{"id":261718,"date":"2026-07-13T18:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/guitarist-issue-535-april-2026-guitarist-1\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T18:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:33:10","slug":"guitarist-issue-535-april-2026-guitarist-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/guitarist-issue-535-april-2026-guitarist-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Guitarist – Issue 535 April 2026 – Guitarist (1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Following his passing, this extraordinary trove, which also includes Holy Grails of pop culture such as the hand-written lyrics to Bob Dylan\u2019s The Times They Are A-Changin\u2019 and more, has \u2019 come up for sale. In the following pages, we explore the crown jewels of Jim\u2019s collection, including the most famous guitars the world is likely to see \u2013 now or ever.<\/p>\n

Words Jamie Dickson Photography Joby Sessions y \u0001QT*9\u01a5\u0176\u0174\u0176\u017a\u01a7”e*`\u0001T*Y`\u01a5\u01a5\u01a5 61 Take a look at some of the instruments featured in the Jim Irsay auction! http:\/\/bit.ly\/guitaristextra m say n Jim Irsay\u2019s collection of iconic guitars rivals that of the world\u2019s major museums. We speak to Amelia Walker of Christie\u2019s about the complexities of cultural stewardship and preparing this unique treasury of tone for auction, tracing every modi\ufb01cation and major stage appearance that these historic instruments underwent over thousands of miles of touring Words Jamie Dickson This 1966 Vox Kensington prototype embodies the spirit of Flower Power-era design.<\/p>\n

It was used by both John Lennon and George Harrison, and was present in the studio for the Magical Mystery Tour sessions This solid korina-body 1976 Gibson Explorer reissue was used by U2\u2019s The Edge as a back-up guitar on the band\u2019s The Joshua Tree tour back in 1987 and on later tours FEATURE The Jim Irsay Collection \u0001QT*9\u01a5\u0176\u0174\u0176\u017a\u01a7”e*`\u0001T*Y`\u01a5\u01a5\u01a5 63 The Jim Irsay Collection FEATURE any famous guitar collections are simply impressive \u2013 but some go far beyond that.<\/p>\n

So far, in fact, that they become as culturally important as anything found in a museum and raise questions about the role private guitar collections play in preserving pillars of modern culture. Jim Irsay, who died last year, was that kind of collector. The catalogue of his collection reads like a roadmap of American pop culture and includes everything from the original paper-roll manuscript of Jack Kerouac\u2019s On The Road to Miles Davis\u2019s Martin trumpet and, of course, some of the most important guitars the world has ever seen.<\/p>\n

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Huw Price reaches the summit of a rather splendid restoration of a 1961 Gibson Southern Jumbo \u2013 with a lovely new \u2019burst \ufb01nish p120 Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 442244 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk Looking at the incredible guitars that belonged to Jim Irsay\u2019s almost unparalleled collection, I was struck by the enigmatic relationship between artist endorsement and the popularity of certain guitars thereafter.<\/p>\n

In the case of \u2018The Black Strat\u2019, it\u2019s probably fair to say that, after Hendrix, the Floyd guitarist has probably done the most to persuade guitar buyers that a Strat is the ultimate electric \u2013 after all, if an instrument can take both Purple Haze and Comfortably Numb in its stride, there isn\u2019t much it can\u2019t do. And indeed, before Hendrix came along, the Strat\u2019s sales were waning in comparison to the Telecaster.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure there will have been a similar bounce effect for the Strat because Gilmour has championed it for so many years. But fame isn\u2019t an automatic guarantee of widespread adoption. While replicas of Prince\u2019s Cloud guitars are no doubt available, it\u2019s not a style of guitar you\u2019ll see at the Dog And Duck\u2019s next open-mic night.<\/p>\n

Partly that\u2019s because of its \ufb02amboyance, no doubt \u2013 it\u2019s a lot of guitar to live up to \u2013 but also because Prince, while an absolutely formidable guitarist, was too varied and ambitious an artist to neatly \ufb01t the \u2018guitar hero\u2019 label that tends to sell artist-affiliated guitars by the truckload, and perhaps he had no interest in popularising things like signature models. Consider the in\ufb02uence of someone like Kurt Cobain and the case is altered once again. Yes, there are very famous individual guitars he used that have been much copied and replicated, but his main in\ufb02uence on guitar sales was, arguably, to repopularise Fender\u2019s student guitars and offsets in general \u2013 be that a Mustang or a modded Jag.<\/p>\n

He represented a kind of visceral anti-cool that gave those previously marginal guitar designs a cultural relevance and edge that has carried forward to the present day, which even Leo Fender would have struggled to foresee. In this way, visionary artists, and what they play, help us see the potential in guitars that even their designers never suspected. Enjoy the issue, see you next time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

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