Three of the Most Expensive Musical Instruments to Ever Be Sold

 

If you’ve ever casually perused an online music store, you might have noticed Gibson or Fender guitars selling for tens of thousands of dollars. Though those prices might boggle the minds of some, they’re nothing in comparison to the world’s most expensive musical instruments for sale.

Here are just a few of the priciest ones!

Viola de Gambia.

It’s unlikely that you’ll ever see these musical instruments for sale not because they’re so expensive, but because they’re so incredibly rare. If you ever do see one of these musical instruments for sale, it’ll likely be to the tune of $212,500. With roots to instruments made in Spain and Morocco during the Renaissance period, the sound of these instruments was so beautiful that pop artists have used them as recently as 1997.

Eric Clapton’s Famous “Blackie” Stratocaster.

King Arthur is to Excalibur as Eric Clapton is to Blackie. The living legend of rock built his mythic guitar out of three different Fender Stratocasters from the 1950s. Though Clapton bought the guitars dirt cheap, the amazing franken-tar built from their components sold for $959,500 at auction, making it one of the most expensive musical instruments for sale of all time.

Guarneri del Gesù violin

Sold back in 2007, the winning bid of the Guarneri del Gesù violin was just a measly $3.9 million to a Russian lawyer. The violin sold was over 250 years old, and was one of 250 Guarneri instruments to survive the ages. Subsequently, it was played for the first time in 70 years by Pinchas Zukerman, an Israeli maestro, during a private concert in Moscow.

So, the next time you get sticker shock while looking at the prices of online guitar shops’ sound equipment, just remember that they’re nothing in comparison to the world’s most expensive musical instruments for sale. Continue reading here.