Piano Used By The Beatles Up For Sale

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 164 months ago
Piano Used By The Beatles Up For Sale

2007_piano.jpg
Photo / gary8345
A piano from Abbey Road studios, one whose ivories were stroked by at least a few of the Fab Four's forty digits for the recording of a classic Beatles ditty, is to go on sale at an auction later this month.

The Challen piano was housed in Studio 3 at the north London recording studio, and was apparently used in the recording of the band's 1966 single Paperback Writer (okay, so it's not Hey Jude, but equally, it's not Octopus's Garden). Curiously, the song doesn't appear to have any piano on it — maybe they were just using it as a place to rest their drinks, or a distraction to keep Ringo busy while the other three worked on the track.

The instrument, which was also used by other bands including Pink Floyd, was "retired" in 1980. It is expected to fetch around £150,000 at auction; a useful wad of cash for EMI, whose financial troubles are such that they were even considering selling their famous studios to turn a quick buck.

Fancy a quick tickle of the ivories? Check out the street pianos stationed around town for the summer

Last Updated 21 July 2010