One of George Harrison's Guitars Just Sold For More Than $300,000 at Auction

By Sam Roche
published

The rare Bartell fretless electric was also played by John Lennon.

George Harrison Bartell electric guitar
(Image credit: Bonhams)

A rare Bartell fretless electric guitar once belonging to Beatles legend George Harrison has fetched $237,562 (approx. $308,795) at auction.

The instrument – which was made around 1967 and presented to Harrison the same year – previously appeared on BBC's Antiques Roadshow, where it was valued at between £300,000 and £400,000 (approx. $500,000).

According to Bonhams – the auction company in charge of the listing – the guitar remained in Harrison's collection until 1984, when he gave it to session guitarist Ray Russell, with whom he worked on the music for the Handmade Films production, Water.

It is also believed that John Lennon played the guitar during a 1968 interview at Abbey Road for the Kenny Everett Show.

Also featured at the same auction was Joy Division front man Ian Curtis’s Love Will Tear Us Apart Vox Phantom VI Special, which sold for a cool £162,563 (approx. $209,731).

For more information, head to Bonhams.

Sam Roche
Sam Roche

Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.