Thaindian News

August 3, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): The Abbey Roads studio has decided to auction off the Challen upright piano which had been used by the Beatles as well as the Pink Floyd. The auction is expected to take place later this month.

The piano for sale has already garnered interest and is expected to fetch as much as £150,000. It had been initially bought for £250 when it was brand new. The auctioneer Bonhams also revealed that the piano was scarred with cigarette burns and discolored with coffee stains.

The Challen piano had been used in quite a few of the Beatles music tracks including the ‘Paperback Writer’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. According to the Reuters the same piano had also featured in a couple of Pink Floyd hits as well.

The piano had been used extensively from 1964 onwards until the 1980s when it was used no longer. Stephen Maycock, a consultant with the auctioneers said that it is difficult to pin point the exact tracks the piano had been used on. He however added that some of the tracks from the Beatles could nevertheless be identified. The results from the research done on the piano and the Beatles can actually help in this regard. It was the Pink Floyd tracks that were difficult to identify.

The North London studio, Abbey Roads had become synonymous with the Beatles who used it for most of their recordings which spanned more than a decade.

The memorabilia auction has now been scheduled for 15th August and will feature a number of other items as well. The event is expected to take place at the Goodwood Vintage Festival in Chichester, South England.