Academy concert in 1985. Signed by Pete on the front and sold to raise money for the academy. Currently on display at the Hard Rock Cafe Vault in London. Click here for pictures.

In 2000 Gibson guitars custom shop produced a limited edition Pete Townshend SG model. Production was limited to 250 pieces and it was an immediate sell out. It was meant to faithfully reproduce the SG that Pete played onstage during the late 1960's. Pete played the SG for a number of years including Woodstock, The Isle of Wight Festival and the concert at Leeds University later released as an album. The guitar comes with a regular hard-shell case plus the stylized flight case. This guitar is numbered 12 of 250.

These two photos show the various pieces on display at The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. This display opened in April of 1998 and continues to the present.

This site has tons of great info on all of Pete's guitar and amp set-ups over the years.

Pete Townshend's Guitar History A detailed listing of all of the guitars and amps used by Pete over the years. Very comprehensive with lots of details on pick ups and other technical stuff. Compiled by Litgo.