Most Expensive Guitar in the World

Most Expensive Guitar in the World

by Heather Strobel

“Blackie”, Eric Clapton’s favorite mid-career modified Strat has been surpassed in value and is no longer the most expensive guitar ever, despite that it was bought for $950,000 USD in 2004 by a guitar archaeologist.

Most Expensive Guitar

The latest most expensive electric guitar in the world dethroned its predecessor at an auction in Doha, Qatar on November 16th, 2005. The Strat was signed by several rock musicians to benefit a tsunami charity, ‘Reach out to Asia’. It was bought one year ago by Qatar’s royal family for a million dollars and donated back to the Asia Program, bringing in $2.7 million USD at the more recent auction, whose attendees included Former President Bill Clinton. Technically, the guitar has generated a total of $3.7 million USD, making it the most expensive guitar yet.

Signees of this expensive electric guitar included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Mark Knopfler, Ray Davis, Liam Gallagher, Ronnie Wood, Tony Iommi, Angus & Malcolm Young, Paul McCartney, Sting, Ritchie Blackmore, Def Leppard, and Bryan Adams, the coordinator of the project.

82 replies on “Most Expensive Guitar in the World”

  1. woah, a nice guitar, but i wouldent ever pay that much for it!

    1. WaFfLeBoMb
      says:

      i know i could buy 2 or 4 lambos with that money! (depends what lambo and price of lambo…)

  2. Liam Gallagher ?!?!

    how much more would it cost WITHOUT his signature?

    1. 50 bucks probs haha

    2. lol i would pay doubble for the guitar without that signature on it .

  3. maybe its the most expensive, but its not actually a guitar i’d want to play, therefore it is worthless

    1. what would be the point in buying it if ya not gonna play it? … if i had that kinda money i would definately buy it just to play it

  4. this is an awesome guitar, i would so buy it if i had the money. the people that signed are great

  5. someone LESS THAN JAKE
    says:

    its a very nice guitar with the signatures, but the best guitar is either Jimi Henrix`s Flying V or the new Dimebag Darell Tribute.(i still would take that guitar in a heart beat)

  6. ok ok nice guitar, i wouldent play it i would sell it and by a JEM7V or a JS1200 (for gigs) and a Bc Rich Platinum Beast for practising……. nice guitar though

  7. hmmnn … I wonder what a ’64 Fender DuoSonic II with a mustang vibrato and signed by me would run? …

  8. Is there a bigger image of the guitar somewhere?

  9. now if it wasn’t for charety i think who ever payed that much are drunk

  10. damn thats a nice guitar but its seems too nice to play i would buy it if i was a billion aire but as i am only a million aire i dont think i would i wonder if it feels nice because its not the look its the feel i bet it does

  11. I agree S; it would be worth much more without Liam Gallagher’s signature.

  12. I would sell it and buy a Karl Sandoval Dot V. Black with white polka dots like Randy Rhoads.

  13. Dane Burnett
    says:

    Strats arent rlly worth a damn but i guess this one is cool cuz all the signatures.why couldnt they sign a les paul?

  14. I agree with yano, if the guitar doess not play well, then its worthless, i dont care if its 80 billion dollars, the only thing that makes it worth anything are the signatures and thats it>>

    1. that is true without the signatures its just a cool looking guitar.

    2. its an american strat. ofcourse it plays great. maybe pick a real guitar up sometime.

  15. Excellent, well thought out comments.

  16. dude this thing is so wicked I wouldso buy it

  17. its a nice guitar but instead of this i will like to buy drake bell”s guitar

  18. I hope that it was signed in permanent marker! Should be in a museum at that price.

  19. I can’t see what who’s so special with that guitar, it’s a white stratocaster. I think Bc. Rich, Beast or Warlock is cool… :
    http://www.bcrich.com/warlock_guitar.html

    and

    http://www.bcrich.com/beast_it.html

  20. artie fumphcan
    says:

    i love lamp (needs Jimi)

    1. i hate to break it to you man, hes dead. its phisically impossible for jimi to sign it.

  21. Did steve vai not have a pen?
    c’mon . . . he’s the greatest guitarist ever!

  22. Nice gutair………but i like drums though it has a lot of signatures

  23. for one steve Vai sucks and the only reason that guitar is so expensive is cuz angus malcom Eric and Keith signed the rest of those people dont mean nuthin

    1. do you even know who jimmy page and eric clapton are?

  24. that is a pretty awesome strat, but Les Pauls are better! Who’s with me?

    1. for sure.

  25. i’d put it in a plexiglass iron bar reneforced case and i’d have my freind who’s a US navy seal defend it(i wonder what he would charge?) anyway its to nice to play and im a guitar player my self so i want to play

  26. this guitar is amazing mick jager angus and malcom young wow paul mccartney sting this guitar is trippin if i had 2.9 mill i would buy it but if not i could think of a better way to spend ma money

  27. everyone seems to be missing the point that yes, £950 000 is a lot of money to pay for an electric guitar (even if it DOES have liam gallaghers signature on it), but the people who paid for it could afford it, and it was a charity auction…..for people with nothing. who cares what kinda guitar they used?

  28. Curtis Williams
    says:

    Hey yash Drake Bell is lame.

  29. Would you take 3 gagillion for it?

  30. Jungleman
    says:

    It was a hell of lot of money to pay 4 a guitar but ur missing the point. It was 4 charity and its a very very good cause. In REAL most expensive guitar situations, I do fink Jimi Hendrix’s guitars would fetch much more than anyfink Eric Clapton would get.

  31. First off, I would like to say that Stratocasters are very much superior to any gibson in terms of playability, tone, and looks. Page and Clapton are the best guitarists on there. Steve Vai is an outstanding guitar player, even though I don’t like to hear his music more than 5 times per year, anyone who doesn’t think so is foolish and insecure about their own playing in comparison to his wicked-quick licks. Every BC Rich guitar I have played is nothing more than an overpriced guitar formed into a unique shape so people will buy it. lastly, very inspirational that human kind can value charity more so than “Blackie”.

  32. i would’ve paid more if i had the chance, richie blackmore blows my mind hahaha
    brian may, THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  33. If i had that guitar i wud sell it for like 10 million then keep the money and retir at the age of 16

  34. The guy who bought that giutar is an idiot, for 950k its a rip off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  35. wow . its signed bo OASIS!!! id buy if i had enough.

  36. seeing as I’m a guitar player myself, I really WOULD buy that guitar if I couldn’t think of any other way to spend my money.. It’s awesome ‘cuz of the signatures – I’ll probably refuse to play it though, I’ll want to put it in a shatterproof glass case and keep it nice and safe… so it’s not that practical but I don’t think that te guy who bought it was stupid..

  37. It would be even better if Kurt Cobains signature was on it…I would add to the value tremendously.

  38. Nice guitar and it probaly plays well, but you have to admit it if there were no signatures you’d be taking alot of 0’s of the price… and i myself prefer a les paul

  39. Hey…

    I want to buy that…How much ?

    Signed…

    Bill Gates
    (Yea..Microsoft)

  40. thats a sexy guitar but i would not pay so much

  41. that is not the blackie on the image, you could search the guitar on the net.. “ERIC CLAPTON’s GUITAR, ITS THE ONLY GUITAR HE USED ON ‘ALL’ OF HIS TOURS”

    so no doubt that guitar is messed up

  42. Wow, I love the guitar, but if I owned it I wouldn’t play it, I’d just have it as a feature in my room! :]

  43. Haha, me again, just to say that I WANT THIS GUITAR!!! If only I was a billion aire! :[ Oh well, life goes on! But I still love this guitar!! :] x

  44. Guitarman
    says:

    Nice to have, but there’s no way you could *play* it once it had all those sigs on it…

  45. hmm… it would be worth WAY more without Mark Knoplfer’s sig.

  46. campbell buttmuncher
    says:

    cool
    but my epiphone black beauty is better any day
    we do it together every night

    ooohh
    tsssss

  47. man thats a nice guitar…..but we all know no one in there right mind would pay that much for a guitar…sure its pretty….but i wonder if u have slash’s signature too……kool guita but not worth the mula!!!

  48. holy cow thats a ton. i’d love to play that but too much for a kid to afford. haha

  49. i hate fender the stile its just not my stile i like more gibson bacesd guitar or just a gibson

  50. have any of u guys played guitar hero before it reminds me of the time of lynard skynard and ozzy and im only 14 and iagree with 994466 the gibson are the best guitars

  51. why the hell would one pay that much for a guitar i mean seriously??????????????????? well ya its rele nice but to expensive

  52. nice guitar dont know if i`d pay that much for one though!!!!

  53. Ok, its a great guitar but you have to be stupid to play it. The guitar would sit in your house and collect dust. However i love it and I would buy it if I had the money. But i dont have the money 🙁

  54. Its me again, its a great guitar but like i said before if you buy it you wouldnt play it. The guitar would be worth nothing with out those sigs. So just go out buy yourself a les paul sun burst. For like a ver ver ver small fraction of the price plus u can play it. But if i had the money hells yea i would buy it.

  55. kk its worth a lot but everyone knows the best guitarists are hammet angus 0r hendrix!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  56. I would take a Strat over a Gibson any day, they feel nicer, sound nicer and look nicer, they both have thier good points but a Strat suits my style much more, would i buy that one?, no way, give me a ’54 and alot of change.

  57. MeeMeesiko
    says:

    How much would it be worth without Liam’s siggy? About 2.8 million dollars. What about without Mcartney’s? About 1 dollar. Well, Sting and Clapton, too. Jagger is a moron.

  58. i think that the best guitarist on that guitar has to be jimmy page, as yes les pauls are better than strats. and ion my view if i could have any guitar in the world it would be jimmy page’s les paul 59′!!!!

  59. woo-hoo! the guitar is smokin hot though.

  60. Jesse Hutson
    says:

    Well, I’m glad it was for charity! Otherwise I wish I knew who that guy’s dealer was!
    What a waste of money but for the charity. My last Strat was a really nice 1980, played really nice and sounded great, for a whopping $200.00 Oh well.

  61. Looks like a nice guitar but it’s silly to pay this kinda money for it no matter who’s signed it. I’d rather go for Eric Clapton’s blackie… That guitar’s legendary..

  62. Johhny R.
    says:

    I love how just writing on something makes it expensive. pfft I'll keep my Schecter Hellraiser c-1fr at least then I can get almost any sound I want.

  63. i love this very much

  64. id so buy this guitar, but like a bougatti veyron, i wouldnt use it

  65. UH !!!!!! Whats the deal

  66. Yashron Daniel
    says:

    one day it will be, my handy guitar
    from: Yashron Daniel

  67. i got it

  68. i want that guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i dont really know why i would spend that much money in a guitar but is just a obssession!!!!

  69. molto strano
    says:

    This is not the most expensive but the most payed… it's different… nobody whould pay this price….

  70. take liams stupid scribble off and give matt bellamy a pen! :p dont really like strats. nice in white though 🙂

  71. isnt the wavecaster in the running for the most expensive guitar in the world

  72. Tommyknockers
    says:

    If I owned that guitar, I would PLAY it, because after all, it's still a guitar, and it's meant to be PLAYED, not admired in a case somewhere…

  73. i'll buy it if hide's signature on it..