LC's black guitar in a Tel-Aviv museum

[DBCohen]

The following article includes a photograph of LC’s black guitar which is now displayed in a Tel-Aviv museum. Does anyone know how it got there? This and other articles about the renovated museum do not mention who gave it to them.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/cultu ... viv-661592

[Mabeanie1]

The day after the final concert in Auckland December 2013 I had a chat with a very emotional Mickey Sullivan. "He gave me his guitar. He gave me HIS guitar" he said. Perhaps donated to the museum by Mickey's executors? But of course Leonard would have toured with a spare guitar too so who knows which one this is? The article says it was the guitar Leonard used for his last concert in Israel so, if true, maybe Leonard himself donated his guitar in 2009 and simply acquired another one for the next tour?

Wendy

[LisaLCFan]

That is not a "Gibson Chet Atkins" guitar (as stated in the article), it's a Godin Multiac ACS guitar (which is always what Leonard used on his latter tours, as far as I know). He definitely had more than one guitar on the tour -- sometimes he played a natural-wood coloured one (not black), and of course, there may have been a spare or two.

[Geoffrey]

maybe it doesn't matter too much whether leonard ever touched this guitar or not. the most important thing is to make people happy. i once wrote van morrison's autograph on a used concert ticket and gave it to an acquaintance as a birthday present. it cost nothing, just a simple and harmless act of kindness. i felt i had done a good deed, and as a big van morrison fan the item meant the world to him. a win-win situation. we became good friends, and he treasures it to this day.

more than anything else, the act of spreading joy, making someone happy, is the nicest thing we can do. it is believed that there are numerous undetected fake paintings hanging on the walls of national galleries. cohen fans who visit the museum will be thrilled to gaze upon a guitar that they believe leonard owned and played, and it would be heartless to cheat them of such a wonderful experience. as my grandmother used to say: what the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't grieve over.

[Joe Way]

Regardless of the heritage of the guitar, what a great museum! Anne & I would love to visit it someday.

LisaLCfan, that is not a Godin, it is indeed a Gibson Electric guitar with steel strings as opposed to the Godin which had nylon strings.

[Joe Way]

LisaLCfan, I apologize, I think you are right and it is a Godin guitar. I always thought that LC's guitar had an acoustic body, but apparently this solid body electric is the one he played.

Joe

[LisaLCFan]

...LisaLCfan, that is not a Godin, it is indeed a Gibson Electric guitar with steel strings as opposed to the Godin which had nylon strings.

No, actually, the guitar in the photo from the Tel-Aviv museum is most certainly not a Gibson electric guitar with steel strings. It is, in fact and as I said, a Godin Multiac ACS nylon-string acoustic-electric guitar, which is exactly what Leonard played on his last tour. As far as I know, Leonard never played steel-string electric guitars, at least not in concerts -- he always played nylon-string guitars (electric or acoustic). Godin guitars are made in Quebec, incidentally (that's the Canadian province where Leonard was born).

Below is a photo of a pretty-much identical Godin guitar (to that in the Tel-Aviv museum -- you can clearly see that they are the same), and a link to a website selling the guitar (so, if people want a guitar just like Leonard's, they'll know what to buy!).

https://www.stars-music.com/godin-multi ... 56082.html

[LisaLCFan]

LisaLCfan, I apologize, I think you are right and it is a Godin guitar. I always thought that LC's guitar had an acoustic body, but apparently this solid body electric is the one he played.

Joe

No worries! (Although, I don't think it is a solid-body, either -- chambered, I believe). I'm a bit a nylon-string guitar fanatic.

[B4real]

A little more info here about this guitar's acquisition - https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/iconic-leon ... -1.5351157

MONTREAL -- A piece of Montreal singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen's musical legacy has taken centre stage far away, in Tel Aviv, Israel, at the ANU Museum of the Jewish People.

That particular guitar has special significance in Israel. Cohen played it in his final concert in the country in 2009.

"During this concert, he said a prayer in Hebrew," said chief curator Orit Shaham-Gover. "It's a memorable moment for every Israeli."

Shaham-Gover said it took the museum three and a half years to track down the guitar for the exhibit.

"Eventually we got it," said Shaham-Gover. "It is here. For everyone who comes to the museum, it's really a very touching thing to see it."

The guitar now features alongside historic and modern artifacts, films, multimedia displays and other exhibits.

The museum, which recently completed a 10-year, $100 million expansion, formerly went under the name Beit Hatfutsot.

The museum also includes a performance-art display in memory of Cohen titled "I'm Ready My Lord" based on his song "You Want it Darker."

I thought I'd add a link to the full 2009 Israel concert so all can see this guitar in action but unfortunately it's difficult to view a really clear image of it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWuaWBi0or4
Look at approx 0:51:00 Lover Lover Lover, 1:22:00 Suzanne, 1:30:00 Sisters of Mercy, 1:38:00 The Partisan, 2:23:00 Famous Blue Raincoat and 2:42:00 I Tried To Leave You.

[DBCohen]

Thanks, Beverly!

[B4real]

Always my pleasure to help in some way where ever I can.
Lovely to catch up with you, Doran

[sebmelmoth2003]

jewish appreciation :

https://thecjn.ca/perspectives/opinions ... ish-songs/

https://thecjn.ca/perspectives/opinions ... ear-death/

https://thecjn.ca/perspectives/opinions ... ard-cohen/