$1 Million Dollar Electric Guitars

What is the most anyone has spent on a body and some strings? Find out below.

Reach Out Asia – 2.7 million

Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian May – along with dozens of other famous guitarists – all signed Reach Out Asia for a charity event. Originally, the historic guitar was purchased for a cool $1,000,000 by Qatar’s royal family.

But then, apparently the royal family didn’t like it, or maybe they were feeling generous – at any rate, they donated the piece back, and it was auctioned later at the $2,700,000 price point to an anonymous bidder.

Here’s the ultimate question: Would you rather have close to $3 million, or would you rather have this historic guitar? It’s a tough choice. We think we would take the guitar, because we could make millions performing with it, anyways… right?

SHARE: Here’s what a $3 million guitar looks like

Keith Richards' Gibson – $1 million

Richards originally purchased his Keith Richards' Gibson 1959 Les Paul Standard as a used guitar. And overall, it’s a fairly inexpensive Gibson – you better believe that Richards upgraded as soon as he hit fame.

But this is one of the only guitars he had from before his fame, and as such, it was valuable in that regard. It sold for $1,000,000 – we really hope that the buyer at least tried to play on it, though we may have to resign to the fact that it’s probably used as nothing more than a piece of artwork on a wall.

Eric Clapton for $959,000 (plus more)

Well, it wasn’t quite $1,000,000. It was $959,000, and it was sold at a charity auction to an anonymous bidder. Truth be told, the design wasn’t that remarkable (at least to us), but hey, Clapton used it, Clapton signed it, and Clapton clearly thought it looked good – so maybe our tastes are wrong, and his tastes are right.

Eric Clapton has sold off a few more of his guitars at unbelievable prices, like the Brownie Stratocaster for $497,500. And that was in 1999, so that price would have been even higher today – but again Clapton donated everything to charity – just as he does for every one of his guitar actions. (What a great guy, huh?)

Bob Dylan’s Stratocaster – $965,000

Have you heard of the Newport Folk Festival that took place in 1965? It is arguably the most notorious concert in rock and roll history, and in 2016, it’s considered something of a historic event, both in rock culture and the outside world.

This concert was the very first time Dylan had performed with an electric backing band. Before, he sounded good, but with proper accompaniment, it was legendary. The guitar he used was the Stratocaster, and using it at that guitar brought the price way up.

SHARE: Pieces of history are certainly valuable.

Jerry Garcia’s Tiger – $957,500

Now this is a guitar we could see someone paying big bucks for.

It was the last guitar that Jerry Garcia ever played – he’s that guy from the Grateful Dead, in case it somehow slipped your mind – and it was actually made just for him with a completely unique design. No one else has a guitar like this, and Jerry used it – enough said.

The buyer paid $957,500 for Jerry’s last publicly-used guitar. We’d like to think that right now, the buyer is playing Ripple or Truckin in the mansion of his living room, pretending that he is continuing the legacy. (Probably not, but it’s nice to dream).

Jerry Garcia’s Wolf – $937,100

This was Jerry’s first personalized guitar, and it actually came before the Tiger (although the Tiger did sell for more). Originally, Jerry bought this one when he was playing gigs, but at a time when he wasn’t that famous. As such, there was little customization and a $1,500 price tag – a great guitar, but not close to $1,000,000.

Much of the value of this guitar comes from Jerry being associated with it – take a look at the pictures and you’ll see what we mean.

So any thoughts?