Eddie Van Halen live in 1984
Photo: Getty Images, Paul Natkin. All rights reserved.
The guitar Eddie Van Halen uses in the famous “Hot for Teacher” video is a real collector’s item. Now the instrument has been auctioned off for a hefty price.
The piece fetched $3,932,000 at a Sotheby’s auction. According to the listing on Sotheby’s website, the auction closed on April 18th.
“One of the most iconic guitars of the MTV era played by the most influential guitarist of his generation,” the auction house touted the prized item. The guitar was custom made by Paul Unkert of Kramer Guitars especially for Eddie Van Halen. With the help of the instrument, the musician also expanded his technical repertoire.
The minimum bid for the unique piece was $1.8 million. According to Consequence, the estimated value was between 2 and 3 million dollars.
The guitar case and the video outfit are included
According to Sotheby’s, the guitar features a “double cut ‘Strat’ style poplar body, milled top for a single Seymour Duncan dual-coil humbucking pickup, volume control, Floyd Rose bridge with whammy bar, unpainted, 22-fret bolt-on maple neck (stamped ‘UNK’ on the heel) with a Kramer decal on the headstock” and an unpainted body.
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The headstock is painted with Van Halen’s black and white stripe design on a red background. Also included is the original suitcase with Tour and Warner Brothers tags, as well as the jacket and white gloves worn by Eddie Van Halen in the music video.