Eddie Van Halen’s “Frankenstrat” is easily one of the most recognizable instruments in rock history, and Kramer Guitars’ early take on the design now belongs to a wealthy new owner.
The three instruments sold for a combined $422,050 ($231,250 for the customized Kramer built with guitar tech Matt Bruck at the guitarist’s home studio, $140,800 for his 2004 EVH Charvel Art Series guitar, and $50,000 for a prop guitar from the “Hot for Teacher” video) at the Icons & Idols Trilogy: Rock ‘n’ Roll Auction held by Julien’s Auctions on Wednesday. It was the highest-priced seller out of the nearly 900 available items from a who’s who of music history featuring everyone from Elvis to Lady Gaga, while two of Kurt Cobain’s smashed Fenders sold for a combined $281,600 and Bob Marley’s first guitar earned $153,600.
Earlier this year, Cobain’s infamous guitar from MTV Unplugged sold for over $6 million.
For those of us who can’t afford to drop six digits on a piece of music history, there were also plenty of more affordable bits of memorabilia. After all, someone dropped over $10k for a page of a book featuring George Michael’s handwritten lyrics for Wham!’s “Young Guns (Go for It),” which is a small price to pay to be able to work Keanu jokes into every conversation for the rest of your life.
