Search results
People also ask
What is the rarest electric guitar ever made?
What is the rarest Gibson guitar ever made?
What is the most expensive guitar in the world?
Why are electric guitars so rare?
How many vintage guitars are there?
Which is the most collectible Gibson Guitar?
Feb 18, 2019 · By their very nature, anything labeled as a prototype is incredibly rare and the first two Vox V251 Guitar Organ prototypes are some of the rarest electric guitars ever produced. The V251 Guitar Organ was invented by Vox’s lead engineer Dick Denney in the early 1960s.
- 10 Rarest Fish in The World
photo source: Wikimedia Commons via D Ross Robertson The...
- 10 Rarest Fish in The World
- Kurt Cobain's Martin D-18E. Sold: Los Angeles, 2020. Price: $6,010,000. In summer 2020, there wasn’t much to do apart from play guitar and bid on online auctions, which might be why Kurt’s guitar so comprehensively smashed all records.
- Kurt Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit Fender Mustang. Sold: New York, 2022. Price: $4,550,000. When it was announced that Kurt Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit Fender Mustang would be hitting the block with an auction estimate of only $800,000, many looked on in disbelief.
- David Gilmour's Black Fender Stratocaster. Sold: New York, 2019. Price: $3,975,000. You could buy quite a few Strats for four million bucks, but perhaps none quite as special as this one.
- Eddie Van Halen's Hot For Teacher Kramer. Sold: New York, 2023. Price: $3,932,000. There’s been no shortage of Eddie Van Halen guitar auctions over the past few years, but when news broke that the late guitar legend’s Hot For Teacher Kramer was going under the hammer… well, it was apparent that this case was different from all the others, and that the striped Kramer in question would be rubbing shoulders with some of the six-strings on this prestigious list.
Feb 4, 2022 · In 2012, one of the rare early Bigsby-created electric guitars sold at auction for US$266,000. the guitar was the fourth 1949 Bigsby Birdseye Maple Solid Body made out of a total of 23 guitars. The guitar came with its original case and was also verified as authentic.
- 1958-’59 Gibson Explorer. ($250,000 to $310,000) Part of an attempt to market “modernistic” guitars in the burgeoning “space age,” when it hit stores, the Explorer got little attention from buyers.
- 1936-’42 Martin D-45. ($250,000 to $400,000) Vintage Martin dreadnoughts are considered the pinnacle of steel-string acoustics, and those given the Style 45 dress – Brazilian-rosewood back and sides, ivory-bound body and neck, and fancy fretboard inlays – were priced beyond the reach of all but a few Depression-era players.
- 1958-’60 Gibson Les Paul Standard. ($225,000 to $375,000) Though Gibson tried to make a splash in the market by giving its Les Paul model a fancy maple top and sunburst finish, the guitar failed to truly catch on.
- 1930-’33 Martin OM-45. ($265,000 to $350,000) Another example of how rarity drives values into the realm of unobtanium, the OM-45 was made in very small numbers each year (think barely-into-double-digits at the most!).
- 1958-’59 Gibson Explorer
- 1958-’60 Gibson Les Paul Standard
- 1936-’42 Martin D-45
- 1930 Martin OM-45
- 1958-’59 Gibson Flying V
- 1948-’49 Bigsby Standard
- 1931-’34 Martin D-28
- 1934-’38 Martin 000-45
- 1955-’62 Gretsch 6134 White Penguin
- 1954 Fender Stratocaster
$400,000 to $600,000 Gibson got a bit ahead of things when it introduced three “modernistic” guitars in 1958. Of the two produced, the Explorer, especially, proved too broad a reach and thus got little attention from buyers. As a result, production numbers were very low. Amongst collectors, demand has always outpaced supply by a long shot. In ’63, ...
$255,000 to $440,000 – highly-figured top Gibson upped its game by giving its Les Paul a fancy maple top and sunburst finish. Still, it failed to catch on… until the 1966 release of John Mayall’s Blues Breakers featuring Eric Claptonand its subsequent adoption by Michael Bloomfield and other top-tier players of the late ’60s, including Jimmy Page, ...
$225,000 to $440,000 Vintage Martin dreadnoughts represent the height of steel-string acoustics, and those dressed the fanciest – the Style 45, with Brazilian-rosewood back and sides, ivory-bound body and neck, and fancy fretboard inlays – were too expensive for most players during the Depression. Few being produced, like the Explorer, demand among...
$215,000 to $345,000 Another example of how rarity drives values, the OM-45 was made in small numbers each year (barely double-digits). The first-year “Deluxe” version brings the highest dollar.
$260,000 to $340,000 Gibson’s other “modernistic” Korina-bodied guitar, like the Explorer, it was initially offered only two years. Its V-shaped body was eyecatching, but still did not prove popular. Ultimately, only 98 were made. Most famously used by blues legend Albert King, it was reintroduced in the ’70s with a more-traditional mahogany body, ...
$120,000 to $300,000 One look at inventor Paul Bigsby’s guitar tells of its influence. Bigsby built only a handful of instruments – a mandolin, a tenor, a doubleneck, etc. But his Spanish-style electrics – the first built for star picker Merle Travis – provided a template employed just a few years later by Fender and Gibson.
$170,000 to 225,000 Though not as fancy as the D-45, its $100 price tag still put it mostly out of reach in the midst of the Great Depression. Thus, production stayed low.
$135,000 to $190,000 One of the models that mark evolutionary changes at Martin, 1934 marks the year Martin transitioned to a 14-fret neck, creating the version preferred by collectors.
$94,000 to $152,000 A dressed-up solidbody showpiece first built for Jimmie Webster to play at trade shows, it was produced in small numbers. The single-cut version is most coveted, and brings a premium if it happens to be in Gretsch’s “snowflake” case.
$70,000 to $135,000 Fender’s venerable offset double-cut first shipped in the spring of 1954; short-lived features on the earliest ones (as valued here, with shorter control knobs, pickup covers and pickguard made of Bakelite, serial number on vibrato plate) bring top dollar. Design tweaks in ’55 made it more durable and easier to produce, and the ...
2 days ago · The long-running Metallica member is also the owner of some extremely rare and coveted Gibson guitars, including a 1957 Korina Flying V prototype and the 1959 Les Paul Standard known as Greeny, once owned by Peter Green and Gary Moore. In a newly released video from Gibson TV, Hammett talks about 17 of his favorite vintage electric guitars.
Jan 11, 2024 · The Gibson 1959 Les Paul Standard is often regarded as the rarest electric guitar. Only about 650 of these iconic instruments exist today.
