Walter Becker Gear Auction in October

[Litterick]

The lesson of this experience: if you are a famous musician who wants to leave a good investment for your family, collect stuff. After you’ve gone, they can send your collection to auction, or to the Hard Rock Café.

[Flat]

Well, I guess it probably is the coolest Duo Sonic that ever lived...but, man!

[Easy2grasp]

Lot 1007 was a pedal board that Walter assembled. It can be duplicated with used gear for about $2000 or less. It sold for $25,000. Who are these people?

These peeps had some deep pockets. A rusty Sadowsky Tele with 2 strings, stage played on Letterman on YouTube, looked good to me. I actually thought I would have a shot at it - watching the Day 2 auction and clutching my $2500 in my sweaty hand. Suddenly within seconds it was at $20,000. I narrowly got my cursor away from the bid button fast enough to avoid an accidental bid.

So I scoped out what other Tele types were upcoming in the auction catalog, because I had already worked myself up in a Tele GAS frenzy. I managed to snag a '52 Tele replica (30th Street Guitars - pre RUST) with my fistful of money. It comes with the Walter Becker Estate letter of provenance, just like the $20,000 guitars! I'm assuming Walter played it for a bit sometime somewhere.

[neuroscan]

On GAS, maybe it's because I have limited practice time due to a very busy non-music career, but it stresses me out to have any instruments that I don't play with some regularity - like at least every couple of days. I definitely seem to experience my most productive practice periods when I am just focused on one guitar. Usually that's my laminate 16 x 3 archtop - call this my jazzbox. When my next jazzbox arrives in 2020 and if I decide to keep my current jazzbox, the current jazzbox will become my office guitar. Having two "no. 1 guitars" under one roof would drive me crazy!

Interesting, I feel very much the same way. However, I have never had two No. 1 guitars, and here is the rub: if no. 1 is 10/10, and no. 2 is 9/10, no. 2 will never get played. That means, a great guitar that under other circumstances I would be perfectly happy with (after all, it's a 9/10) will sit in its case unused, which strikes me as such a waste that I eventually end up selling it.

[Alter]

3.3 million fetched..

Steely Dan's Walter Becker Estate Auction Fetches $3.3M on Hundreds of Guitars, Amps & More | Billboard

[DonEsteban]

Here is another article:

Steely Dan: Walter Becker Estate Auction Brings in $3.3 Million – Rolling Stone

[Hammertone]

I bid on various Brian Monty guitars, with total pricing based on the various charges and general price assumptions, but did not win any of them. For those who don't know, Brian is one of the best independent luthiers around, and builds his own interpretations of Gibson, Fender, and D'Aquisto guitars. He also restores old Gibson guitars, converts old Les Paul Specials and Juniors into Standards. As the auction listings reveal, his instruments, along with ones from Anderson, Hahn, LSL, Fano and a few others, were favoured by Walter Becker.

Brian and his wife Erica are moving from a small town in Ontario to a small town in Quebec's Eastern Townships, where they will play a lot of golf and he will set up a new workshop. My guess is that he won't be making many instruments over the next year or so. I say get them while the getting is good!