Heritage Auctions features historic vintage guitars in October auction
There are countless guitars of significance in Heritage’s October 9th Vintage Guitars and Musical Instruments Signature Auction, among them the 1939 Martin D-45 deemed “among American guitar’s irreplaceable treasures.” The 1978 Gretsch Roy Clark prototype made for the Hee-Haw host; the Eddie Van Halen-Steve Ripley collaborations; and classical guitars and more from Washington, DC’s celebrated, legendary The Guitar Shop.
But one guitar among the more than 400 stands just a little bit taller, sounds just a little bit louder, maybe means just a little bit more. That’s because it’s the “First Guitar of Bluegrass Music,” as the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation called it last year – the 1942 Martin D-18 that once belonged to Lester Flatt. Yes, that’s right: Lester Flatt of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, the architects and prophets of bluegrass music. Lester Flatt of Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, whose “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” won Grammys and scored movies and whose “The Ballad of Jed Clampett” is still heard every time you visit The Beverly Hillbillies. Lester Flatt, the singer, songwriter and guitarist who was “as important to American culture as its best writers and painters,” according to a U.S. House of Representatives resolution in 2010.
This Martin D-18 has such a storied career it was a special guest at the Bluegrass Heritage Festival in 2023, where it was played and displayed with “jaw-dropping” results, according to the foundation, which celebrated its use “on most recordings made by Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys throughout the 1950s.” Its arrival at auction is an event among bluegrass fans and Martin enthusiasts who’ve spent weeks guessing how much it could bring.
“This D-18 might be one of the loudest I have ever heard,” says Director of Vintage Guitars & Musical Instruments, Aaron Piscopo. “It remains in excellent playable condition, and the sound makes you tremble – especially when thinking about its previous owner and how hard he must have played this thing! This guitar is not only a high-quality Martin from the early 1940s but also a foundational piece of bluegrass history.”
It hails from the collection of Tut Taylor, the Folkswinger who co-founded Nashville’s beloved GTR Incorporated instrument shop (and the man from whom Neil Young bought Hank Williams’ Martin D-28!). In a letter written in the summer of 2012, Taylor said he grew up listening to Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Band over Nashville’s WSM, the radio station that, beginning in 1925, spread the Grand Ole Opry gospel across the country with its Saturday-night broadcasts.
Taylor wrote that in the early 1950s, he noticed Flatt and Scruggs were no longer in Monroe’s band – and that “it broke my heart for I could not find Eddie Van Halen Signed and Inscribed Kramer/Ripley Red, White and Black Striped “Eddie Elvis” Solid Body Electric Guitar, Serial # E 09982. From The Estate of Steve Ripley.where they went.” Eventually, Taylor found the pair in Virgina and began following them around “like a puppy,” recording many of their shows on his reel-to-reel. One night, Taylor recalled, he told Flatt how much he liked his guitar.
“Lester surprised me by saying, ‘I’ll just give you this one, but you’re gonna have to give me $25 for the case,’” Taylor recalled. “Needless to say, I was flabbergasted. He also gave me the guitar strap with his name on it.” Taylor held on to it for “a few years,” he wrote, until he parted with it “for a mere pittance.”
Nashville guitar guru George Gruhn has twice examined this guitar – first in 1978, then again in 2012, when he wrote, “Lester’s use of this instrument would make this guitar one of the most important guitars in the entire history of bluegrass music.”
Of course, some Martin aficionados might argue that the 1939 Martin D-45is the more sought-after guitar, as pre-war D-45s are considered holy grail guitars, national treasures, an instrument you don’t loan to anyone unless they’re in a hall of fame. Only 91 were made in 1939; now it’s believed only about 90 pre-war D-45s exist, among them this well-chronicled offering that has been restored and refinished. Says Piscopo, this guitar’s “significance in the history of acoustic guitars cannot be overstated.”
That 1978 Gretsch Model 7686 Roy Clark “Special” No. 1 prototype is a surefire grail for others, simply because of the man for whom the electric guitar was made. Clark might have been considered an entertainer by most – more NashVegas than Nashville, more countrypolitan than country-western, thanks to his affiliation with Hee-Haw. But true believers know the man was one hell of a guitar player – and banjo player, fiddler and mandolin player. Clark might not have chosen this guitar, opting for the No. 2 simply because it has more music note inlays, but Gretsch thought enough of this guitar to include it in its 1994 calendar.
1978 Gretsch Model 7686 Roy Clark ‘Special’ #1 Prototype Deep Blue Solid Body Electric Guitar, Serial #5-8113.When he needed a new guitar, Steve Ripley just created one. The Oklahoman was a musician, yes – a “Red Dirt” pioneer who fronted country-rockers The Tractors, played guitar with Bob Dylan (who gave him a shout-out in Rolling Stone) and J.J. Cale, produced Roy Clark, Leon Russell and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and others. But he was an inventor, too, of the so-called “stereo guitar” made famous by Eddie Van Halen (ever listen to “Top Jimmy”?), Dweezil Zappa and Ry Cooder. Van Halen and Ripley were especially tight after almost 40 years of friendship. When Ripley died in 2019 at 69, Eddie issued a statement in which he hailed his dear friend and collaborator as “part genius, part musician, part inventor and many other great things.”
As Piscopo notes, Heritage is “especially honored to offer some selections from The Estate of Steve Ripley,” among them a Kramer/Ripley Red, White and Black Striped “Eddie Elvis” Solid Body Electric Guitar signed and inscribed by Eddie Van Halen; a Kramer/Ripley Pink Bowling Ball Solid Body Electric Guitar signed by Van Halen; and the original neck from the Kramer-Ripley guitar that Eddie held in the iconic Kramer ad on the back of Guitar Player. Just as significant is Rick Vito’s Ripley Pink Solid Body Electric Guitar made for and signed by Vito, who can be seen using the guitar in the video for Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band’s “Like A Rock” music video.
On the other side of the spectrum, this auction also features more than 210 guitars from The Guitar Shop Collection – among them, 90 coveted classical guitars. Heritage began offering instruments from the famed D.C. location in the spring of 2023, and, as Piscopo notes, its owner, Steve Spellman, is foremost a music lover, a guitar enthusiast and a thoughtful, passionate collector.
“Steve loved to preserve guitars, which is very apparent in his classical collection, and now he gives that gift to you,” Piscopo says.
Among the beautiful and well-preserved offerings are guitars from such luthiers as José Ramírez, Bertrand Martin and Batiste Bofi.
