The newly reopened Regent Sounds guitar shop on Denmark Street will mark the launch of its new Vintage Lounge with an exclusive online auction of T-Bone Walker’s legendary 1949 Gibson ES-5N: “the guitar that started it all”.
The special five-week event runs from 23 February to 31 March on Reverb – the world’s largest online marketplace for musical instruments.
Bringing together rock and roll legends, collectors and industry insiders, the event will celebrate the history of Regent Sounds by writing a new chapter in guitar history.
T-Bone Walker’s legendary Gibson ES-5N is widely acclaimed as one of the most valuable and historically important musical instruments in existence, due to its extreme rarity, documented provenance, historical significance, and unique 77-year journey.
The guitar is being sold by way of closed bidding exclusively on Reverb with Regent Sounds inviting starting bids / OIRO £1,500,000.
Accompanying T-Bone over the course of almost two decades, “the guitar that started it all” was one of only 22 built that year and marked a dramatic turning point in the development of the electric guitar and the history of music.
Widely acknowledged by many as the ultimate guitarist’s guitarist, T-Bone’s innovative playing style, techniques and licks influenced countless musicians that followed him from Chuck Berry and B.B.King, to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Greg Allman and Steve Miller.
The tie-up with Reverb for the sale of such a legendary guitar to a global audience marks another significant step in both Regent Sounds’ triumphant comeback and the ongoing regeneration of Denmark Street.
The guitar will be on public display and also available for close inspection by appointment at Regent Sounds for the duration of the event.
Regent Sounds recording studios were famously used by The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Brian May, David Bowie, Elton John, The Kinks, Genesis and many others from the 60s to the early 80s.
Well-known tracks recorded at Regent Sounds recording studios include Fixing a Hole by The Beatles in 1967, a key track on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Not Fade Away, an early single from The Rolling Stones’ debut album.
In more recent years, long-term uncertainty about its future had left the shop in a state of flux. Now, with the original space fully reintegrated, the shop has quadrupled in size – with the addition of the high-end Rare and Vintage Guitar Lounge and three soundproof booths for musicians to try out instruments on the shop floor, Regent Sounds is bringing music back to the British “Tin Pan Alley”, Denmark Street.
Jim Tuerk, Reverb’s VP of Marketing, said: “This is a rare opportunity to own a piece of music history, T-Bone Walker’s influence on the evolution of blues into modern rock can’t be overstated, and this guitar was a leading character in that story. Reverb exists to help guitars and other gear get second, third, and fourth lives, and it’s fitting that Regent Sounds – which is legendary in its own right – is the shop to give this guitar its next home.”
Tony Bacon, author of ELECTRIC BLUES! T-Bone Walker & The Guitar That Started It All, said: “Without T-Bone Walker’s genius and virtuosity, it’s unlikely we would have had the proliferation of rock and roll from artists like the Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix, whose footsteps make Regent Sounds such sacred ground for music fans.”
Crispin Weir, co-owner of Regent Sounds, said: “Regent Sounds has always been a mecca for music fans because of our rich history. But the recent expansion of the shop across two floors, the opening of the Vintage Lounge, and addition of our soundproof booths mean that we have an even brighter future ahead. The sale of T-Bone’s legendary ‘guitar that started it all’ and tie-up with Reverb are just the beginning.”
