Crossroads Guitar Auction
Eric Clapton & Friends for the Crossroads Centre
Sale 1392
24 June 2004, 6:00 pm
20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York



Following the legendary sale of Eric Clapton guitars in 1999, Christie's once again offers at auction a group of fine guitars that Clapton describes as the "cream of my collection." Proceeds from the sale are to benefit the Crossroads Centre that Clapton founded in Antigua in 1997.

Highlights include 'Blackie', the unique composite Fender Stratocaster, circa 1956, that Clapton played throughout the early 1970s until the mid 1980s; the 1964 cherry red Gibson ES-335, the second electric guitar he ever bought and the one most associated with his days with Cream; the 1937 Martin, 000-42, used extensively on The 'Unplugged' recording; and the Fender Stratocaster 'Crash 3' designed by famous street artist Crash and the first of Clapton's graffiti guitars to be offered at auction.

Also featured are a group of pre-World War II C.F. Martin & Company guitars; a 12-string guitar co-designed by Clapton in 1969 with renowned guitar maker Tony Zemaitis; and guitars donated by musician friends such as Pete Townshend, Brian May and B.B. King.

Please visit Christie's picture gallery to view highlights of this sale.

More info at http://www.christies.com/promos/jun04/claptonGuitars/overview.asp

2004 Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Auction: Complete Results

http://www.stratcollector.com/corner/archives/000255.html

Blackie went for 959,500... Jesus.

The main thing I was surprised by was the Alvarez Classical that went for: 253,900... Damn.

-Dusty

Apparently Banjo Center is making a couple of bucks...they bought Blackie, Lenny, AND the Gibson. If my math is right, that's about $2.3M worth of guitars....

The corporation probably bought them as a tax right off. And they are probably now in the owners private collection.

-Dusty

7.5 million dollars to help bring people who've lost their way back to reality, what a great concept!!! Kudos to Mr. Clapton it must have been hard to part the goodies.

Rocky

Great cause...and it's nice to know that the hard-earned $$$$ I've dropped at GC aren't just gathering interest for the owners-they're putting some of the $$$ back into good causes.

Um...that's an awful lot of money for Crossroads Center. Exactly how many residents do they have there? I think $7.5 mil is probably enough to hold them for a while.

! "Crossroads, Where Rehab is a Blast!".

And this is (atleast) the second time Clapton's sold some axe's. He sold Brownie in the first one didn't he? And the kickass SG he used in Cream, I think.

-Dusty

I think Clapton realizes that it's the music that matters not the instrument so much. All those fender solidbodys any kid in woodshop could build. While I applaud the good cause and all, I personally detest the vintage market. I remember a time when instruments were bought and sold between one musician and another. It's a shame fine guitars like these are traded by "entrepeneurs" who create nothing, only to dissapear down a black hole and hang on some rich dope dealer, movie actor, and Wall Street analysts wall, never to play music again. These fuckers are leaches.
Darius