BECK THE GUITAR AUCTION

Jeff Beck had no equal for the joyous, headstrong energy and beguiling subtlety he brought to his playing. When he died suddenly in January of 2023, he left behind the lightning rods through which his electrifying talent passed an eclectic collection of guitars, many of which are as heavily customised as the hot-rod cars that were Beck’s other ruling passion. Almost exactly two years after his passing, these legendary instruments are now set to go under the hammer in London. We join the experts from Christie’s auction house on the eve of the sale to take a closer look at Oxblood’ and other historic instruments from Jeff’s career and discuss the portrait they paint of a pragmatic, restless yet peerlessly gifted talent and his musical legacy

- Jamie Dickson

It can’t have been an easy decision. In a brief statement about the forthcoming auction of Jeff Beck’s guitars in London, his widow, Sandra Beck, wrote movingly that: “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.”

Encapsulated here, in these words of devotion, is perhaps all you need to know about Jeff Beck. Gold discs might have been welcome enough – but, for Jeff, the real riches were in the music. And what music it was. When it comes to electric guitar, there will perhaps never be such eloquent expressions of yearning as Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers or Where Were You. A matchless maverick; a magician who conjured with six strings and a row of glowing EL34s; a cheerful heretic in the faithless church of chart success. Beck was all these things and more.

But his musical character can also be understood through the guitars he played, which is why we joined a trio of experts from prestigious auction house Christie’s – all of whom worked on the sale for Mark Knopfler’s guitars – to take a tour through Beck’s collection. We sat down with Amelia Walker, specialist head of Private & Iconic Collections, Christie’s London; Kerry Keane, international consultant and specialist for musical instruments (who was also closely involved in preparing the Eric Clapton and David Gilmour collections for sale); and Caitlin Graham, consultant, Rock & Pop Culture (who also worked on the Gilmour sale), to lift the bonnet of Beck’s most iconic music machines and see where he found all that tonal horsepower…