B.B. King's famous "Lucille" guitar will be heading to auction this fall.
It's not the only guitar the blues legend ever owned with the name Lucille, but the one going up for auction is the one that Gibson gifted to King on his 80th birthday.
It's a prototype of the Gibson ES-345, inscribed with "B.B. King 80" and the crown is inlaid with mother of pearl.
The guitar has been valued at $80,000 to $100,000 USD, and it will be open to bidding on September 21 through Julien's Auctions.
King used the guitar as his primary one from the time he received it until it was stolen in 2009. Later that year, a customer unwittingly purchased the guitar from a pawn shop in Vegas, and it was eventually returned to King.
King first named one of his guitars Lucille after an incident during a show in Arkansas in 1949. Two men were allegedly fighting over a woman and knocked over a burning barrel of kerosene, setting the whole building on fire.
King ran back in to rescue his beloved Gibson guitar (valued at $30), and when he learned that the men had been fighting over a woman named Lucille, he gave the name to his guitar — as a reminder not to do anything stupid like fight over women or run into burning buildings.
It's not the only guitar the blues legend ever owned with the name Lucille, but the one going up for auction is the one that Gibson gifted to King on his 80th birthday.
It's a prototype of the Gibson ES-345, inscribed with "B.B. King 80" and the crown is inlaid with mother of pearl.
The guitar has been valued at $80,000 to $100,000 USD, and it will be open to bidding on September 21 through Julien's Auctions.
King used the guitar as his primary one from the time he received it until it was stolen in 2009. Later that year, a customer unwittingly purchased the guitar from a pawn shop in Vegas, and it was eventually returned to King.
King first named one of his guitars Lucille after an incident during a show in Arkansas in 1949. Two men were allegedly fighting over a woman and knocked over a burning barrel of kerosene, setting the whole building on fire.
King ran back in to rescue his beloved Gibson guitar (valued at $30), and when he learned that the men had been fighting over a woman named Lucille, he gave the name to his guitar — as a reminder not to do anything stupid like fight over women or run into burning buildings.
