George Harrison's Norwegian Wood Sitar
Featured on The Beatles' 1965 classic album Rubber Soul, "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" is widely credited with exposing Western audiences to the sitar. George Harrison played the Indian string instrument on the recording — this specific one. Purchased by Harrison not long before the studio session, it was soon replaced by a more sophisticated model to better play into microphones. The original accompanied George and his new bride Pattie Boyd on their 1966 honeymoon in Barbados. Harrison had a better model flown to him while there and gifted this one to Pattie's friend George Drummond, who kept it in his care until consigning it with Nate D. Sanders Auctions. Accompanied by letters of authenticity from both Boyd and Drummond, it exhibits small cracks and loose strings but is otherwise in very good shape for an instrument of its age and is an exceptional piece of music history.
