Top 10 Most Expensive Guitars In The World

In the world of music, guitars remained one of the most popular choices of musical instruments among musicians and even collectors. So it is not surprising to see those with a deep passion for music spend huge bucks to own these super rare guitars.

Some of them spend millions of dollars for these limited edition guitars which symbolize wealth and a great addition to their music collections. Here we would like to share with you the top 10 most expensive guitars in the world.

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10. David Gilmour's 1954 Fender Stratocaster

The David Gilmour Guitar collection auction was held at Christie's in New York in June 2019 with the eyes on the main prize featuring David Gilmour's 1954 White Fender Stratocaster #0001.

The guitar was played in Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall Parts 2 and 3 as it was sold for a whopping $1,815,000. For a brief moment, it held the record for being the most expensive Fender ever sold before it was overthrown by another fancy guitar owned by David Gilmour.

9. Jerry Garcia's Wolf Guitar

The well-known Wolf Guitar of Jerry Garcia was unlike any other out there as it was sold in an auction for $1.9 million in June 2017 to Brian Halligan. The good part is that the proceeds of the sale will go straight to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a charity organization.

The guitar was relatively special as it was customized by a craftsman, Doug Irwin and he also added his own label on it, "D. Irwin 001". The Wolf guitar was then handed over to Jerry Garcia and it made its first appearance to the public during the Grateful Dead gave for the Hell's Angels performance in 1973.

8. Peter Green's Greeny

After being approached to join John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers in the midst 1960s, Fleetwood Mac icon Peter Green made a huge purchase of Peter Green's Greeny. Before selling it to his fellow guitars man Gary Moore in 1970, he played it on Fleetwood Mac classics like The Green Manalishi and Albatross.

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Moore has been using this guitar throughout his solo career but due to financial issues, he was compelled to sell it in 2006. A guitar dealer by the name of Phil Winfield bought his special guitar for $1.2 million and later sold it to an unknown buyer for $2 million.

However, the guitar is now in the hands of Kirk Hammet of Metallica as he purchased it in 2014 for less than $2 million.

7. Jimi Hendrix 1968 Fender Stratocaster

Jimi Hendrix is considered a guitar genius due to his skill sets in playing guitars throughout his lifetime. The 1968 Fender Stratocaster owned by him was the prize of the world known to make the perfect music.

The guitar was played by Hendrix in 1969 at the Woodstock concert and it was not long after the guitar was bought by one of the co-founders of the biggest companies in the world, Paul Allen.

It has been reported that Paul spent a cool $2 million in 2000 for ownership of the guitar.

6. John Lennon's Gibson J-160 E Acoustic Electric Guitar

During an auction in November 2015m John Lennon's long-lost Gibson J-160E acoustic-electric guitar, which he played with the Beatles brought in $2.41 million. The guitar was played during the albums "Please Please Me" and "With The Beatles".

John McCaw had the guitar since 1969 as he acquired it from his buddy, Tommy Pressley who had bought it previously for a measly $175. As McCaw came upon a realization that the guitar was used by John Lennon while on stage in 2012. 

Knowing the high value of the guitar, McCaw decided to place it up for auction.

5. Reach Out to Asia Fender Stratocaster

Despite this particular guitar not being owned by any legendary musician, there is an interesting story behind it. In 2005, the Qatari government bought a guitar and requested various music legends from all over the world to put their signature on top of the guitar.

Among the famous names on the guitar include Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Mark Knopfler, Ray David, Liam Gallagher, Ronnie Wood, Tony Iommi, Angus and Malcolm Young, Paul McCartney, Sting, Ritchie Blackmore, Def Leppard, and Bryan Adams.

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Once all these signatures were gathered this guitar was listed in an auction and managed to be sold for $2.7 million. The proceed of the sale were given to Reach Out For Asia which is a program built to help the victims of the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami in 2004.

4. Eddie Van Halen's 'Hot For Teacher" Kramer

This special custom-made electric Guitar owned by Eddie Van Halen was played during Van Halen's seminal 'Hot for Teacher' and with such a high meaning to the guitar, it certainly had a high value on it.

The guitar was auctioned at Sotheby's in April 2023 for a hefty price of $3,932,000. This legendary guitar was specially made by Paul Unkert of Kramer Guitars and it became the fourth most expensive guitar in the world.

3. David Gilmour's Black Strat

The Black Strat, an iconic David Gilmour guitar broke the record for the most expensive guitar in the world as it was sold in June 2019 for $3,975,000 at the David Gilmour Guitar Collection auction.

This guitar was essential to the recording of the Pink Floyd albums, "The Dark Side of The Moon", "Wish You Were Here", "Animals", and "The Wall" as well as other Guilmour's solo albums.

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The entirety of the sale went to ClientEarth, a nonprofit organization fighting against global warming. For almost a year, the Black Strat maintained its record for being the world's most expensive guitar.

2. Kurt Cobain's Fender Mustang Guitar

In May 2022, Kurt Cobain's renowned Fender Mustang guitar which he used during the 1991 Nirvana music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" became the second most expensive guitar ever sold.

It was bought during the New York's Julien's Auctions Music Icon auction for a staggering $4.5 million. The guitar was previously owned by billionaire Jim Irsay in 2019 as he bought it for $3,975,000 which hold the world record back then.

1. Kurt Cobain's MTV Unplugged Guitar

The historic month of June 2020 mark the moment that Kurt Cobtain's MTV Unplugged guitar was sold for a whopping $6,010,000 which sets a new world record for the most expensive guitar in the world.

The record was 1 year after David Gilmour's Black Strat set the previous mark. Fiver months before this tragically early death at 27, the late Nirvana leader performed the band's MTV Unplugged performance at Sony Music Studios on 18 November 1993 using the 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic electric guitar.

Kurt Cobain's guitar was purchased by the founder of RDE Microphone, Peter Freedman.

Source:

• Iluminasi

• Hai

Also read: Top 10 Most Expensive Musical Instruments In The World