Jim Irsay’s guitar haul is widely regarded to be the finest publicized collection in existence, featuring a sizeable chunk of the most famous instruments of the 20th century, including Kurt Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit Mustang, David Gilmour’s Black Strat and Eric Clapton ‘The Fool’ SG, alongside a host of Beatles kit.
Following Irsay’s passing last year, it was confirmed that the collection would be sold via Christie’s in London and the first 50 lots – including the aforementioned Mustang, Black Strat and The Fool SG – are going under the hammer this March.
Now our UK sister publication Guitarist has been granted an exclusive look at three of Jim Irsay’s most treasured electric guitars from this historic collection, before they are potentially split up following the sale.
“Jim Irsay was so proud of having acquired this guitar. It was like the jewel in the crown of his collection,” Christie's Amelia Walker explains in the clip above.
“It was the most expensive guitar ever when it sold in 2019, and it was something that he loved for everything it represented about music, David Gilmour's creativity, and what he produced.”
Like most of his guitars, Irsay didn’t want them to be locked away in class cases like ancient relics. He regularly loaned them out for performances. For instance, Kenny Wayne Shepherd performed Comfortably Numb on the Black Strat and told Guitar World that he had to adapt to the instrument because it remained set up to Gilmour’s liking. Irsay wouldn't have it altered.
Three years after buying the Black Strat, Irsay broke his own record when Cobain's Mustang went under the hammer in New York.
“It was used to record much of Nevermind, and In Utero, and by all accounts, it was one of his most prized possessions,” says Walker.
“It’s unusual, because he [Cobain] couldn’t find many left-handed vintage guitars and [it was used to record] a generational anthem. Jim Irsay loved it; he recognized its importance in the canon of American music.”
The Fool SG, meanwhile, is a guitar slightly less known in the wider public consciousness, but no less historic. It was built in 1964 and given its kaleidoscopic paint job by the Dutch design collective The Fool, which gave it its name.
After that, Clapton wielded it at the height of Cream's monumental success, making it a totem of the Summer of Love in 1967 and the guitar on which he mastered his iconic ‘woman’ tone, before ending up in the hands of producer/guitarist Todd Rundgren.
“It's the embodiment of psychedelia; it’s mad, beautiful, and colorful,” Walker continues. “It’s a moment in time, and it’s where that whole inimitable Eric Clapton [image] was created.”
Indeed, Clapton/Cream classics, like Crossroads and Sunshine of Your Love, were born from this guitar's dizzying color palette – both tonally and aesthetically – meaning its comparatively humble $1.27M sale in 2023 could very well be usurped in March.
Irsay reportedly once turned down an offer of $1 billion for the collection, deemed by many the world’s finest of its kind, but turned it down. They meant more to him than their weighted price tags alone.
Indeed, of the world’s most expensive guitars, Irsay had won two of the top three – Kurt Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit Fender Mustang ($4.55M) and David Gilmour’s Black Strat ($3.975M) – and famously said that the chart-topping guitar, Cobain’s MTV Unplugged Marted D-18, wasn’t worth the $6 million figure it sold for.
Irsay's favorite guitar? Well it remains unconfirmed, but it’s thought to be the one he purchased for £1M in 2013 after it was discovered in a woman's attic.
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