Along with his 'Holy Grail' 1959 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst electric guitar and 1963 Fender Vibroverb guitar amp, the blues guitar great is auctioning off – through Heritage Auctions – an NFT of a brand-new song he recorded with that precise combination of gear, Broken Record. The guitar, amp and NFT are a non-negotiable package deal.
This means that the winner will own, outright, the master recording and the publishing rights to the song, and the gear used to record it.
"It's basically like buying a one-song record company," Bonamassa said in a statement.
"If three people hear the song and that's it, I'm still proud of the work. If it's licensed for film or TV and everybody hears the song, even better. But the fact of the matter is, I'm proud of the song whether three people hear it or 30 million hear it. It doesn't matter. My approach would not have changed."
As for the gear, the '59 Burst is all-original, but for the tuners (replicas of the original Keystones) and frets, which – in the vein of a '58 model – have been downsized slightly. Heritage says that the guitar – which comes with a Gruhn appraisal, paperwork and a letter from the original owner – is otherwise mint, other than "some minor buckle wear on the back and very minor dings and scuffs."
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(Image credit: Heritage Auctions)
(Image credit: Heritage Auctions)
The 2x10 '63 Vibroverb, meanwhile, is said to be in excellent condition and "good working order," with all-original transformers and speakers.
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Believe it or not though, there's more to this auction than the gear and the NFT. The winner also gets Broken Record's original handwritten lyric sheet; a framed, Bonamassa-autographed lithograph of the song's artwork; fourconcert tickets and four meet and greet passes to one Joe Bonamassa show every calendar year; a digital photo book; and, finally, a personal tour of Bonamassa's "Nerdville" gear museum, plus lunch with the guitar A-lister.
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(Image credit: Heritage Auctions)
(Image credit: Heritage Auctions)
The current opening bid for the lot – with all things included – is $350,000. Bidding for the auction ends Saturday, July 31 at 6 p.m. EST.
Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
