Guitars that bear ‘scars’ of Jeff Beck’s playing exhibited for auction
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A first look at an exhibit of the guitars that showcase Jeff Beck’s life in music has been revealed as the instruments go on sale for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Auction house Christie’s is putting more than 130 guitars, which the guitarist played throughout his almost six-decades-long career, from joining The Yardbirds in March 1965, to his last tour in 2022, on sale this month.
The Jeff Beck: The Guitar Collection includes his recognisable 1954 Oxblood Gibson Les Paul, which is estimated to make up to £500,000, and was seen on the cover of his 1975 solo album Blow By Blow as well as being used in the supergroup Beck, Bogert And Appice, and at a 1973 appearance with David Bowie.
Beck died aged 78 in January 2023, following a career which saw him earn eight Grammy awards, and work with a host of famous names including Ozzy Osbourne and Sir Mick Jagger. Amelia Walker, director of Christie’s and specialist head of the private and iconic collections department, told the PA news agency that Beck is “regarded as one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time”.
She added: “This (collection) is a really important chronology of Jeff’s life and career in music, from one of the earliest guitars we have in the collection the Yardburst (Gibson Les Paul guitar), which he bought in 1966 when he was in The Yardbirds and which he played for the next sort of seven or eight years, both in The Yardbirds with the first Jeff Beck Group, with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, and then with the second Jeff Beck Group.