Top 10 Most Expensive Vintage Guitars

Vintage guitar values continue to climb over the years and show no sign of slowing down, particularly if they were owned by a famous musician. These are the kind of guitars that are not offered by regular guitar stores as they would be far too expensive, in fact most of vintage guitar dealers would do anything to own these models for themselves.

As the value of vintage guitars can top thousands or even millions of dollars it is easy to see why there is always interest in these instruments when they come up for auction. If you would like to know more about vintage guitar pricing and the top 10 most expensive vintage guitars recently sold here is a little more information on them.

The Top 10

Fender Stratocaster: Reach out to Asia. This was a guitar that was sold at auction in 2005 and has been signed by some of the music world's most influential guitarists including: Pete Townsend, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian May, Angus Young, Paul McCartney, David Gilmour and Eric Clapton to name but a few. The tower was first sold for $1 million to the Qatari royal family, they later re-donated the guitar to charity and it reached a staggering $2.7 million.

1968 Stratocaster: owned by Jimi Hendrix. This guitar was played at Woodstock by Jimi Hendrix in 1969. It has burn marks on the headstock from where Jimi placed his cigarettes and it is strung in reverse in the way that Jimi always requested of his guitars. This guitar is thought to have been sold for a cool $2 million.

A custom made Washburn 22 series Hawk that was previously owned by Bob Marley. This guitar was given to Gary Carlson who was one of Marley's guitar technicians at the time. It is thought to be worth between one $1.2-$2 million.

Blackie - a Stratocaster hybrid that was created by Eric Clapton from the parts of three vintage Stratocaster's. He named the guitar Blackie and played this for 12 years. The guitar was sold at auction back in 2004 and reached a staggering $959,000.

1964 Gibson ESO335: owned by Eric Clapton. This particular guitar was used by Eric Clapton in 1964 and largely put into retirement after that. It was sold for $847,500 which was a record-breaking amount for a Gibson guitar.

C.F Martin & Co circa 1939 that was owned by Eric Clapton. This guitar was auctioned for $791,500. The proceeds of the sale went to charity.

1965 Fender Stratocaster nicknamed Lenny that was owned by Stevie Ray Vaughan. This guitar was used repeatedly until 1990 and was auctioned to raise money for the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. It reached a staggering $623,500.

1964 Gibson: owned by George Harrison and John Lennon. This guitar was in use between 1966 and 1969 and Harrison played it during the recording and subsequent touring of the revolver album and Lennon used it for many of the White Album’s sessions. The guitar was not discovered until 2002 and it was sold in 2004 for an anonymous bidder for $570,000.

Gold Leaf Stratocaster: owned by Eric Clapton. This was specially commissioned by Eric Clapton back in 1996. It is unique as it is gold plated in 23 carat gold and is thought to be worth  $455,000

1949 Fender Broadcaster prototype. This guitar was one of the first Fender prototypes and is historically very important in the vintage guitar world. It was sold in 1994 to a private collector who paid $375,000 for it. At the time this was the highest amount that had ever been paid for a vintage guitar at auction.

Who Bought These Guitars?

The 1968 Stratocaster that was previously owned by Jimi Hendrix was rumored to have been purchased by Paul Allen who is the right-hand man of Bill Gates. Bob Marley's custom-made guitar was not actually purchased as it was given to a guitar technician is a gift from Bob Marley himself.

It is not known who bought Eric Clapton's Blackie guitar or his 1964 Gibson or many of the other guitars that are on the list as the bidders wanted to remain anonymous. This is something that often happens in the world of auctions as many bidders like to keep their identity a secret from the rest of the world.

Whenever a vintage guitar comes up for auction there is always plenty of excitement in the guitar world as everyone is eager to see just how much money it will be sold for. Unfortunately there are many models of guitar that have never gone for sale and are likely to remain in the hands of private collectors for many years to come.

Collectors are not always guitar players themselves sometimes they are simply music fans who want to own a slice of music history for themselves. These guitars are usually kept on display and rarely play as they are considered far too precious.

Online Resources

If you would like to learn more about vintage guitar appraisals, vintage guitar parts, vintage guitar amps and vintage guitar picks you need to take a look at some of the online resources that are available. There are some really fantastic websites that will provide definitive vintage guitar price guides that you can use to learn more about the prices of vintage guitars. One that is really useful is http://www.themomi.org/museum/articles/more/10expensive.html which lists the most expensive models in the world. While these are not the top 10 most expensive vintage guitars that have been sold it certainly makes for interesting reading.

There are also plenty of other websites that list of the value of vintage guitars, vintage guitar accessories and much more. If you would like to find out more about vintage guitar than the prices that these guitars have been up for sale for in the past take a look online where you will find plenty of help and information.