More than mere instruments, the most valuable guitars of all time are revered pop culture artefacts. All but one of the guitars featured here are linked to legendary artists, while the most coveted encapsulate pivotal moments in music history. And collectors are prepared to pay a fortune to acquire these sonic treasures. 

From an infamous Bob Dylan Fender Strat to the Martin D-18E Kurt Cobain played on MTV Unplugged, read on for the full ranking of acoustic and electric wonders – and discover the jaw-dropping sums they sold for. 

All dollar amounts in US dollars. Pre-2022 sales figures adjusted for inflation.

Custom-made for the Purple One in 1985, Cloud 3 was one of Prince's signature guitars and featured in several of the artist's tours. It was gifted to a very lucky fan in 1993 as part of a promotional giveaway sponsored by New York's Z100 radio station.

The freebie certainly paid off when it fetched $910,000 at a Julien's Auctions sale last year, realising almost double its estimate and breaking the record for the most expensive Prince guitar.

Two of Jerry Garcia's guitars have made it into the top 30. 'Tiger' is one of five axes made by expert luthier Doug Irwin for The Grateful Dead frontman. Garcia stipulated in his will that all five guitars be returned to Irwin upon his death. But following the musician's passing in 1995, his bandmates launched a legal challenge. In the end, Irwin agreed to settle for two, 'Tiger' and 'Wolf'.

In 2002, 'Tiger' was acquired by Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay for $957,500. Irsay has since gone on to amass one of the most impressive guitar collections in the world.

In 1970, Eric Clapton splurged on six Fender Strats and gifted one each to George Harrison, Pete Townsend and Steve Winwood. He then took the best parts of the remaining three and built 'Blackie', which would become his favourite guitar.

Despite his fondness for the instrument, Clapton opted to part with it for a good cause and it went under the hammer in 2004 to help fund his rehab centre, fetching $959,000, a world record at the time for a guitar sold at auction.

The 1965 Newport Folk Festival saw Bob Dylan take to the stage with this Fender Strat, a move that ignited the 'Electric Dylan' controversy, drawing harsh criticism from fans who felt he was betraying his acoustic folk roots.

In the aftermath of the infamous performance, the maligned instrument was left on Dylan's private plane. The star probably never wished to set eyes on it again, and the pilot's efforts to return it proved futile, leading him to keep the Strat. The guitar eventually passed to his daughter, who sold it at a Christie's auction in 2013, with Jim Irsay the winning bidder.

The 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard has been described as the holy grail of electric guitars. This particular beauty is one of the most storied. Originally belonging to Keith Richards, it was used for the Rolling Stones’ debut appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and their first US tour and later played by the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.

The guitar was stolen in 1971, though it was later recovered and ultimately sold privately in 2006 for a cool $1 million.

David Gilmour picked this Martin D-35 as the luxury item he would take with him as a castaway during his 2003 appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. The acoustic guitar had served him well, featuring on The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and other landmark Pink Floyd albums.

Like Eric Clapton, Gilmour also chose to let go of his favourite guitar for a worthy cause. In 2019, it was auctioned off along with 122 of his other axes to benefit the ClientEarth charity.

The sole guitar in our list that isn't linked to a legendary musician, the futuristic-looking 1958 Gibson Korina Explorer is exceptionally rare, with fewer than 10 in existence. Like the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, it has been dubbed the holy grail of guitars.

Needless to say, getting hold of one doesn't come cheap. In 2016, London's Denmark Street Guitars sold a beautifully preserved example for $1.1 million.

Rory Gallagher bought this Fender Strat for £100 in 1963 and used it throughout his illustrious career. Often referred to as the greatest guitarist you've never heard of, Gallagher is regarded as Ireland's first bona fide rock star by those in the know.

The Strat sold for $1.16 million at a Christie's auction last October. It was bought by Live Nation Gaiety, which has since donated the guitar to the National Museum of Ireland.

Bob Marley owned only around six or seven guitars, including this Washburn Wing Hawk. The axe was gifted to the reggae star's friend and guitar technician Gary Karlson in 1979. Since then, it has been declared a National Treasure of Jamaica and has dramatically increased in value.

The guitar's worth was pegged at $1.2 million in 2023, but Karlson claims he's been offered as much as $10 million for it. In 2018, Karlson announced he was giving away the instrument as a prize in a charity raffle but has yet to conduct the draw and part with the treasure.

This 1957 Les Paul Goldtop was Duane Allman's primary guitar during his early years with the Allman Brothers Band. He also used it when he worked with Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon in 1970 to record the Derek and the Dominos classic Layla. Allman swapped it for another guitar not long after.

The instrument passed through various owners and ended up on display at the Allman Brothers Band Museum before it sold in 2019 via Gotta Have Rock And Roll for $1.25 million.

This Fender Strat was custom-made for Jeff Beck in 1990. The instrument was nicknamed 'Anoushka' since it was played and signed by Anoushka Shankar, the daughter of Ravi Shankar and sister of Norah Jones, at a benefit concert in 2002.

The Fender Strat, which was Beck's primary guitar for more than 15 years, sold earlier this year at a Christie's auction for $1.255 million.

The most expensive George Harrison guitar sold at auction is also the priciest Beatles electric guitar. Harrison's formative instrument, it was bought for £58 in 1959 and used throughout the band's early days.

Fast-forward to 2024, and the Futurama went under the hammer at a Christie's sale for $1.27 million.

Eric Clapton's 'Fool' guitar is among the most striking in our round-up thanks to its psychedelic finish by the eponymous Dutch art collective. Clapton developed his distinctive 'Woman Tone' on this guitar and it later passed to George Harrison, Jackie Lomax and Todd Rundgren, enshrining its place in rock history.

Unsurprisingly, the Gibson drew significant interest when it went under the hammer at Julien's Auctions in 2023. Mega-collector Jim Irsay emerged as the successful bidder, securing the guitar for $1.27 million.

Elvis owned this 1942 Martin D-18 from 1954 to 1956. The acoustic guitar was used to record his earliest hits Blue Moon of Kentucky and That's All Right at the Sun Studios in Memphis, hence the name.

The instrument was put up for auction in 2020 via Gotta Have Rock And Roll. It failed to realise its maximum estimate of $3 million, selling for $1.3 million. Still, the 'Sun Sessions' guitar is the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia ever sold.

Nicknamed 'Oxblood' on account of the rich dark red colour of its finish, this 1954 Gibson Les Paul features on the cover of Jeff Beck's 1975 album Blow by Blow and was used to record numerous songs for the record. Beck also played the guitar alongside David Bowie at a seminal Ziggie Stardust gig in London in 1973.

The Les Paul was part of the Christie's sale in January that included Beck's 'Anoushka'. 'Oxblood' attracted an even fiercer bidding war and higher final price, selling for $1.33 million.

The first of three Kurt Cobain guitars in the top 10, this custom Fender Mustang was made for the Nirvana frontman in 1993 and nicknamed 'Skystang 1' due to its electric blue finish.

The guitar featured in 53 out of 63 shows on the In Utero tour and was played during Nirvana's last ever concert in Munich in March 1994. It was bought for just under $1.6 million by Japanese businessman Mitsuru Sato at an auction at the Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville in 2023.

David Gilmour's fabled white Fender Strat features prominently on Pink Floyd's 1979 classic Another Brick in the Wall Part 2, as well as his solo work. The guitar even makes an appearance on tracks by Paul McCartney and Bryan Ferry.

Stamped with the serial number #0001, it was once thought to be the first Strat ever made, but is actually an early prototype. Gilmour offloaded the guitar in 2019 along with 122 of his other axes in aid of the ClientEarth charity.

Jerry Garcia's best-known guitar, 'Wolf' is the other custom-made axe luthier Doug Irwin ended up inheriting following the death of The Grateful Dead frontman in 1995. As you might have guessed, it's named after the distinctive inlay of a cartoonish wolf.

The highly sought-after guitar was put up for sale in 2017. It was bought at auction by Hubspot CEO Brian Halligan, with the proceeds going to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Jimi Hendrix's 1968 'Izabella' Fender Strat eventually ended up in the collection of the late tech billionaire Paul Allen. It's thought he paid $2 million for the guitar, but this has never been confirmed.

The seventh most valuable guitar based on confirmed sales or valuations is John Lennon's 1962 Gibson J-160E. Used to record Beatles songs like Love Me Do and PS I Love You, the acoustic guitar went missing in 1963, only to resurface decades later. It sold for $2.41 million at a Julien's Auctions event in 2015.

This ordinary white Fender Strat wasn't owned or played by a legend. Instead, its extraordinary value stems from the fact it was signed by 19 rock icons and put up for auction in 2005 to raise money for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, David Gilmour and the organiser of the benefit, Bryan Adams, are just some of the big names who provided autographs.

The signed Strat surpassed Eric Clapton's 'Blackie' and set a new record for a guitar sold at auction, going under hammer for $2.7 million. The buyer was a member of Qatar's royal family.

The Framus Hootenanny is another long-lost John Lennon guitar that resurfaced decades after it vanished. Used to record Help!, the 12-string was given away by Lennon in 1965 and eventually forgotten about in an attic.

The guitar's recent rediscovery had high-end collectors buzzing with excitement, and it sold at a Julien's Auctions event last May for over $2.8 million, the highest price ever paid for a John Lennon axe.

This custom 'Frankenkrat' Kramer was crafted for Eddie Van Halen and features in the 1984 Hot For Teacher video. Van Halen is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time and his instruments rarely come on the market, so potential buyers were waiting with bated breath when the Kramer was put up for auction at Sotheby's in 2023.

Bidding was intense, and the guitar sold for well in excess of its estimate.

David Gilmour's signature guitar, this black Fender Strat was heavily modified over the years by the Pink Floyd frontman and featured on many of the band's classic tracks, from Comfortably Numb to Shine on You Crazy Diamond.

The museum-worthy axe was the most desirable lot in the 2019 charity sale of Gilmour's guitars. Jim Irsay cast the winning bid of almost $4 million, which at the time broke the record for the highest price paid for a guitar at auction, stealing the crown from the 'Reach Out to Asia' Strat.

This Lake Placid Blue Fender Mustang holds a significant place in music history as the guitar Kurt Cobain wielded in Nirvana's groundbreaking Smells Like Teen Spirit video. It was also used to record the Nevermind and In Utero albums and featured in numerous live performances.

The iconic axe was sold by the Cobain family in 2022 at a Julien's Auctions event. Again, the top bidder was Jim Irsay, who coughed up $4.55 million for the prized guitar, considerably more than its estimate of $600,000. A portion of the proceeds of the sale was donated to Irsay's Kicking The Stigma mental health awareness initiative.

Drum roll – or guitar solo – please: the most valuable guitar of all time is none other than the 1959 Martin acoustic Kurt Cobain played in Nirvana's era-defining MTV Unplugged performance in 1994. Inherited by Cobain's daughter Frances Bean, it was very reluctantly handed over to her ex-husband Isaiah Silva in 2018 as part of their divorce settlement.

Frances Bean and her mother Courtney Love attempted to recoup the guitar, but it was sold on behalf of Silva at a Julien's Auction event in 2020 for an astronomical $6 million. The winning bidder was Australian businessman Peter Freedman, who announced plans to display the guitar in galleries around the world, with all proceeds going towards the performing arts.

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