Gibson Trini Lopez

Photo: A. Gasson / Guitarist magazine
Model: Gibson Trini Lopez Standard
Color: Sparkling Burgundy
Year: 1968

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Used in...

- 2005-2024

- bought in Japan in 2005

- played live by Gem Archer in Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Details

Let's get things straight right at the beginning: the wonderful Gibson Trini Lopez that Noel played between 2002 and 2006 in Oasis does not belong to him.1 It is a 1967 model (serial 849401), finished in Cherry Red that Andy Bell bought in Los Angeles.

It may have been played during the recording sessions for the album Heathen Chemistry, but its first appearance was in the video for The Hindu Times, filmed in early 2002 at Abbey Road Studios.

Then, between 2002 and 2004, Noel played Andy's Trini Lopez for live performances of The Hindu Times and Wonderwall. During the Don't Believe the Truth tour in 2005 and 2006, Noel also used it for A Bell Will Ring and Mucky Fingers.

Gem Archer also played it for a few radio sessions, and it may have been used during the recording process of the Don't Believe the Truth album.
After the tour, the Trini Lopez was heavily damaged during transport. In Andy's words2:

"Actually Noel borrowed it for a couple of Oasis tours. The tour finished and I went back to Sweden... and it came through the post. [...] I opened the case and the head was off! And I was like... How could it make it through a world tour and then just like arrive at my door in pieces?"

The guitar was repaired by famous luthier Philippe Dubreille (who also repaired Noel's infamous ES-355 no.2 later on). A Bigsby B-7 vibrato unit was also added sometime during or after the repair.

Andy played his Trini Lopez throughout the Beady Eye tours and in the studio, and he still plays it in RIDE. As of 2024, though, he's retired it and he's bringing an identical one on tour.3
Noel's Trini Lopez is a little bit different: it is finished in the rare Sparkling Burgundy colour (no, it's not Cherry!) and it features a stopbar instead of the distinctive Trini Lopez trapeze tailpiece.
The stopbar is most likely a modification made by the previous owner.

The guitar was bought in November 2005 at Music Land Key in Shibuya, Tokyo. The actual moment when Noel plays and then buys the guitar is featured in the Lord Don't Slow Me Down docufilm. He even joked about a "half-price" discount!

Noel has never played the guitar live, and in a 2011 interview he stated that he hasn't "used the Trini Lopez on a track since Don't Believe The Truth".4

Gem Archer briefly mentioned Noel's Trini Lopez in a 2018 interview with MusicRadar.5 Some brilliant pictures of the guitar were taken for the magazine by A. Gasson: it can be clearly noticed how Sparkling Burgundy is definitely less transparent and more metallic than Cherry Red.6
In Noel Gallagher's Flying Birds, Gem has played the Sparkling Burgundy Trini Lopez between 2017 and 2019 in Ballad of the Mighty I, Black and White Sunshine, Everybody's on the Run, Go Let It Out, Keep On Reaching, Little by Little, The Importance of Being Idle, The Masterplan and Wonderwall.

In 2022, Gem played Noel's Trini again: curiously, the stopbar tailpiece was removed and replaced with a vintage-correct trapeze with the wood insert. The stopbar holes have been covered with a 'Custom Made' plaque - as it was common on '60s Gibson semi-hollows.
It certainly is the same guitar as before: the mismatched knobs and the worn inlays on the fretboard give it away.
Gem played it for Don't Look Back in Anger, It's a Beautiful World, Little By Little, She Taught Me How to Fly and Whatever.

During the 2023 Council Skies tour, Gem played the Trini in AKA... What a Life!, Going Nowhere, Little By Little, Love Is a Rich Man and The Importance of Being Idle.

Then, for the first 2024 gigs, Gem switched to a Cherry Red Trini Lopez that seems to be one of the recent reissues made by the Gibson Custom Shop.
Noel's Burgundy Trini was back in Gem's hands for the Summer 2024 gigs.

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For informational and non-commercial use only. Please do NOT publish this content elsewhere.
If you share or use this information, please provide proper credit and link to the website.
I appreciate your respect for the years of dedicated, freely available research!
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  1. Thanks also to live4ever forum user ccd204p who helped to clear my mind about the Trini dilemma. ↩︎
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXaP5DDD0ME ↩︎
  3. https://www.instagram.com/gibsonguitaruk/p/C7OYXWeM46j/ ↩︎
  4. https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/interview-noel-gallagher-talks-guitars-gear-and-high-flying-birds-512993 ↩︎
  5. https://www.musicradar.com/news/gem-archer-it-was-always-about-being-in-a-band-it-still-is-it-was-never-about-being-a-virtuoso ↩︎
  6. Allegedly, Sparkling Burgundy was introduced as a cost-cutting measure from Gibson because it covered small flaws and blemishes better than Cherry Red. ↩︎

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