John Lennon's 'Help!' guitar becomes one of the most expensive guitars of all time
It went under the hammer this week
A guitar previously owned by late-great Beatles legend John Lennon, but believed to be lost for 50 years, has become one of the most expensive guitars of all time at auction in New York.
The Framus 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar was used by Lennon on songs such as 'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away', and for the album 'Help!'.
The auction took place at the iconic Hard Rock Café in New York City, where it was sold for a massive $2.9 million (£2.3 million) via a telephone bid, becoming the most expensive Beatles instrument ever sold.
Speaking about John Lennon's guitar, David Goodman, chief executive of Julien’s Auctions, said: "This guitar is not only a piece of music history but a symbol of John Lennon’s enduring legacy.
"Today’s unprecedented sale is a testament to the timeless appeal and reverence of The Beatles’ music and John Lennon."
The guitar is understood to have been lost for 50 years, before being found in an attic, a story not dissimilar to Sir Paul McCartney's bass guitar which was found in an attic after 50 years, earlier this year.
The recent auction of John Lennon's guitar comes just a few weeks after a new album from the late singer was announced. 'Mind Games - The Ultimate Collection' will be released in July and has been fully authorised by John's wife Yoko Ono Lennon, and produced by their son Sean Ono Lennon.
This new album will feature completely remixed and expanded versions of the songs from John Lennon's 1973 album 'Mind Games'.
The 14 most expensive guitars of all time:
14 - Duane Allman’s 1957 Gibson Les Paul
The Goldtop 1957 Gibson Les Paul guitar that the late-great Duane Allman used to record 'Layla' alongside Eric Clapton, sold for $1.25 million (£1.03 million) in August 2019. First purchased by Allman in early 1969, it's the fabled guitar on which he learned and perfected his slide style. It was his primary instrument on the first two Allman Brothers albums, and for the 'Layla' album by Derek & The Dominos.
13 - Eric Clapton's The Fool guitar
Eric Clapton's iconic guitar The Fool sold for a whopping $1.27 million at Julien's Auctions on Thursday 16th November as part of their three-day music auction event 'Played, Worn and Torn: Rock N' Roll Iconic Guitars and Memorabilia' at the Hard Rock Café in Nashville. The 1964 Gibson Custom-Painted Psychedelic Guitar was played on the majority of Cream's recordings in the 1960s. When the band broke up, Clapton gave it to George Harrison who passed it to Jackie Lomax. In the 70s and 80s it was owned and stage played by Todd Rundgren, who called it "Sunny" after Cream's 'Sunshine of Your Love,' until he sold it at auction to its previous owner in 2000. The guitar was acquired by The Jim Irsay Collection in Indianapolis, and a portion of proceeds went to the Kicking The Stigma charity.
12 - David Gilmour’s 1954 Fender Stratocaster
David Gilmour's 1954 White Fender Stratocaster #0001 used on Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick in the Wall (Parts 2 and 3)' sold for $1,815,000 (£1,493,000) on an estimate of $100,000-150,000 at the David Gilmour Guitar Collection auction at Christie's in New York in June 2019. For a few fleeting hours it was the most expensive Fender ever until another famous David Gilmour guitar kicked it out of the park…
11 – Jerry Garcia‘s Wolf Guitar
Jerry Garcia's famous Wolf Guitar sold at auction for $1.9 million (£1.57 million) in June 2017 in New York. Its buyer was Brian Halligan, Chief Executive of software company HubSpot and a keen Grateful Dead aficionado. Proceeds from the sale of the Wolf guitar went to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a charity specialising in civil rights and public interest litigation. Customized by master luthier Doug Irwin, and labelled "D. Irwin 001", Wolf was delivered to Jerry Garcia 50 years ago and first appeared in public during a 1973 New York City performance the Grateful Dead gave for the Hell's Angels.
10 - Kurt Cobain's Skystang I guitar
Kurt Cobain's Skystang I guitar he played at his final Nirvana show before his death in 1994 sold for $1,587,500 (£1,271,730) at auction in Nashville in November 2023. Cobain first played his electric Fender Skystang I guitar on 18th October 1993 at the Arizona State Fair Veteran's Memorial Coliseum during the In Utero tour, and he performed with it at his final concert on 1st March 1994 at Terminal 1 in Munich. The guitar bought by Mitsuru Sato who bid via the phone at the Julien's Auctions' sale held at Hard Rock Café, Nashville.
9 – Peter Green’s Greeny
Fleetwood Mac legend Peter Green bought 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard for sixty guineas after being asked to join John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers in the mid-60s. He played it on Fleetwood Mac classics including 'The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)' and 'Albatross' before selling it to fellow guitar virtuoso Gary Moore in 1970. Moore played it throughout his solo career and time with Thin Lizzy, however he was forced to sell it in 2006 due to financial difficulties. Guitar dealer Phil Winfield bought it for somewhere between $750,000 and $1.2 million before selling it for $2 million (£1.65 million) to a private collector. Metallica's Kirk Hammett bought Greeny in 2014 for less than $2 million and he still performs with it to this day.
8 – Jimi Hendrix’s 1968 Fender Stratocaster
The white 1968 Fender Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix famously played at Woodstock in 1969 was purchased by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for a cool $2 million (£1.65 million) in 2000. Keen guitarist and collector Allen, who passed away in 2018, donated the fabled instrument to the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle where it's still on display today.
7 – John Lennon’s Gibson J-160E acoustic-electric guitar
John Lennon's long-lost acoustic Gibson J-160E acoustic-electric guitar, which he used on The Beatles' 'Please Please Me' and 'With the Beatles' albums, fetched $2,410,000 (£1,992,000) at auction in November 2015. The guitar had been owned since 1969 by a man called John McCaw who purchased it from a friend called Tommy Pressley who in turn, two years earlier, had bought it for just $175. McCaw was completely unaware it originally belonged to John Lennon until he stumbled across a photograph of The Beatle performing with it in a 2012 copy of Guitar Aficionado magazine. Realising its importance (and worth), McCaw put it up for auction.
6 - Reach Out to Asia Fender Stratocaster
The Reach out to Asia Fender Stratocaster became the most expensive guitar ever in 2005 when it fetched $2,700,000 (£2,232,000) under the hammer in Qatar. Proceeds went to the charity Reach Out to Asia, which was set up to help victims of the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. The guitar was signed by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Mark Knopfler, Ray Davies, Liam Gallagher, Ronnie Wood, Tony Iommi, Angus and Malcolm Young, Paul McCartney, Sting, Ritchie Blackmore, Def Leppard and Bryan Adams.
5 - John Lennon's 'Help!' guitar
A Framus 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar was used by John Lennon on songs such as 'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away', and for the album 'Help!' sold for $2.9 million (£2.3 million) under the hammer at Julien's Auctions in New York in May 2024. Believed to be lost for 50 years, it's also the most expensive Beatles instrument ever sold.
4 - Eddie Van Halen's 'Hot For Teacher' Kramer
Eddie Van Halen's custom-made Kramer electric guitar that he played in Van Halen's seminal 'Hot for Teacher' sold for a massive $3,932,000 (£3,167,343) under the hammer in April 2023. One of the most iconic guitars of the MTV era, the stage used and filmed guitar was custom made by Paul Unkert of Kramer Guitars for Eddie Van Halen. The $3,932,000 it fetched at auction at Sotheby's in New York made it the fourth most expensive guitar ever sold.
3 – David Gilmour’s Black Strat
David Gilmour's fabled guitar, The Black Strat, set the world record for the World's Most Expensive Guitar in June 2019 when it fetched $3,975,000 (£3,285,000) at Christie's in New York as part of the David Gilmour Guitar Collection auction. The fabled guitar was famously played on the 'Comfortably Numb' solo and was integral to the recording of the Pink Floyd albums 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' (1973), 'Wish You Were Here' (1975), 'Animals' (1977) and 'The Wall' (1979), together with Gilmour's solo albums. Just like all the other guitars in the auction, proceeds from sales of The Black Strat went directly to the climate change charity ClientEarth. The Black Strat was the world's most expensive guitar for almost exactly 12 months.
2 – Kurt Cobain’s Fender Mustang Guitar
Kurt Cobain's famous Fender Mustang guitar he played in Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' video in 1991 became the second most expensive guitar ever sold under the hammer in May 2022. The 1969 Fender Mustang Competition Lake Placid Blue Finish Electric Guitar sold for a whopping $4.5 million (£3.7 million) at Julien's Auctions in New York as part of their Music Icons auction. The left-handed guitar had an estimate of $600,000 to $800,000. Billionaire Jim Irsay snapped up the Fender Mustang guitar having previously bought David Gilmour's fabled Black Strat guitar for a then world-record $3,975,000 (£3.285 million) in 2019.
1 - Kurt Cobain’s MTV Unplugged Guitar
One year on from the world-record sale of David Gilmour's Black Strat, Kurt Cobain's MTV Unplugged guitar sold for a massive $6,010,000 (£4,960,000) at auction in June 2020 and became the World's Most Expensive Guitar in the process. The late-great Nirvana frontman played the 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic-electric guitar for the band's MTV Unplugged set at Sony Music Studios in New York City on 18th November 1993 – just five months before his untimely death aged 27. Alongside being the most expensive guitar, it set four further world records - World's Most Expensive Acoustic Guitar, World's Most Expensive Martin Guitar, World's Most Expensive Piece of Rock Memorabilia and World's Most Expensive Nirvana Memorabilia. The buyer of Kurt Cobain's guitar was Peter Freedman, Founder of RØDE Microphones.