Izzy Stradlin’s ‘Appetite for Destruction’ Gibson ES-175D is hitting the auction block for $50,000

Several years ago we saw a Slash-played B.C. Rich, used to write many of Guns N’ Roses’ earliest songs, hit the auction block.

Now another electric guitar rarity from the early Guns days is going up for sale – a Gibson ES-175D reportedly owned by Izzy Stradlin and used at the Appetite For Destruction recording sessions.

The hollow-body model, finished in Arctic White, will be offered with a starting bid of $50,000.

According to seller Backstage Auctions, Stradlin received the guitar from Gibson artist rep Roger Bell in 1987. Stradlin subsequently used it at the Appetite For Destruction sessions, as well as in various concerts, most notably the February 2, 1988 Guns N' Roses show at the Ritz in New York, which was filmed by MTV and rebroadcast on the network incessantly in subsequent years.

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Soon after, Stradlin sold the guitar to Howie Hubberman, who was involved with Guns N’ Roses on the management end early on and who also owned Hollywood’s Guitars R Us.

Backstage Auctions reports that “Izzy's girlfriend at the time alerted two of her friends who played in a local Sunset Strip rock band. They bought this guitar, as well as a 1987 black Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion, from Howie's store and for the past 32 years the guitars have been in their possession. They sold the guitars in 2020 to a veteran music industry executive, who is making this illustrious arctic white Gibson ES-175D guitar available for this auction.”

The guitar, unsurprisingly, exhibits some wear and tear, including “rope burn” from the yellow rope used by Stradlin along with his guitar strap, glue marks left where the bridge was reattached after it became dislodged when the guitar was restrung and an exposed screw hole from where the pickguard was removed.

The guitar has serial number 80787552 and was made on March 19, 1987 at Gibson’s Nashville plant. Former Guns N' Roses managers Alan Niven and Doug Goldstein, as well as Stradlin’s attorney, were contacted and verified its provenance.

The ES-175D comes with the original case, a professional summary document by the current owner and a signed and notarized statement from Hubberman.

For more information, head to Backstage Auctions.