Where is Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Guitar?

This is being written on Juneteenth, 2025.

Americans celebrate the end of slavery in 1865 and we take a look at Black history and culture in our country.

Every Guitar Has A Story and one fits so perfectly here. Sister Rosetta Tharpe shaped guitar culture from the 1930s. She was the original soul sister.

She was the biggest recording star of early Gospel music. She achieved that by pulling from the fans of R&B and Rock and Roll. All the early Rock and Roll artists were heavily influenced by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Just for context, her song “Rock Me” came out in 1938 and “This Train” in 1939 was a hit. She was a singer of spiritual music on an electric guitar with heavy distortion.

She had hits through the 1940s and influence well beyond.

Let’s talk about that guitar. Gibson redesigned the 1961 Les Paul. It was thinner. It was lighter. It had bevels and pointed double cutaways. Les Paul rejected the design. Gibson rebranded it as the SG. The Met Museum in New York has a copy of that Les Paul Custom (serial # 3749) and credits Sister Rosetta Tharpe as the artist who designed it.

Her guitar is worth a fortune. Nobody knows its location. She died in 1973. That famous white Gibson is missing. Marie Knight, who did many shows with Sister Rosetta Tharpe, claims the guitar was buried with the original soul sister.

No one can verify that.

Rare Gospel Guitar

Every Guitar Has A Story,

especially on Juneteenth.

Watch this episode featuring another rare and famous Gospel Guitar