Gem, Noel & Bonehead during the Summer 2025 gigs (Photos: J. Halling?)
It looks like Gibson and Epiphone may be preparing to release some Oasis-related or Oasis-inspired guitars in the coming months. Clues have been floating around for a while, especially after some interesting instruments were spotted at the fan-exclusive exhibition held at the gig venues.
These won’t be ultra-limited, ultra-expensive models like the recent Gibson Garage Les Paul with P-90s: they’re more likely to be regular production models, similar to the Noel Gallagher Riviera released in 2022 and still available today.
Keep reading for hints and speculation… though the photos above might already give you a pretty good idea of what’s on the way.
NG in Teotihuacan, Mexico, March 1998 (Photos: R. Rankine)
This update follows the previous one dedicated to Standing on the Shoulder of Giants – arguably the band’s most underrated era. The period between 1998 and 1999 remains poorly documented, so I’ve dug deep into 25-year-old news archives and fansites (thanks to the Wayback Machine) to piece together a detailed chronology of the Giants sessions and how they unfolded.
Alongside a few brand-new pages, many existing guitar backstories have been expanded with fresh details.
Below, you’ll also find what I believe is a fairly accurate recap of the key events between the final gig of the Be Here Now tour in March 1998 and the release of Standing on the Shoulder of Giants in February 2000.
For archival purposes, I’ve also included a collection of original news articles from late 1998 to late 1999: it’s fun to look back and read stuff from that era in hindsight.
“Here’s another sunday morning call…” (Photo: A. MacPherson)
As you might have guessed from the picture, this update has a bit of a Standing on the Shoulder of Giants theme. The “Giants” era is one of the band’s most obscure yet fascinating periods, like the musical equivalent of a hangover after a wild night out.
A thread on the Live4Ever forum, where fellow fans shared their appreciation for this underrated album, inspired me to dig deeper into the recording sessions and the instruments used.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve completely rewritten several pages from scratch, adding lots of details and behind-the-scenes geekiness. And there’s more about Giants coming in the next update.
Keep reading for a quick recap of the latest changes!
Oh, and I’ve also added half a dozen new entries to the complete list – which means the website has now passed the 100 guitars milestone! I bet even Noel doesn’t remember all of them!
Guess which guitar has now its page on the website? (Photo: Michael Spencer Jones)
This update features a brand new page – and it’s a big one.
It has been a long time in the making. The first draft on my computer dates back to 2014 – almost a decade before this website even existed. The history of this guitar is murky, with obscure moments and twists, but I believe the reconstruction I’ve put together finally makes sense. I’ll let you be the judge.
So, what finally pushed me to finish it? Well… the fact that I was wrong. One of the guitars on stage during the Live ’25 tour isn’t what I originally thought. With better footage now available (and a hint from a sharp reader who was there), it’s clear: an old favourite is back.
Keep reading after the break for the full story & a detailed list of various updates…
Spring is here and the Oasis reunion is just weeks away! Time flies…
This fairly extensive update doesn’t include any brand-new guitar pages (I promise — one of the long-missing “big ones” is on the way!), but there have been a few new bits you might find interesting. Here’s a recap.
UPDATED PAGES:
Two small photoshoots from recent weeks brought some interesting guitar sightings. Zoe Law (@zoelawlondon) captured Noel in his studio, strumming his Epiphone USA Casino in Sunburst finish. As one of his favorite guitars in recent years, could it make an appearance at the upcoming Oasis reunion gigs? A few minor updates were also made to the page for its twin – the Epiphone USA Casino in Royal Tan finish.
Since we’re in Les Paul territory… an email from a reader prompted me to dig a bit deeper into one of Noel’s Gibson Les Pauls in Cherry Sunburst — yes, the Familiar to Millions etc. model. Turns out, it’s a rare and historically significant model from 1993.
The page for the legendary black, ex-Johnny Marr Gibson Les Paul Custom has been updated with a couple of photos from the Standing on the Shoulder of Giants sessions at Wheeler End studios. A geeky follow-up blog post about this LP is coming in the next few weeks (and here’s the first one, in case you missed it).
Thanks to Tom Sheehan’s superb new book Roll With It (if you haven’t grabbed a copy, do — it’s easily the best Oasis photo book in years), we now have confirmation that the Goldtop Gibson Les Paul was indeed used to record Some Might Say in February 1995. During those sessions, the Gibson Firebird was also featured prominently — its page has been updated accordingly.
On the semi-hollow front… the page for the Gibson ES-345 stoptail has been fully rewritten with new photos and extra detail — including an exciting (?!) digression about its tuning machines.
Also revealed in Justin Downing’s shoot: a lovely Natural-finished Gibson ES-335 with a Bigsby vibrato. Is it a new addition or an old one? More digging needed.
The elusive Ebony Gibson ES-355 has had its page rewritten and expanded. And a reader pointed out another sighting of the unlucky Gibson ES-355 no.2 — yes, that guitar from Paris 2009…
Speaking of reader tips… since I admittedly know very little about Gretsch models, one expert rightly corrected my info about the Gretsch Country Gentleman. Its page has been rewritten. Thanks for the heads-up!
And finally… the page for the Surf Green Fender Telecaster has been expanded with new photos and a few added details. Strangely enough, it was the most viewed page on the site in March. Go figure!
Let me get a few things off my chest. For almost fifteen years, I’ve been gathering information and materials to piece together every tiny, seemingly insignificant detail about the guitars Noel Gallagher played in Oasis and High Flying Birds. I’ve spent countless hours researching, connecting the dots, organizing, cataloging, and writing. I’ve spent a significant amount of money on books, magazines, clippings, and maintaining a website.
The result of all this effort has been online since September 2023: free, accessible to everyone, with no ads or financial gain. I’m not protective of the information I’ve painstakingly compiled over the years – if I were, I wouldn’t have made it available for everyone on the site. But, as stated on the homepage and every single page of the site, I only ask that my work is acknowledged and properly credited when used. Not for fame or clicks – just out of respect for years of passion and research.
I was disappointed when a couple of specialized magazines took information from the site without citing the source. Oh well, that’s just how media works these days, right?
But I was even more disheartened recently when I came across a site (which I won’t name) that catalogs the gear of famous guitarists, including Noel. I’d seen it before; it was just a basic, not-so-detailed list. Interestingly, over the past few months, it’s been updated with a lot of specifics about many guitars – I’d estimate that about 90% of those pages mirrors the content on this site. It’s been rephrased or synthesized, maybe even with the help of AI. Many conclusions I’ve drawn (sometimes with the help of other fans) are repeated there. Several images are identical (most of the file names weren’t changed). Even the cited sources match mine exactly. And yet, by coincidence, the name of this site is never mentioned! There are monetized links to Amazon, Reverb, and other sources all over the website, but not a single acknowledgment (let alone a link) to the years of work I’ve put in! Shame on you, Dan. I bet you’re reading.
Nothing new, you might say. True. It happens everywhere and to everyone online. But it’s incredibly disappointing for someone like me, who goes out of their way to respect others’ work (I get annoyed when I can’t find the source or author of a photo to include in its embedded image description).
The phrase on every page of my site isn’t just decoration. Respect other people’s work. That’s all I’m asking.
There are some updates in the works, but for the time being I’ve lost a bit of my enthusiasm. I imagine many of you can understand the frustration.
This November, Oasis fans in Japan have a special opportunity: the “Live Forever: Oasis 30th Anniversary Exhibition” at the Roppongi Museum in Tokyo showcases a collection of memorabilia, including some of Noel’s guitars. The exhibition runs from November 1 to November 23, 2024.
All these guitars have been displayed before in the last decade, but it still is rare chance to see these iconic instruments up close.
Keep reading this post for more details and a photo gallery!
Oasis photographed by James Fry at Nomad Studios – November 1993
It’s been a long and busy month, but now it’s time for some updates on the website. Nothing really major, but there are definitely a few interesting tidbits to share!
UPDATED PAGES:
Three guitars were auctioned last month by Sotheby’s, and their pages on the website have been updated accordingly. These guitars include the Supersonic Epiphone Les Paul, Johnny Marr’s Flying V, and the early ’70s hollow-bodied EA-250.
A couple of fans pointed out that the Gretsch was not a Tennessean but a Country Gentleman model, and they are indeed right! Also, I had forgotten about these backstories: allegedly, the guitar was owned by John Squire, and Noel wrote Live Forever and recorded Married With Children on it!
After careful examination, involving detailed analysis of grainy old photos (I love this kind of stuff!), I believe I have managed to identify the correct model of the bridge pickup on the famous Gibson Les Paul Burst conversion, also known as “Johnny’s old one.”
Recording Definitely Maybe at Monnow Valley, Jan. 1994 (Photo: M. S. Jones)
Everyone knows the story of the Sunburst Les Paul that Johnny Marr lent Noel in January 1994 – and never got back! But fewer are aware of Johnny’s Flying V: Noel is said to have used it for recording Slide Away and Cigarettes & Alcohol during the Definitely Maybe sessions at Monnow Valley.
With the guitar currently up for auction at Sotheby’s, I’ve decided it’s time to finish the dedicated page that has been sitting in drafts for a few months.
In 2019, when Johnny Marr handed the Flying V to a dealer for sale, the guitar’s connection to Oasis wasn’t mentioned. Johnny likely forgot that he had lent the guitar to Noel 25 years earlier! I immediately recognized the Flying V as the one Noel played in the Monnow Valley photos taken by Michael Spencer Jones, so I contacted the unaware dealer to inform him about its history. Guess what, he thought I was messing with him and wasting his time…
Noel Gallagher’s studio in London (Photo: The Postman)
After the historic Oasis reunion announcement last week, Noel has been spotted several times in and around his studio. Media speculation is at an all-time high, with some suggesting that this could be a sign the band is ready to record new music.
Rumors gained traction when a few photos of Noel’s guitar tech transporting guitar cases were published by the usual tabloids. For some, this is confirmation that new Oasis music is coming sooner rather than later. But for me, it is not – though I’d love a new record soon.
So, what’s inside those guitar cases? And why is Noel moving guitars in and out of his studio? Keep reading as we try to figure it out…
The Chief's Guitars - Noel Gallagher's guitars: a complete guide - Oasis and NGHFB 