In December 1968, a prototype Rosewood Telecaster was hand-delivered to the Apple offices in London after being flown across the Atlantic in its own seat. Harrison’s Rosewood Tele would become iconic for its use throughout the Get Back sessions and during The Beatles’ final performance on the roof of their Apple HQ on 30 January 1969.

Fender planned to launch a Rosewood Telecaster alongside a Rosewood Stratocaster, with Harrison and Jimi Hendrix the intended recipients. While George’s brief, but significant patronage ensured that a production model would follow, the Stratocaster took longer to complete and Jimi never received it, thus it never got past the prototype stage.

Harrison wasn’t the only Beatle to use a single-cutaway Fender; in 1966, Paul McCartney bought a right-handed sunburst 1964 Esquire which would be strung lefthanded and used during the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sessions on Good Morning, Good Morning. It has also been speculated that this was the guitar Paul used to record Helter Skelter.