Volkswacht Bodensee - Les Paul owned by guitar god Jeff Beck auctioned for over £1 mn

His "Oxblood" guitar, which featured on the cover of the erstwhile Yardbirds member's 1975 album "Blow by blow", was the highest-selling piece in the auction of the rock icon's collection.

Auction house Christie's had earlier predicted the instrument would sell for between 350,000 and half a million pounds.

Comprising more than 130 items, including Beck's guitars and amplifiers, the auction lot sold for a total of more than £8 million.

Born in Surrey outside London in June 1944, Beck was a flexible and multi-talented musician capable of straddling styles from blues and hard rock to jazz.

Briefly a bandmate of fellow guitar great Jimmy Page in the Yardbirds, which at one point also boasted Eric Clapton playing lead, Beck won eight Grammy awards in recognition of his virtuosity.

With Beck, the Yardbirds would score several seminal chart hits in the mid-1960s, including "Shapes of Things" and "Over Under Sideways Down".

He died in January 2023 at the age of 78.

A.Ammann--VB