Items from George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Bootsy Collins, Eddie Van Halen, Chino Moreno, and Steve Smith will also be available
Frank Zappa’s Baby Snakes SG guitar will headline Heritage’s Vintage Guitars and Musical Instruments Auction on December 50th. More than 50 years after a teenage Phoenix luthier presented a one-of-a-kind masterpiece of groundbreaking guitar craftsmanship to a singular maestro of the rock ’n’ roll avant-garde, Heritage Auctions will offer the opportunity to own this instantly recognizable piece of music history to aficionados, players, collectors and music history buffs as the lead lot.
The Baby Snakes SG’s story begins in 1972 or ’73 when Bart Nagel, a 19-year-old fixture of the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, took a damaged Gibson SG and transformed it into something extraordinary. He crafted a three-piece mahogany and rosewood neck with an ebony fretboard of 23 frets instead of the standard 22 and added decorative silver inlays, rosewood and ebony body detailing and other custom touches.
When Zappa, a known SG enthusiast, played Phoenix in July 1974, Nagel made his way backstage to show him the guitar. Zappa agreed to buy it on the spot. He had luthier Rex Bogue further modify the instrument with a custom onboard preamp boasting an 18 dB boost and phase-switching, tone-shaping circuitry perfect for Zappa’s genre-defying explorations. The resulting custom instrument delivered the versatility and power needed for performances like the 1977 Halloween shows, where Zappa’s guitar work wove intricate, awe-inspiring tapestries of sound that left audiences awestruck. Captured in the surreal brilliance of the 1979 Baby Snakes film and its 1983 soundtrack, it shaped Zappa’s electrifying post-Mothers of Invention live performances and studio work.
A holy grail for Zappa fanatics and guitar nerds, the Baby Snakes SG is still in good condition and would be equally at home as a collector’s showpiece or in the hands of a musician ambitious enough to carry on Zappa’s legacy of sonic exploration.
George Harrison/Eric Clapton 1913 Gibson “Pattie” Style-0 Sunburst Archtop Acoustic Guitar, Serial # 14106. Baby Snakes is not the only monumentally important guitar on offer at the auction. The sale of a gorgeous 1913 Gibson Style O archtop acoustic would be noteworthy on its own, but this is Pattie, the very guitar owned by Eric Clapton and played by him and George Harrison in October 1968 during their earliest collaborative writing sessions at Alan Pariser’s garden in Los Angeles, shortly before Cream’s farewell tour. Songs that grew from these garden sessions included the co-written Cream hit Badge, Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” and Clapton’s “Layla.” Delaney Bramlett was given the guitar around 1970 during Clapton’s collaboration with Delaney & Bonnie. It remained in Bramlett’s possession for nearly four decades, until his passing in 2008, after which it was sold in the 2013 Bramlett estate auction.
Another instrument featured in the December 5th auction was used on colossal funk and soul hits and comes with an amusing back story related to its provenance. James Brown purchased this 1969 Fender Jazz Bass for Bootsy Collins, the young bassist in his band, The J.B.’s who was part of the crucial rhythm section on “Sex Machine,” “Super Bad,” “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose” and many more — and who would go on to become a legendary part of funk history himself with George Clinton in Parliament and Funkadelic. Collins departed Brown’s band in 1972, and Brown kept the bass, which Fred Thomas used on more classic hits, including “Hot Pants.” The instrument remained in Brown’s possession until 1977, when the Godfather of Soul abandoned his band and crew following a Miami concert. The consignor, a professional musician with connections to the group, housed and fed the band members for three days and bought them bus tickets to get them back to Georgia. Brown’s road manager gave him the bass in compensation for the hospitality.
Miky and Stefano Corvisiero have a rock memorabilia collection and a story for each beloved piece. After deciding to sell their bar on Isola Bella in Lake Maggiore, Italy, the two consigned for this auction several items that had been hanging on its walls, including an Epiphone guitar signed by Rick Vito, Billy Burnette, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac; a Squier Telecaster sporting Joe Ely’s autograph; and a Fender Telecaster signed by Bruce Springsteen. Many of the collection’s autographs did not come easy — their methods have included waiting as long as 20 hours in hotel lobbies and smuggling guitar bodies into concerts — but they are at peace with the decision, knowing the collectibles, as they put it, “will end up in good hands (or on good walls) because somebody who loves their music wants to have a piece of it.”
Few drummers maintained a more consistent, recognizable sound during a specific era than Journey’s Steve Smith in the 1980s. The ten-piece 1980 Sonor Phonic set the 2002 Modern Drummer Hall of Fame inductee used on multiple smash Journey hits off the iconic albums Dream After Dream, Escape, and Frontiers (as well as in his From the Practice Room YouTube series) is a crucial part of rock history, and Heritage is proud to offer it in this auction. Whether you are a superfan planning to put it in your personal Journey collection or a working drummer hoping to capture a little Steve Smith magic in your own playing, “Any Way You Want It,” that’s the way you need this kit — and “Don’t Stop Believin’” yours could be the winning bid.
Collectors of artist-used gear, vintage gear enthusiasts, or bass players longing for the inimitable tone and stadium-ready power of an early 1970s Fender amp head will be vying for the 400 PS used by Timothy B. Schmit during his time with Poco, before he joined the Eagles. “These amplifiers were used by me in live performances during my time with Poco, and they’ve been a big part of my musical journey,” Schmit writes. “They are truly great amps, full of character and history. It gives me great joy to pass them along, and I hope you enjoy them every bit as much as I have.”
With 19 unreserved items, there is enough stage-used gear in The Deftones – Chino Moreno Collection to create a complete museum dedicated to the band or outfit a guitarist for a full stadium tour. There’s the aggressive LTD Viper 1000 Delux, a favorite of hard rock and metal guitarists; a 2003 Composite Acoustics GX HG CPB ELE acoustic guitar Moreno used for writing and warm-up sessions; the refined and expressive D’Angelico Excel semi-hollowbody with its clean white finish and gold accents; plenty of Orange and Marshall amp heads and speaker cabinets to play them through, and even heavy-duty road cases to protect them during transportation. The compilation has enough to satisfy the most obsessive Deftones collector or outfit a Deftones tribute act for total authenticity — one Orange Dual Terror amp head even has dots indicating where to set the volume, tone and gain knobs.
A guitarist could emulate — or attempt, at least — Steve Vai’s parts on David Lee Roth’s 1986 album Eat ’Em and Smile with another featured guitar. This Jackson SL Series Soloist — built and personally presented to Vai by Grover Jackson himself — was also used live with Alcatrazz on 1984’s “Night Games” in dropped-D tuning and served as a backup guitar during the former Zappa guitarist’s tour with Roth.
