London (AFP) – A collection of guitars and other musical equipment owned by influential rock guitarist Jeff Beck will go on sale in London in January, Christie’s auctioneers announced on Friday. Some of the 130 guitars, amps and “tools of the trade” used by Beck during his decades-spanning career are expected to fetch hundreds of thousands of pounds (dollars) when they go under the hammer on January 22, it said. They include the rock legend’s 1954 “Oxblood” Gibson Les Paul, famously depicted on the cover of his seminal 1975 solo instrumental album “Blow By Blow” and used on several tracks. It is estimated to fetch up to £500,000 ($634,000).
Beck, who rose to stardom with 1960s supergroup The Yardbirds and later enjoyed a prolific solo career, died in January last year aged 78. His widow, Sandra Beck, said it was “a massive wrench” to part with the instruments but that they needed to be “shared, played and loved again.” “These guitars were his great love and after almost two years of his passing, it’s time to part with them as Jeff wished,” she said in a statement. “I hope the future guitarists who acquire these items are able to move closer to the genius who played them.”
The collection includes another Gibson Les Paul from 1958, dubbed the original “Yardburst” as it was bought in 1966 while Beck was in the seminal British rock group. It is valued at up to £60,000. Meanwhile, a Fender Telecaster and Gibson hybrid crafted by world-renowned guitar designer Seymour Duncan specifically for Beck in 1973 is predicted to sell for as much as £150,000.
Highlights from the guitar haul will be on public view in Los Angeles on December 4-6. The full collection will go on show for a week at Christie’s London headquarters before the January 22 sale. Christie’s Amelia Walker said the auctioneers were “honoured to have been entrusted” with the sale of instruments belonging to a “rock pioneer whose influence on his peers was unmatched.” She added Beck’s guitars had “shared his emotion and voice” with the world and the auction would “pay tribute to his enduring legacy.”
© 2024 AFP
