Johnny Marr auctioning 100 guitars including Smiths classics
Johnny Marr is set to auction more than 100 of his guitars, including ones used to write a number of Smiths classics.
The British rock legend has owned a massive collection of the prized instruments over his decades in the music business, from his days in The Smiths to his time working with Oasis, Gorillaz, Talking Heads, and many more in between.
However, now Marr has decided to part ways with a sizable chunk of his collection, auctioning his classic guitars in London later this year, with proceeds being split between The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and The National Autistic Society.
Speaking to BBC News about the announcement, the guitarist said he got the idea off the back of completing his 2023 book, Marr’s Guitars.
“Making that book gave me an excuse to take all the guitars out and photograph them and take them to a few events. When that came to an end, that period, the idea of them all just going back into storage just seemed very weird,” he said.
Noting that he did not want his collection to turn into museum artefacts, Marr continued: “I thought about people in Belfast or in Dundee or Tokyo owning one of these guitars for the rest of their lives – coming down to breakfast in the morning and really loving and cherishing this instrument.”
He added: “Once I got that idea in my head, I thought it was really much, much more, more appealing than them being in some glass case.”
Guitars included in the lot that could potentially be up for grabs are the 1982 Rickenbacker 330 Jetglo, played on The Smiths’ ‘This Charming Man’ and also Oasis’ ‘Supersonic’, after Marr lent it to Noel Gallagher.
There is also the Martin D -28 from 1971, which was played on ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’, as well as the 2017 Fender Johnny Marr Signature Jaguar, Comet Sparkle, which Marr had custom-designed and was used to record Billie Eilish’s James Bond theme, ‘No Time to Die’.
The guitars are set to go on display in both New York and London, before being auctioned in the latter city in September. The estimated price for each guitar ranges from £1,000 to £150,000.
It comes as Marr announced last week that he is set to release his fifth solo album, The Age of Everything, in October, having revealed its lead single, ‘Spin’.
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