“I’m praying it’s the one I’m hoping because I lost one years ago that meant the world to me”: Woman gifted long-lost Guns N’ Roses Les Paul prototype shocked to find it’s worth $20,000
The guitar – which was sold to raise funds for the building of an LA children’s hospital – saw its value quadruple once its secret backstory came to light
A woman raising money for the construction of an LA children’s hospital was pleasantly surprised when an electric guitar she thought was worth $5k turned out to be a “holy grail” prototype that sold for four times that amount.
Gabby recently took the Gibson Les Paul to Pawn Stars’ Rick Harrison, only to find it wasn’t just a regular DJ Ashba signature guitar. Instead, it was the prototype model, which had been used relentlessly on stage by Ashba with Guns N’ Roses before its strange disappearance some years ago.
The guitar had been donated to Gabby and her boyfriend to help raise funds for the cause but no paperwork or backstory about the instrument was provided. So, Ashba himself was drafted in to get to the bottom of the case.
“I'm so excited to see which guitar it's gonna be,” the guitarist says during his visit to the famed second-hand store. “I'm praying to God it's the one I'm hoping because I lost one years ago that meant the world to me.”
His prayers were answered: “I can recognize this guitar a mile away,” he says after laying his eyes on it. “This right here is the Holy Grail. There's only one of these made in the world.”
The prototype saw a lot of action under Ashba’s fingers before it inexplicably went missing.
“This was the prototype. Once we locked in on this design, Gibson only made 100 of them. I actually played it on some of records with Sixx:A.M., and a lot with Guns N' Roses. I abused it. There's even still probably beer stains and stuff on it.”
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Guns N Roses DJ Ashba SOLO & Sweet Child O' Mine 26MayBirmingham - YouTube
The guitar deviated from the traditional Les Paul template in a few ways. Chief among those were electrical reconfigurations.
“The weird thing when I joined Guns N' Roses is that playing a Les Paul, obviously it's the right guitar for the sound of the band, but I could never get used to the two volume knobs,” Ashba explains of their creative process. “So I had 'em take one off. So there’s only one Volume, two Tones.”
Other changes include a kill switch disguised as a three-way toggle in its traditional spot, with the switch proper moved to sit alongside the Tone and Volume knobs. Another key difference is a slight prototype mistake – his name is inscribed onto the truss rod cover upside down.
“It's a really special guitar, I would love to have it back,” Ashba continues.
With that information at Harrison’s disposal, the Pawn Stars salesman offered Gabby $20k for the one-of-a-kind instrument in an exchange that also saw Ashba reunite with his long-lost love.
“I'm super stoked that I'm able to get way more than anticipated for the children's hospital, and that the item gets to go back to DJ,” Gabby says. “That was a cool life moment for me.”
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
