Traditional Indian sitar used by George Harrison on Beatles' Norwegian Wood sells for £54,000

A traditional Indian instrument used by George Harrison to record a Beatles song has sold for over £53,000.

Harrison bought the 4ft long sitar from a small Oxford Street shop named Indiacraft between August and October 1965.

He later used the instrument to record the song, Norwegian Wood, in October 1965, launching 'the Great Sitar Explosion' in rock music.

Harrison took the sitar to Barbados on his and Pattie Boyd's January 1966 honeymoon and then gifted it as a thank you to his friend, George de Vere Drummond, after he let them stay at his house on the island. 

Harrison is to be thanked for writing some of the Beatles most iconic songs, including 'While my guitar gently weeps', the highly acclaimed 'Here comes the sun' and 'Something'. 

Mr Drummond kept hold of the sitar for 58 years before deciding to sell it at auctioneers Nate D Sanders, in Los Angeles California.

It had been expected to sell for £20,000 but such was the interest in it and in Beatles memorabilia in general that it sold for £53,600.

The sitar, which has a few cracks in it, was made by Kanai Lal & Brother of Calcutta in the late 1940s or 50s.

It has elaborate wood carvings and is in the shape of a swan's neck and head.

Harrison later recalled of the purchase: 'I went and bought a sitar from a little shop at the top of Oxford Street called Indiacraft - it stocked little carvings, and incense.

'It was a real crummy-quality one, actually, but I bought it and mucked about with it a bit.

'Anyway, we were at the point where we'd recorded the Norwegian Wood backing track and it needed something.

'We would usually start looking through the cupboard to see if we could come up with something, a new sound, and I picked the sitar up - it was just lying around.

'I hadn't really figured out what to do with it. It was quite spontaneous: I found the notes that played the lick. It fitted and it worked.'

After gifting this sitar to Drummond, Harrison got himself a more 'sophisticated style' one for future recordings.

A Nate D Sanders spokesperson said: 'We are delighted with the result which was over double the pre-sale estimate.

'More than any guitar that Harrison used during his career with the Beatles and as a solo artist, the sitar is perhaps the instrument most closely associated with him.

'It is more than an instrument; it's a bridge between cultures and melodies.

'From the moment he acquired it in 1965, this unassuming piece of craftsmanship ignited a revolution.'

In 1966, Harrison became the first Beatle to journey to India.

His pilgrimage led him to Mumbai, where he studied the sitar under the tutelage of the legendary Ravi Shankar.

The instrument was said to have become Harrison's conduit to a deeper understanding of Eastern melodies and philosophy.

Harrison died aged 58 in 2001.