T-Bone Walker’s iconic 1949 Gibson ES-5N has been listed on Reverb for a whopping $2 million.
The Texas-born guitarist helped pioneer the electric blues during the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, inspiring more iconic guitarists along the way – and he played no other guitar as much as he did this hollowbody.
“T-Bone’s guitar had a luxurious vibe, the flamey maple top layer of its laminated body positively glowing through the blonde finish, set off by the gold-plated metalwork and the pearl block markers in the Brazilian rosewood ’board,” he writes.
“It was a flamboyant guitar ideally suited to a flamboyant performer, and it served him well for the great Imperial recording sessions and the live shows of the early ‘50s, and all of his studio and stage work that followed, right through to the late ‘60s.”
Walker’s playing had a profound impact on Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and B.B. King, along with an array of others, which is why the guitar is often described as the one that started it all.
The 25.5″ scale guitar, complete with a trio of P-90 pickups, is said to be in very good condition and is being sold by Regent Sounds Vintage in London.
Moreover, the guitar is the first instrument to be entered into the International Registry for Vintage & Rare Stringed Instruments. Owning this guitar, the Reverb listing says, is “equivalent to holding a tangible artifact of great importance to the history of music.”
See Reverb for more.
Such is the spirit of the blues, T-Bone Walker was always helping out others. To name just two examples, he gave guitar lessons to Steve Miller and helped get a 13-year-old Jimmie Vaughan into a B.B. King show.