You don't say?
Posted on 06/23/2019 6:35:53 AM PDT by Drew68
The minds of a lot of Dads, worldwide, must be boggling right about now. Not only is there a new record for the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction, it’s
A. An item deeply connected to the legacy of Pink Floyd, and
B. contributing almost $4 million to charity in the process.
Regardless of your opinion of a media mogul like Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Isray, the guitar’s new owner, that is still one heck of an impressive figure. And David Gilmour’s legendary “Black Strat” wasn’t even the only item that Isray picked up at the Thursday auction from the David Gilmour Guitar Collection at Christie’s New York. All in all, he got the following:
— A 1969 black Fender Stratocaster, The Black Strat,” for $3.975 million.
— A 1969 Martin D-35 acoustic guitar, for $1.095 million.
— A travel case used for “The Black Strat,” for $175,000.
All in all, that’s a tiny little $5.245 million expenditure that heads in Gilmour’s direction, who announced on Wednesday that he would donate all proceeds from the auction to ClientEarth, an environmental law charity that will use the funds to help in the fight against climate change. In total, the auction raised an astounding $21.491 million from more than 120 guitars and amplifiers. We’re not surprised, per se, that Gilmour has more than $20 million in guitars to get rid of on any given day, but still—damn.
“The Black Strat” is as valuable as it is due to the recordings Gilmour used it on, including the albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall. The Martin D-35 acoustic, on the other hand, features prominently in the title track of “Wish You Were Here,” which is one of the more iconic guitar tunes of all time.
The previous record for the most expensive guitar was a Stratocaster sold in 2005 for $2.7 million, to benefit tsunami relief in Asia. That guitar had been signed by a bevy of rock superstars, including Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Gilmour as well. But it was presumably the real-life history of “The Black Strat” that pushed its value into totally uncharted territory.
Isray, understandably, was pretty chipper about his new purchase. Hopefully he’ll feel the same way after waking up tomorrow morning and remembering he spent $4 million on it.
Are you still pinging the Guitar/Bass ping list?
Gilmour's Olympic White "#0001" Stratocaster took in $1,815,000 at Christie's last week. It's not the oldest however. George Gruhn has #0100 that's older, April 1954. That one may not even be the first. There were prototypes and non-serialized Stratocasters that found their way out there. They don't have provenance and won't bring the kind of money that guitars owned by musical icons will.
You don't say?
Young and Van Zant were friends.
Ronnie Van Zant wearing a Neil Young concert T-shirt.
And Neil Young.
All that money and they didn’t throw in the case?
"ClientEarth, an environmental law charity that will use the funds to help in the fight against climate change."
I guess it’s a little better than my Mexican Strat. Both black though!
With that amount of money, they could have funded almost 90% of the Mueller investigation that took three years to run up a tab. Your post is very appropriate. I can think of another: There’s a sucker born.....
rwood
MIM Fenders are made by hard-working Mexicans in Mexico and MIA Fenders are made by hard-working Mexicans in California.
I have both. Some of the "Classic Series" Mexican Fenders are outstanding instruments.
The Phoenix/Scottsdale area has a gem that not enough visit. It is the Musical Instrument Museum — MIM.
Currently for the past year they have a special exhibit on the electric guitar history. Everyone should see it if they have a chance. It is easily something to take a half or full day touring if you have never seen it.
Absolutely. The USA and MIM are made a relatively few miles from each other. I have an American made and I play MIM more often, it just has that feel I like.
“raised millions for an organization fighting climate change.“
Idiots don’t deserve that kind of money. It’s all just modern snake oil!
Guitar and Bass Ping List: skooz;waterhill; mitch5501;OrioleFan;jdsteel; Mama Shawna;Ignatz;Bullish; wastedyears;Free in Texas;To-Whose-benefit?;backspace; left that other site;Verbosus;pax_et_bonum; Churchjack; Magic Fingers; Chode;kosciusko51; OrioleFan; KevinB;Mr. Mojo;sauropod; OrioleFan; brewer1516
damn... all that money to a bunch of socialists
I love guitars and, if I had that kind of money, I could go buy out entire inventories of several dealers. The instruments might not have autographs of the titanic icons of popular rock music but those signatures amount to about Jack Squat as far as the value of the six string is concerned.
I believe that he owns one or more Jerry Garcia guitars.
Climate change? What a moron.
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