Steve Jones has revealed that Phil Lynott once conned him out of a vintage Gretch guitar, which is now on display at the Irish Rock’n’Roll Museum.
The museum’s owner Paddy Dunning has refused to give the guitar back, claiming that it is part of Irish rock history.
Lynott can be seen playing the guitar in his tribute to Elvis “King’s Call”, alongside Dire Straits fret legend Mark Knopfler.
Called the White Falcon, the guitar was a designed showpiece and not a commercial production. It could got up to €22,156 at an auction.
“Philo’s guitar”
On the guitar, Paddy Dunning said that the instruement is staying put at the museum. He also called the idea of Steve Jones using it to play Sex Pistols tracks “outrageous”.
“The idea of Steve Jones playing Anarchy In The UK or God Save The Queen on one of Ireland’s most treasured guitars is outrageous”, Dunning said.
He also added, “It’s not going to LA or the UK. This is Philo’s guitar and it belongs in Ireland”.
This comes after it was confirmed that Danny Boyle’s upcoming Drama “Pistol” which is a film based on the band featuring Jones will come out at some stage next year.
Commissioned by FX, the six part film will also be based on Steve Jone’s 2018 biopic. More here.
Despite his refusal to part with the guitar, Paddy Dunning has kindly said that Jones is welcome to use the guitar next time he plays in Ireland, for a fee of course.
“We will want a hefty deposit”, Dunning said. “Steve played the National Stadium with Iggy Pop in 1988, and put on a great show. We’d give him back his prized guitar for a gig but for one night only”.
“We had a laugh”
In the memoir “A Lonely Boy: Tales of a Sex Pistol”, Jones recalls his friendship with Phil Lynott.
He also recalled how he once played Sex Pistols and Thin Lizzy tracks together with a Punk/hard rock super group called The Greedy Bastards.
They also had a Christmas hit together back in 1979.
“We had a laugh, and I really liked Phil”, Jones said. “But things turned a bit ugly between us towards the end once we were both on heroin”.
On the guitar, Jones claimed, “There’s a white Falcon guitar of mine in his museum in Ireland which he conned out of me for a bag of dope”.
“kleptomaniac”
Jones has also ironically admitted to being a “kleptomaniac”, taking amps and other musical equipment from stars like Rod Stewart, David Bowie and Ronnie Wood. He would take guitars from Rod Stewert, microphones from Bowie and even nicked a fur coat from Wood.
“I was definitely a kleptomaniac, I loved lifting stuff”, Jones revealed. “And I started getting into music, so I figured good stuff to lift is musical equipment”.
“You win some, you lose some. People who’ve nicked coats off The Rolling Stones shouldn’t live in glass houses”.
After the Sex Pistols split in 1979, Jones began using heroin again along with Lynott.
“I was doing smack with him. It wasn’t pretty, but then again addiction never is”, Jones said. “I was lucky enough to come out the other side, Phil sadly wasn’t”.
Last December, Dublin City Council unveiled a commerative plaque outside the house that Phil Lynott grew up in. More on that here.
