B.B. King’s childhood acoustic parlor guitar goes up for auction

American singer, songwriter and guitarist B.B. King (1925-2015) plays a Gibson ES-355 guitar live on stage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans, United States on 15 April 1978.
(Image credit: David Redfern/Redferns)

The first ever acoustic guitar owned by blues icon B.B. King is being sold at auction later this month.

The auctioneers, Palm Beach Private Capital LLC, say the instrument is an elongated parlor guitar and retains three “original gut” strings. 

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Matt Parker

Matt is a staff writer for GuitarWorld.com. Before that he spent 10 years as a freelance music journalist, interviewing artists for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.