The guitar collection of the former member of Yardbirds and the Jeff Beck Group will go up for auction at Christie’s.
Including an oxblood Gibson Les Paul that Beck played throughout the 1970s – as featured on the cover of his 1975 album Blow By Blow that’s expected to sell for $440,000 and $630,000 – the entire selection is valued at $1,300,000
In a statement about her husband’s auction, Beck’s widow Sandra said it was a “massive wrench” to let the guitars go and “I know Jeff wanted for me to share this love. After some hard thinking I decided they need to be shared, played and loved again.”
Other items included in the sale will be Beck’s 1954 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster and a white Stratocaster that Jeff played for 16 years.
Talking about the upcoming auction, Amelia Walker, head of Private and Iconic Collections at Christie’s, described the guitars as “really beautiful”. “I think it’s part of the appeal,” she said. “These are things that he used. They’ve got the indents of his fingernails on the fret boards.”
In 1965, Beck replaced Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds before forming his own group with Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and others, and going on to have a long and successful solo career.
In January of 2023, Jeff Beck died suddenly at the age of 78, after contracting bacterial meningitis.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Jean-Luc Ourlin