Sale of the Generation: Saiichi Sugiyama on the 1999 Eric Clapton Christie's Crossroads Auction

[Editor's note: The June 24, 1999, Christie's auction of Eric Clapton's guitars was a highly significant event to collectors and began a new chapter in the history of guitar collecting. So significant that the auction catalog has become a collectible item in its own right. In his article, "Sale of the Generation", singer, songwriter and guitarist Saiichi Sugiyama provides a very informative look at many of the instruments sold at the 1999 auction.

The following article by Saiichi Sugiyama, who assisted in the preparation of the Christie's catalog produced in conjunction with the June 24, 1999, auction of Eric Clapton's guitars, originally appeared in the May, 1999, issue of "Where's Eric!" magazine and is republished by permission of Saiichi Sugiyama and "Where's Eric!" magazine. Further information regarding rights and permissions is provided below.]

Sale of the Generation

by SAIICHI SUGIYAMA

The vintage and collectable guitar market is dominated by the "baby-boomers" in their thirties and forties. They now have steady-enough jobs and they want to own the guitars of their dreams that they longed for in their teens in the sixties and seventies, and which they can now afford (subject to mortgage, school fees etc.). Most probably, in those days they hero-worshipped Hendrix, Cream, The Stones, The Beatles, Zeppelin, CSNY or whoever, and the genesis of their guitar craze can be traced to record jackets/magazine photos of such heroes that they stared at after school as the scratchy black vinyl turned round and round. I venture to suggest that a certain proportion of the readers of this magazine fit into the description. This auction is for people like you, for your generation.

The vintage and collectable guitar market today is a substantial industry, of which turnover is reputed to be in excess of US $100-$150 million p.a. in the USA alone. It is sufficiently well-established to be taken seriously by auction houses such as Christie's, who regularly holds sales of vintage guitars. That is a well-recognised fact. Not so well a recognised fact is that Eric Clapton has been singularly responsible for this phenomenon. It was in the late sixties that complaints were heard about second-hand Sunburst Gibson Les Pauls becoming so scarce that their prices had shot through the roof. Eric Clapton's majestic playing on the John Mayall album (and more directly, the photograph on its back cover) was responsible for the first-ever vintage guitar phenomenon. Peter Green, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Mick Taylor, Paul Kossoff, Joe Walsh, Billy Gibbons et al., whose use of the Sunburst Les Paul in turn influenced the baby-boomers, cite Eric's use as a primary influence. Now, everyone wanted one. So much so that Gibson brought out the first of the long line of Les Paul reissues in 1968, and Clapton, through these reissue models, was also responsible for the upturn in the fortune of the Gibson Guitar Company. The Sunburst Les Paul has since ruled the vintage guitar market worldwide to this day, changing hands for prices in excess of $50,000.

Equally significant was Clapton's use of 1950s maple-neck Fender Stratocasters from 1969 onwards. By the mid sixties, at the height of Beatlemania, the Stratocaster was very much a guitar of yesterday. The Buddy Holly association (and the Shadows association, if you lived in the UK) had been largely forgotten and Rickenbackers and Gretschs ruled the market. Although Hendrix appeared in 1966, using the then current rosewood Strat, the fifties Strats were still bargain-basement guitars when Clapton came up with the totally new sound of his eponymous solo album in 1970. An already well-played 1956 maple neck Stratocaster shared the album cover with him. This was "Brownie". The tingling "half-tone" of Brownie, obtained by setting the 3-way pick-up selector between the bridge and the centre positions, started a new era of electric-guitar sound. The cutting yet sweet harmonic tone of Brownie was heard through various amplifiers on historic albums such as "Eric Clapton", (the oft-overlooked) "The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions", "All Things Must Pass", "Stephen Stills", and of course "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs". Brownie made its appearance again on the back cover of "Layla", photographed with a pair of studio headphones on the floor of Criteria Studios, as if to say that the album would not have been made without the unmistakable voice of Brownie. Clapton was responsible for the creation of, this time, the vintage Stratocaster market, not to mention the upturn in the fortune of Fender Musical Instruments.

Despite the entry into the scene of its more celebrated cousin, "Blackie", at the Rainbow concert in 1973, Brownie remained one of Clapton's main stage and recording guitars throughout the seventies and early eighties until the advent of the signature-model Strats in 1986. I must confess that my school books were full of doodles of a fifties maple-neck Sunburst Stratocaster, whose name I later came to know as Brownie, and whose distinctive voice will remain engraved on my brain for the rest of my life. I wonder if I am alone?

The auction of Eric Clapton's guitar collection in aid of the Crossroads Clinic at Christie's New York on June 24, 1999, will feature this very same Stratocaster as its crown jewel. I do not know Eric Clapton personally, but I have observed that he seems to have a tendency to give up something that is close to his heart as a token of his commitment. Clearly this auction is one such occasion. Included in the sale amid the more obvious high-profile collector's instruments are those working and private guitars that he has been so attached to over the years that he has found it difficult to part with them. The auction is expected to raise US $1 to $2 million. Although a highly significant sum to be generated by an auction of this kind, it is nevertheless an amount that a man of the calibre of our Mr Clapton, OBE, should be able to raise without resorting to selling off his worldly possessions. The auction is obviously intended as a demonstration of Clapton's commitment to raising the profile of the Crossroads Clinic.

The high-profile instruments in the sale include a fine specimen of that rarest and most exclusive of Gibson solid bodies, a 1958 Explorer, with which he played "Rita Mae", "Rambling on My Mind", "Have You Ever Loved a Woman?" and "Cocaine" on the British leg of the ARMS tour in honour of the late Ronnie Lane at the RAH in 1983 (this Explorer is not to be confused with the clipped Explorer that was used during the 1974 comeback tour, which was given to Bob Marley's guitarist and recently resurfaced in Nagoya, Japan), the 1952 blonde Telecaster with a black pickguard also seen during the 1974-5 tours, which was a gift from Carl Radle, as well as the notorious '74 Martin 000-28 with the sticker "(She's in Love with) Rodeo Man" - remember the misty days on board the "Rolling Hotel"? Also to be sold are the early Mike Stevens pewter-grey Signature Strat with serial number V000009, which was Clapton's main stage guitar from 1987 to 1990, and the Signature "Whities" Nos 1 and 2 built by Larry Brooks, which were Clapton's main stage guitars from the 1993-6 period.

The distinctive brown Sunburst 1959 Gibson ES-335, also coming under the hammer in June, appeared on the video footage of "Tore Down" from the "From the Cradle" recording sessions at Olympic Studios in 1994, and became the finger-picking guitar for "Reconsider Baby", "Third Degree" and "Sinner's Prayer" during the 1994-5 "From the Cradle" tours that ensued. This guitar, and Clapton's use of it, is said to be responsible for the 25 per cent jump in the prices of dot-neck 335s in 1994 - yet another example of the huge influence he has on the vintage guitar market.

There are more guitars from Clapton's recent blues sets, including the Sunburst '56 and '57 Gibson Byrdlands with Alnico pick-ups of " '44" fame, very rare guitars in their own right; the mahogany-bodied reissue National Dobro M-1 resonator guitar used for the two opening Robert Johnson numbers of the 1994 RAH shows, "Terraplane Blues" and "Come on into My Kitchen" (See the Christie's advert on the back cover) and the twelve-string Martin J-40 that opened the 1994-5 "From the Cradle" tour concerts with "Motherless Child" (tuned open G with a capo on the third fret - the guitar comes complete with the capo!). Another "Motherless Child" guitar, the late forties non-cutaway Gibson ES-125 with P-90 as seen on the promo video will also come under the hammer.

The more recent period is also well represented by the midnight-blue metallic Signature Strat used at the War Child benefit concert with Pavarotti in Modena, Italy, on June 28, 1996, and the two Mark Kendrick black-green (though they look more like dark blue metallic - these guitars were finished using a Mercedes Benz paint to match the colour of Eric's Mercedes C36) Signature Strats, which served as the main stage guitars at the Masters of Music concert at Hyde Park later in the same month, and also at the Emporio Armani party in New York later in that year.

The beautiful pearlescent blue Roger Giffin custom Strat, first seen opening the British ARMS concerts with "Everybody Oughta Change" in 1983, and which came to wider recognition for opening the 1985 "Behind the Sun" tours with slide numbers "Tulsa Time" and "Motherless Child", is also for sale. So are the other and longer-serving slide guitars, namely, the distinctive non-trem 1954 Sunburst Stratocaster constantly used on tours during the period from 1979 to the 1985 "Behind the Sun" tour, and its 1956 cousin, which was also set up for slide as a stand-by. Other working guitars include the functional black-and-natural Gibson Chet Atkins CE solid-body nylon-string electric guitars remembered for "Can't Find My Way Home" in the late eighties and early nineties shows.

As far as Signature models are concerned, the 1987 Italian collection is represented by a pair consisting of a Seven Up green and a Ferrari red. The former appeared on the 1989 David Sanborn TV show and travelled to Africa later in the same year, while the latter remained in the studio and was used in the "Journeyman" recording sessions. Our Japanese readers may remember the "smoker's model" Signature Blackie that was introduced by George Harrison during the 1991 TBS interview recorded at Bray Studios on the eve of the Harrison/Clapton tour. Contrary to Eric's words, the "smoker's model" Blackie did not become available from all good Japanese guitar shops; but now is your chance to get one, as seen on TV! The older generation of Japanese readers may also be interested to know that there is a white 1975 Telecaster in the sale which looks remarkably like the one that Eric played on his second tour of Japan in 1975. Eric described this at the time in an interview with "Music Life" as originally bought in New York by a friend for rehearsals in the Bahamas just before the Japan tour, and which he liked very much for its thick, almost Gibson-like sound.

The J. W. Black signature Blackie with gold parts, also in the sale, appears to have served as the second spare during the 1991 tour and made it to centre stage from time to time. On the other hand, the experimental Texas Special Signature model in white, which Eric spoke about in a 1993 interview and which combines the traditional Texas Special single-coil pick-ups with the Signature model active circuit - an idea that never quite took off - does not seem to have made it to the stage.

The on-stage sighting of some of these guitars has been as elusive as sightings of the Yeti. The sale includes a nineties reissue two-pick-up, deep-red Gibson Firebird. The rare sighting of this guitar has become legendary: it occurred at Philadelphia on April 12, 1995, when Clapton played "Reconsider Baby" and "Third Degree" with it in place of the usual sunburst 1959 ES-335. The relevant "train-spotter" readers are reported to be assisting Christie's team with their enquiry. The reports of sightings of a quite extraordinary Gibson, a dark-Sunburst Les Paul with Alnico pick-ups and f-holes (!!), at the NEC Birmingham during the charity concert with Joe Cocker and ZZ Top in October 1993 has now been authenticated by inclusion in the sale of a one-off Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Custom with just such appointments. Life can be stranger than fiction, indeed.

There are other guitars that have been heard on record but not seen before, such as the vintage 1958 Mary Kaye Stratocaster that was used for the "Pilgrim" recording sessions and was described by Eric as "jazz sounding", a reissue Martin OM-28 that was also used during the same session, and a Fender D'Aquisto that was used for the recording session for the "TDF" album. The Roland guitar synthesizer used for "Edge of Darkness" and a 1960s National fibreglass guitar that was used for the soundtrack of the film "Water" should also be mentioned.

Another category of guitars may be described as those which pay tribute to Clapton's heroes. It took Eric some years to track down the extremely rare blonde Gibson ES-350T with P-90s. He wanted it because Chuck Berry was often photographed with the same type of guitar. The story goes that Eric went on stage with the guitar during the filming of "Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll", the Chuck Berry sixtieth-birthday tribute at Fox Theatre, Memphis, expecting Berry to remark on it; but apparently the veteran rock 'n' roller failed to comment. There are also some old Gibsons and others that Eric bought after seeing photographs of his blues heroes such as Robert Johnson, Jimmy Reed and Snooks Eaglin. The semi-hollow Guild Nightbird electric, similar to the one used by Buddy Guy, is a tribute to his hero; a Gibson BB King Lucille signed by BB was bought at a charity auction, and a black eighties Gibson Explorer was bought at an SRV auction. To know that Eric, like us, still buys guitars for the "wrong" reasons, i.e. to emulate his heroes, is positively endearing. There are also reverse tribute guitars, as it were, such as the Taylor 12 string presented to Eric by Richie Sambora to thank Eric for turning up to play on his album, and a Pensa-Suhr Mark Knopfler model that was presented to Eric by Knopfler in the late eighties when he was a band member.

A few of the guitars were bought by Eric for nostalgic reasons. The cherry-red seventies Gibson Les Paul Custom with white parts is uncannily reminiscent of the cherry-red Les Paul Standard that was used on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and was subsequently given to George Harrison (but was borrowed for the second show at The Rainbow in 1973). A 1962 Les Paul SG Standard with a swing-away-pull-sideway tremolo was bought to revisit the Cream sound, and a 1960 Harmony Stratone was bought for the memory of the Ealing days.

Some of the acoustics in the sale have been Eric's private guitars for home use, such as a couple of early Santa Cruz flat-tops that he was photographed at home with, and even some D'Angelicos. Eric's Albert Hall dressing-room Spanish guitar is likewise coming under the hammer. There will also be a couple of the late fifties high-powered Tweed Twins, the most desirable of the Fender Tweed amps, and a couple of Versace designed guitar straps for sale.

In view of the volume of historically significant instruments involved, this auction will be the most important of all vintage-and-collectable guitar events since the market's inception. Quite apart from that, however, what is so striking when looking at the body of guitars included in the collection is the diversity which bears a silent testimony to their owner's all-round musical taste. Christie's sale catalogue, to be published in May, will feature colour photographs of the 100 or so instruments: these are of such variety and importance that the catalogue will certainly be a joy to behold and is destined to become the ultimate coffee-table book for the vintage-guitar generation, a future collectors' item in its own right, and hopefully, a definitive work on Eric Clapton's instruments.

Equally remarkable is the spirit of "giving" that runs through the entire event. Eric's sacrifice in parting with some of the prized possessions he has collected over the years has in turn instigated Christie's involvement on a non-profit-making basis, agreement by major magazines worldwide to run auction adverts for free, the long hours of work Star File has put into collecting the historic stage photographs for the catalogue, and the willingness on the part of the photographers to permit use of their work in the catalogue for free. Among others, "Where's Eric!" too is playing its part in locating and providing some photographs. If this event is the premonition of the spirit of the twenty-first century, the world should be a much happier place to live in.
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Saiichi Sugiyama assisted Christie's consultants, Richard Chapman and Carey Wallace, with the production of the 1999 Crossroads-auction sale catalogue.

[Text reprinted in full from the May, 1999, edition of Where's Eric! magazine (Issue 24, pp 24-32) with permission. Copyright 1999, Saiichi Sugiyama. All rights reserved. This text may not be further reprinted or republished without the prior express written permission of the copyright holder. Images from top to bottom: cover, 1999 Christie's Eric Clapoton auction catalog, courtesy of Norman Watson; "Brownie" Fender Stratocaster with Derek and the Dominos Fender hardshell case; 1958 Gibson Explorer (auction lot #92); 1956 Gibson Byrdland (auction lot #42); 1980s Roger Giffin Custom Strat (auction lot #90); circa 1975 Fender Telecaster (auction lot #97); 1991 Gibson Firebird (auction lot #14); Gibson ES-350TN (auction lot #83); 1930s D'Angelico (auction lot #101). All guitar images from the 1999 Christie's Eric Clapton auction catalog courtesy of Christie's.]

For futher information about Saiichi Sugiyama, please visit his website at www.saiichi.com.

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