Themed auction: String Bling and High-end Gear

The greatest musicians have played Gibson guitars: Chuck Berry – one of the pioneers of rock and roll – played a Gibson for rhythm & blues and songs like “Johnny B. Goode” and “Maybellene”. He reportedly took his favourite cherry-coloured Gibson to the grave with him, bolted to the inside of the coffin lid. Bob Marley is also said to have been buried with his Les Paul Special. Over the years, Gibson has customised several models and named them after famous musicians, including the model ES-355 S B.B. King and Eric Clapton ES-335 Signature.

Musicians such as Elvis, Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Bob Dylan, The Edge (U2), Noel Gallagher (Oasis), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and George Harrison (The Beatles) have played the Gibson Les Paul, and the musician Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones) started to “reuse” older models to get that special sound. Beloved albums such as Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”, The Beatles’ single “While my Guitar Gently Weeps” featuring Eric Clapton, and The Doors’ single “Moonlight Drive” were recorded on the Gibson Les Paul. And do you remember Grete and Jørgen Ingmann’s “Dansevise”, which won the international Eurovision Song Contest in London in 1963? It was recorded by Jørgen Ingmann on two Gibson guitars. The upcoming auction features a rare Gibson Custom L-5, Gibson Thunderbird, Gibson Les Paul “Classic”, “Custom”, “Night Hawk”, “Junior” and Gibson “Melody Maker”, which represent the evolution and possibilities of music from the 1950s to the present day.

Fender was founded in 1946 by Clarence “Leo” Fender. The company developed the first mass-produced electric guitar in 1951, closely followed by production of the Fender Telecaster – marketed as “The Spanish Electric Guitar” – and the Fender Stratocaster (1954). The Stratocaster has been in production ever since. It is used by many leading guitarists and has featured on many historic recordings. It is also the most copied electric guitar of all time and one of the best-selling guitar models in the world. A lot of famous musicians have had a personal relationship with their “Strat”, including Buddy Holly (The Crickets), who was the first musician to use the Stratocaster and made the guitar famous during his appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show” in 1957. His performance and his untimely death (in 1959) have linked man and guitar. A picture of the Stratocaster was also engraved on Holly’s gravestone. Several of Fender’s Stratocasters have found their way to the upcoming auction, including a “Stratocaster 25th Anniversary” from 1979 estimated at DKK 10,000.

The infamous Ike Turner, who later became most famous for his failed marriage to Tina Turner, was one of the first musicians to play Fender’s Stratocaster when it hit the market in 1954. And, like its competitor Gibson, Fender also began to release particularly exclusive models in limited editions. In 2004, just 100 “Ike Turner Signature Stratocasters” were made as a tribute to the black musician. Most of the time Franz Beckerlee from Gasolin was in the band, he played Fender’s Stratocaster, and it wasn’t until the US tour that he bought his first Gibson Les Paul. The opposite is the case for Eric Clapton, who began his career with a Gibson but has played a Stratocaster since 1967. Clapton also named his guitars: “Brownie” purchased in 1967 and “Blackie” in 1970. George Harrison’s Telecaster was made in rosewood and named “Rocky”. In 2004, Clapton’s “Blackie” was sold at auction for 959,500 dollars. But it is far from the most expensive “Strat” ever sold. David Gilmour from Pink Floyd sold his “Black Strat”, played on albums such as “The Dark Side of the Moon”, “Animals” and “The Wall”, for 3,975,000 dollars in 2019. This makes the special Stratocaster the world’s most expensive guitar, but then it did also accompany him on “The Wall” tour in 2011.

As heavyweights and behemoths, Gibson and Fender are hard to beat. However, on the British market – particularly during the 1960s when everything British was in vogue – other guitar manufacturers made their foray into the market. British Burns Guitars were established in 1959, and their popularity increased alongside British pop culture, and bands such as “The Shadows” became world famous. To mark The Shadows’ 50th anniversary, Burns released a new, limited-edition guitar in an official collaboration with one of Britain’s best-known bands: “Burns guitar, Apache 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Guitar”, one of which features in the upcoming auction, and is estimated at DKK 6,000. In another iconic British band, The Beatles, John Lennon preferred to go his own way, and found an American company with a Swiss founder and a German name: Rickenbacker. But the other Beatles, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, were with him on that. The company Rickenbacker was founded in 1931, initially to jump on the mandolin and ukulele bandwagon. The company quickly developed an “Electro Hawaii Guitar”, in metal, nicknamed “The Frying Pan”. Up through the 1950s, Rickenbacker developed several prototypes, and it is from the early 1960s that the company is associated with The Beatles, the band’s sound and the streamlined look of their early years. The Rickenbacker became the musical key to popular songs such as “A Hard Day’s Night”. In addition to the Beatles, bands such as The Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Metallica, Genesis and The Cure have also sworn by Rickenbacker. Up for auction is a Rickenbacker Bass model from 1977, estimated at DKK 8,000.

And if you love the sound of the guitar but are more into celebrity memorabilia, the upcoming Online Auction is also your chance to acquire Metallica merchandise from the “Metallica” album, also known as “The Black Album”, which was released on 12 August 1991. With a dedication from all the band members to Lars Ulrich’s mother, Lone Ulrich, the platinum certificate was a gift to mark the sale of 12 million copies of the album. It is estimated at DKK 12,000–15,000.

The older or the newest guitar sound, whether you’re nostalgic or just a fan of the electric guitar, Carl Aage Axel Laursen’s guitar collection at the auction in November will be both a journey through time and an emotional trip down Memory Lane for most people. So strike now and acquire an electric icon for yourself.