Seeing the thread about the sales of vintage and collectable guitars, lead me to ask this of the guitar players here on The Dope …
What guitar, that still extists (no lost, missing or destroyed models), is still owned by the original owner or artist that makes the guitar valuable - could arguably be considered either the most monetarily valuable guitar, or would be the most desired by collectors and fans, were the guitar available for sale?
What guitar, no longer owner by the original or famous artist, his family or estate, would be considered the same?
Please give the style and model of the guitar and what, if there is a particular action or circumstance, makes this guitar more valuable or desired over other guitars used by the same artist.
If you can link to an actual picture of the guitar, or an identical model, it would be appreciated.
It’s late in the day to post all the geekery - but there is a lot of discussion on this:
Most collectible/valuable that is still owned by the original artist: the general consensus on boards I hang out on is **Jimmy Page’s #1 Les Paul 'burst **- lots of mods on it (different wiring, re-shaped neck, etc.). It a '58 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst - already the Stradivarious / Holy Grail of guitars - and this is the one played by one of the most influential guitar players. And yeah, I know he got it from Joe Walsh - I mean “original artist” in terms of who made it famous…
Most collectible not currently owned by the original player? Probably Clapton’s Beano 'burst - the guitar he used on John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton - the album that lead to Clapton is God and was a main driver behind sunburst Les Pauls becoming the legends they have become. It was stolen in '66 I think - there are HUGE threads in the LP Forum trying to piece facts together to find it. If Clapton’s Blackie sold for $1 million a year or two ago, I wouldn’t want to guess what the Beano ‘burst would go for if properly authenticated - but much, much more. And yeah, he bought it based on Andy Summers’ recommendation (according to Andy) and then bought Andy’s own 'burst off him when the Beano 'burst got nicked.
Beyond that, you have the usual suspects of highly collected artists like the Beatles, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jerry Garcia, etc…but I suspect that those two are the biggies…
Most definitely, Pagey’s #1 is the most wanted and would probably get a pretty respectable amount at auction…
Other’s I can think of are BB King’s original acoustic “Lucille” if it still exists, Vaughn’s “Lenny”, and personally, I’d like a crack at Angus Young’s first '62 SG which I believe he still owns…
But I think at auction #3 on the list after the two that WordMan mentioned would have to be Van Halens original Frankenstrat. That would pull in a pretty penny I’m sure…
But the Gretsch he traded for it (the one he used in Buffalo Springfield) would probably command a respectable sum, too - if only for the novelty value.
Let’s not forget Young’s Acoustic Martin D-45, which was previously owned by none other than Hank Williams. He talks about it in the Heart of Gold Concert film (Great Concert Film btw). Being owned by not one but two music legends has got to make an instrument appreciate in value, to say the least.
Gilmour’s #1 is a particularly great choice: a first-year 1954 Strat serial #0001. Also in a custom color with a custom anodized pickguard - it has been researched to NOT be the actual first production Strat - rather, it ended up with #0001 kinda randomly apparently as a custom order - but still!! The biggest issues with it not being as hot as Pagey’s #1 (his nickname for it; he also has #2 - whereas Gilmour’s is referred as the #1 Strat because of its serial number) are:
Gilmour hasn’t used it much - he owns it as a collector, but it is NOT a guitar used on a bunch of tracks or famously live in concert. Page’s #1 was his main Zep guitar along with his Tele and Danelectro - but the Les Paul is his iconic guitar.
A 'burst trumps a '54 Strat - a '54 Strat approaches the Holy Grail nature of a '58 - '60 sunburst LP - but still sell for 1/3 to 1/2 of what a burst goes for normally
Page trumps Gilmour - don’t get me wrong - Gilmour is AMAZING; but as far as guitar heroes go, Page is more influential than Gilmour
As for Neil Young - I simply don’t know much about how collectors value Young’s gear; I don’t know of many sales. Old Black is a great guitar - my soul-mate guitar is very similar - and is famously associated with Neil, but I don’t think it would fetch the same $$ - or be in the same league, frankly - as Page or Gilmour. His D-45- well, that would be something. Pre-WW2 Martin Dreadnoughts are the Holy Grail of acoustics - equivalent to ‘bursts - and D-45’s are the rarest of the rare - only a few made. The fact that it was owned by Hank Williams is freakin’ huge - his shadow gets bigger each year, IMHO - and then being owned by NY just adds to the luster. I don’t know acoustic guitars as well, but could easily see this guitar being the one…
(by the way Gilmour lovers - there is a new book coming out called The Black Strat - it chronicles the history of Gilmour’s main all black with white pickups Strat he used in the mid 70’s - quite the mongrel guitar, going through a lot of mods and changes - so this is more the equivalent of Page’s LP in terms of use…)
Not nearly as well-known as the others, but still valuable (I would think), is the Gibson Flying V (serial #7) purchased in 1958 (and still owned) by Lonnie Mack.
In my opinion, Lonnie Mack doesn’t get the recognition he deserves for being a trend-setting guitarist. Stevie Ray Vaughan was heavily influenced by Lonnie, as were many others. His biggest hits were instrumental versions of Chuck Berry’s “Memphis” and “Wham”, a Mack original. He’s also a great, soulful vocalist.
Here’s some trivia: the “whammy” bar got it’s nickname from Mack’s tune, “Wham”.
I was fortunate enough to see Lonnie perform a few times in the 1980’s when he was touring in support of “Strike Like Lightning”, his come-back album, produced by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Stevie also performed on several of the songs. It’s well worth picking up!
I thought of another one that’s probably worth a fair amount- Brian May’s Red Special, hand-made by Brian and his father when Brian was a teenager.
What makes it valuable is that the original is truly one-of-a-kind and irreplaceable (you know, being hand-made and all). I have a firm grasp of the obvious, don’t I?
Replicas have been produced by a few different guitar companies over the years, and Brian occasionally plays one himself.
I thought of this one because my local PBS station is doing a fund-raising drive, and last night showed Queen Rock Montreal, filmed in 1981.
Rick Nielsen is an avid collector; there was a book published featuring his collection. Back in the day, he was one of the first pawn shop scouters, finding 50’s Les Pauls for less than $100.
As for May’s Red Special - yep, an iconic guitar. No idea how much it would be valued at - there is nothing to compare it to! - but it is a big deal. May isn’t lionized to the same extent as the Pages, Claptons, SRV, etc. - but he is very highly respected.
That’s all part of what makes this an interesting and challenging question - it somewhat favours those guitarists who had smaller collections and stuck with one or two instruments that became iconic of them. Steve Howe is another guitarist who has a museum of fretted instruments, but I can’t think of any one of his guitars that would top Page’s Les Paul.
Pete Townsend went through so many, so did Hendrix, so did Kiss. If they had only played one guitar, it would be a different matter. Zappa played the strat that Hendrix burned at Montreux, if I recall correctly…
Personally, I’d be more interested in either Page’s double neck or the original Tele from the first two albums, but that’s just me.
For basses, I think it’d be John Entwistle’s Alembic…
I know little about guitars, but I’d guess Willie Nelson’s Martin N-20 nylon-string acoustic “Trigger” would fetch a hefty price. There’s even a movie about it.
You know, I am not sure about that - meaning, yeah, it would fetch a pretty penny, but I don’t think anywhere near the other guitars being discussed. Don’t get me wrong - Willie Nelson is the man - but about the only thing that guitar has going for it is that it’s associated so exclusively with Willie. It is a nylon-string classical acoustic - and a Martin, who are NOT known for making great classical guitars. Willie is a songwriter, not a guitar slinger, etc. Bottom line is that if a couple of Willie fans fought over it, it might go big, but otherwise, it wouldn’t come near acoustics like Clapton’s 40’s-era concert-sized Martin steel-string used on Unplugged which went for $500,000+, IIRC - and certainly not the same as the electrics mentioned…
Having said all that - it is a wonderfully loved and abused guitar - the hole in the top from his picking motion and all the autographs and writing and such on it all make it super cool.
Hope it’s not too late to add one to this list - I was thinking of it because of a question in GQ earlier today.
What about the Les Paul owned by Les Paul? According to this interview,it’s a 1971 brown Recording Les Paul that he’s currently playing… I imagine that’d be worth a few bucks, too.
Scroll down to about 3/4 of the way down the page…
I’ve wondered if Les Paul is a little amused to see the few Gibson Les Paul <famous name> Signature models. Example. I mean, ALL Les Paul guitars are signature models, right? So the notion of a ‘signature’ Les Paul is a level of recursion.
So: what if someone became famous playing a specific Les Paul <famous name> signature guitar? If it were me, would Gibson issue, for example, a Gibson Squeegee Signature Les Paul Slash Signature Les Paul?
I have to go into a meeting, but will offer a few observations of Les Paul geekery:
Les Paul guitars owned by Les Paul don’t have an established big-buck value on the collector’s market. He tends to get one-off experimental models with tons of extra doohickeys on them, he tends to favor low-impedance pickups vs. the PAF humbuckers that are part of the LP Legend - and he never really had one single guitar that he was associated with - he’s gone through hundreds.
When Les Paul was experimenting with solid bodies in the early 40’s working on Sundays in the Epiphone plant (he’d worked out a deal to go in after hours with Epi himself) he built “the Log” a 4x4 block of wood with jazz guitar “wings” bolted on to either side for show. Now if that ever went up for sale - Les still has it or it may be at the RRHoF - it might fetch a pretty penny from a super-collector. He has other well-known experimental guitars - Les Pauls he equipped with on-board tape echo (another thing he invented) but none as well known as The Log.
The known prototype from 1955 of the Goldtop Les Paul with humbucking pickups (finally intro’d on the 1957 model of the LP) is in the hands of respected Gibson and guitar collector and researcher Gil Hembree - it is on the cover of his book about the McCarty years at Gibson (40’s through 60’s - Ted McCarty was their president during this Golden era). It would be worth big bucks if it were sold…
I could geek out more but I have that meeting I am already late for…
Oh - and yeah, guitar geeks really giggled at the thought of “double signature” Les Pauls when the Jimmy Page/Les Paul first came out - but there are SO many now that it is just accepted…
The above mentioned book by Rick Nielsen is Guitars of The Stars, Vol 1. It shows his 1958 Gibson Explorers (including one with a split headstock), along with his 1958/59 Flying V’s. There’s also a pic of the 1980 re-issue of the Gibson Moderne, which along with the Explorer and Flying V made up the futuristic “Heritage Series” line designed by then Gibson president, Ted McCarty.
Although the Moderne was supposedly never put into production until the early 80’s, I’ve always wondered what would happen if an authentic 1958 prototype showed up on the market today.