Jeff Beck's guitar collection is coming up for auction in January.
Alongside 90 of the late guitar legend's instruments, played during his six-decade-long career, his amps, pedals, and ‘tools of the trade’, will go under the hammer at Christie's in London on January 22.
Commenting on her decision to sell off these prized possessions in the Jeff Beck: The Guitar Collection auction, Beck's wife, Sandra Cash, says, “These guitars were his great love, and almost two years after his passing it's time to part with them, as Jeff wished. After some hard thinking, I decided they needed to be shared, played, and loved again.
“It is a massive wrench to part with them but I know Jeff wanted for me to share this love. He was a maestro of his trade. I hope the future guitarists who acquire these items are able to move closer to the genius who played them.”
Introducing the collection, the Christie's auction house website states, “The ultimate guitarist’s guitarist, Jeff Beck was a rock pioneer whose influence on his peers was unmatched. Now Christie’s presents his instruments to the world – the guitars through which he shared his emotion and voice – paying tribute to his enduring legacy.
“All the guitars he played tell a story and bear the unmistakable signs of his hands, from the Gibson Les Pauls – the ‘Yardburst’ he bought in London in 1966 and the iconic ‘Oxblood’ depicted on the cover of Blow By Blow – to the Gretsches inspired by Cliff Gallup of The Blue Caps, and the Fender Teles and Strats which were his ‘workhorses’.”
Beck's 1954 ‘Oxblood’ Les Paul is estimated to fetch between £350,000 and £500,000 in the auction.
Amelia Walker, head of Private and Iconic Collections at Christie’s, describes the guitar as “a really beautiful instrument, covered in grime and dust and signs of use”.
“I think it’s part of the appeal,” she adds. “These are things that he used. They’ve got the indents of his fingernails on the fret boards. Some of them, the strings haven’t been changed for years. He played them hard. He didn’t see them as precious works of art – they were his tools to ply his trade with.”
Full details of the auction are available here on the Christie's website.
