Neil Finn’s guitar in auction for charity
A rare chance has come up to own a guitar played by one of New Zealand’s music greats — Neil Finn.
The Maton EBG 808 acousticelectric guitar was the one Finn strummed in a tribute to his late friend Paul Hester in 2005 at the Australian Aria Awards. It is signed by Finn himself.
Finn, 59, founded Split Enz with his brother Tim and Crowded House with that band’s drummer Hester before going solo in the 1990s.
One of his old guitars is now being auctioned on Trade Me for charity. The proceeds will go to the New Zealand Music Foundation, which works on musical projects for those facing serious illness, hardship or distress.
The auction, which is open only to people in Australia and New Zealand, had 109 potential bidders add it to their watchlist by last night. One person had lodged a bid of $7500.
The auction description said that while the guitar was owned by Neil Finn, all of the family including his brother Tim, sons Elroy and Liam, and other musicians had strummed its strings in the studio and in concert.
The guitar has been well-used, but remains in a good condition barring some superficial cracks in its varnish after it was left slightly too long in the sun.
“The guitar plays beautifully as you would expect and carries all the spirit of its life as part of the Finn family collection of instruments,” the auction listing says.
As proof of its authenticity the listing says the strap features technical markings and identification and the instrument will come with a signed note from Finn’s guitar technician attesting to its provenance.