“I’ve picked up others… they were like a piece of plywood. But not this one”: Gary Moore’s iconic red Stratocaster sells at auction for more than $330,000

Gary Moore’s iconic red Fender Stratocaster has sold at auction for £254,400 (approximately $332,609).

This is the guitar that divides opinion among the late blues guitar great’s fans. Is it pink or is it red? Is it a 1960 model or 1961? What everyone can agree on is that there are few more vibe-y Stratocasters in history – and it is arguably the Gary Moore guitar.

Greeny, Moore's 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard – previously owned by the late Peter Green and presently owned by Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett – would be in the conversation, of course.

As would ‘Stripe,’ another ‘Burst, that is being offered by a private sale via Bonham’s, who handled the Strat’s auction. Its mismatched figured maple top is a thing of beauty.

But the red 1960 Strat was the one that Moore played during his career-defining performance of Red House at the 2004 Miller Strat Pack concert at Wembley, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Strat.

Better than Hendrix is not a phrase heard very often, but it was uttered that day. Moore made Red House his own, rearranging the furniture, changing the drapes, resurfacing the driveway.

It might just be us, or the fever pitch of the vintage electric guitar market – particularly when there is an artist association – but even at $330,000 or so, this seems like a bargain. Yes, it’s well played, but you would pay extra for that distressed finish if it had come out of the Fender Custom Shop. Here, one of the all-time greats has done all the hard work for you.

But this was the archetypical player’s grade guitar. Moore used this as a working instrument. It’s not all stock. It was refretted with Dunlop 6100 fretwire, a thicker gauge than what you would find on original Strats of that era.

The neck pickup is not original, and according to Moore’s former tech and manager, Graham Lilley, it was rewound by Seymour Duncan in 1998. The middle pickup was swapped out for a Lindy Fralin Blues Special.

Speaking to Guitarist, Steve Clarke, an authenticator for Bonham’s and author of Famous Frets, said the Strat is a real player. After all these years, it has still got it.

“It’s a very nice guitar to play, really nicely set up,” he says. “The action was pretty good straight out of the case. These things have a uniqueness about them. I had a ’56 Strat a few years ago, a George Harrison ’56 Strat, and that was so vibrant. And I’ve picked up others where they’re not; they were like a piece of plywood. But not this one. Lovely guitar, got a character all of its own, and I thought it was just wonderful.”

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It begs the question, who was lucky enough to buy this, and will we see the Strat like we did when Hammett bought Greeny? Hammett says he bought Greeny to be played, to keep it in circulation.

“I have no plans to retire that guitar at all,” he told Guitarist in 2020. “As a legacy to the two people who owned that guitar before me – Peter Green and Gary Moore – I feel it’s important to keep it going and keep it playing so that people can hear it live in real-time and hear it sing.

“So many people love that guitar. I love it, too. That guitar has a lot of love and energy going to it constantly and who am I to get in the way of that? It’s all part of its reason for being and I’m just going to continue enabling that.”

As for the exact year of the model? Clarke says a stamp on the neck reading "11/60" would suggest it was 1960, and although the pots on the guitar have been replaced, there was an original from 1960 in the guitar case.

You can read more about the Gary Moore auction at Bonham’s in Guitarist's deep dive into the catalog.