Some music fans understandably regard the guitars owned and played by George Harrison, in his Beatles career and as a solo artist, as sacred relics that may still contain fragments of their former master’s spirit.

Dhani Harrison, the son and only child of George Harrison, appreciates why the instruments he inherited from his father are so venerated but sees things slightly differently.

“It’s not like Spinal Tap,” he said recently, referring to that satirical rock ’n’ roll troupe. “ ‘Don’t point at it, don’t even look at it.’ They’re not quite like that.”

He added: “Paintings should be in museums and should be able to be seen. Instruments should have to be played every once in a while. Otherwise they’ll perish.”