George Michael guitar at MIMMA in Malaga.
For his many fans, the announcement at Christmas 2016 that George Michael had died was a huge shock and another blow to the world of music that had seen so many legends leave us, starting with David Bowie last January. This week, Málaga’s Municipal Department for Youth/Área de Juventud announced that a guitar presented to the singer by the city of Málaga in 1989 was being returned for permanent display at MIMMA, Málaga’s museum of music. The guitar in question is a Gretsch Synchromatic. It’s an acoustic guitar used primarily during the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and George Michael used it after the presentation by Málaga officials. He also signed it and since then it has been kept in a glass case at the Municipal Department for Youth. Now, the Department for Youth plans a series of events and musical activities based on the guitar and the singer before it is moved to its new home at MIMMA. One of the activities, which will take place in spring, is a tribute concert performed by the winners of the MálagaCrea competition, which aims to find the most talented artists in Andalucía. There will also be a photographic exhibition of the images taken of George Michael during his visit to Málaga in the late eighties, including photos of him holding the guitar. The Gretsch Synchromatic Guitar was founded in Brooklyn in 1883 and started out making banjos. It expanded into guitars during the 1930s and in 1939 it launched the Synchromatic, with its Art Deco styling, which Gretsch hoped would compete with the market-leading Gibson Super 400. As Collectors Weekly explains: “These acoustic archtops included the top-of-the-line 400, which was designed to do battle in the marketplace with Gibson’s 1935 Super 400. The Synchromatics were unique in that they had a stairstep bridge, a harp-shaped tailpiece, an asymmetrical neck and cat’s-eye sound holes instead of the more traditional-looking f-holes.” This Gretsch didn’t really slow Gibson’s sales down at the time, but today the Gretsch Synchromatic is considered every bit as collectable as the Gibson 400, and one imagines that a Gretsch played by the late, great George Michael is certainly a collector’s piece of great value. And, you can see it for yourself in Málaga!
