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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsB.B. King's 'Lucille' guitar going up for auction
Her name was Lucille, and in B.B. Kings hands she gave voice to the King of the Blues. Juliens Auctions announced Tuesday that Kings black Gibson ES-345 prototype guitar is among the items from his estate that will go up for bid on Sept. 21.
Juliens says Gibson gave King the instrument for his 80th birthday. The headstock has B.B. King 80 and a crown inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The guitar is estimated to be worth $80,000 to $100,000.
The guitar was not the first to bear the name. The story goes that King first used that moniker for a guitar he rescued from a fire while he was playing an Arkansas club in 1949. The blaze broke out as two men fought over a woman, and the musician narrowly escaped death after he went back into the club to save his guitar, the auction house said.
When King learned the womans name was Lucille, he named his guitar after her to remind himself to never fight over a woman or run into a burning building, the auction house said.
The National Medal of Arts that President George H.W. Bush presented to King in 1990 is also up for auction. So are his touring van, jewelry and clothing. The 15-time Grammy winner was 89 when he died in 2015.
https://www.apnews.com/d9ad3ed4580843808e492b7031c7495a
marble falls
(57,075 posts)cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)He didn't get this one until he was 80 years old but he used the moniker for many of his guitars through the years.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)That's all mentioned in the opening post.
panader0
(25,816 posts)It's sweet, but most of the time, jamming with friends, I use my cheap Dean,
which weighs about half of the 335. Picture of an ES:
kacekwl
(7,016 posts)when he was older. FANTASTIC. I wish I could have seen him in his younger days.