Jeff Beck guitars used in Bowie performance and with The Yardbirds up for sale

Guitars used by “maestro” Jeff Beck at the beginning of his career with The Yardbirds and in a 1973 performance with David Bowie are to go to auction.

The guitarist, who died aged 78 in January 2023, had wanted his guitars to be sold to other musicians after his death, his wife said, as she put the items on sale at Christie’s, saying she hoped the winning bidders would be able to “move closer to the genius who played them”.

Jeff Beck: The Guitar Collection will feature more than 130 of his instruments, and includes his recognisable 1954 Oxblood Gibson Les Paul, which is estimated to make up to £500,000.

The guitar was seen on the cover of his 1975 solo album Blow By Blow, was used in the supergroup Beck, Bogert And Appice, and at the 1973 appearance with Bowie.

Beck joined the singer and his band The Spiders From Mars on the final date of the Ziggy Stardust tour at Hammersmith Odeon to perform The Jean Genie, The Beatles’ Love Me Do and Chuck Berry’s Round And Round.

It was filmed and recorded for the concert film Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture and its accompanying soundtrack, but the clips featuring Beck only appeared on the 50th anniversary edition after his death. The musician was said to be unhappy with the recording.

Beck’s widow Sandra Beck said: “These guitars were his great love and after almost two years of his passing it’s time to part with them as Jeff wished.

“After some hard thinking I decided they need to be shared, played and loved again.

“It is a massive wrench to part with them but I know Jeff wanted for me to share this love. He was a maestro of his trade. He never lusted after commercial success. For him it was just about the music.

“He constantly reinvented himself with his musical direction and I could not single out one person, one recording or one guitar as his favourite.

“I hope the future guitarists who acquire these items are able to move closer to the genius who played them.

“Thank you all for considering a small piece of Jeff that I am now hoping to share with you.”

Also in the auction is a 1958 Gibson Les Paul from his time in 1960s British R&B group The Yardbirds, used to lay down some of the band’s best-known and most influential recordings, such as Over Under Sideways Down and Happenings Ten Years Time Ago, and the album Roger The Engineer.

The guitar was also used on the first Jeff Beck Group album Truth, which featured performances from Sir Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, and is expected to reach up to £60,000.

There is also a Tele-Gib custom guitar put together by pickup designer Seymour Duncan for Beck in 1973, which combines a Fender Telecaster body and neck with a pair of Gibson PAF humbucking pickups removed from a Flying V, which is expected to fetch up to £150,000.

Other guitars include a 1954 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster, used on the Jeff Beck Group album Beck-Ola, given to him by Small Faces frontman Steve Marriott, a Pink Jackson Soloist used to record with the likes of Tina Turner, and a white Fender Stratocaster used to record four studio LPs.

They will be auctioned on January 22, 2025, at Christie’s London headquarters, after going on public display in Los Angeles from December 4 to 6, 2024, and in London from January 15 until the sale day.