Acoustic guitar played by Prince up for sale

An acoustic guitar used by Prince to record his 13th studio album is expected to fetch £40 000 (about R834 000) to £80 000 at auction.

This is the guitar that the American singer-songwriter played when recording his Diamonds and Pearls album and is set to go under the hammer at Gardiner Houlgate in March.

This Fender Gemini II acoustic guitar comes from the personal collection of two British Prince fans who acquired it directly from Sylvia Massy.

The American producer notably worked with Prince during the recording of his 13th studio album, Diamonds and Pearls, at Paisley Park Studios.

According to auctioneers Gardiner Houlgate, Massy rented a selection of guitars for one of her sessions with the artist, hiding her own modest Fender Gemini II in a corner.

But that didn’t stop Prince picking the humble instrument to record tracks like Walk Don’t Walk.

“Prince used the Gemini II on several other songs, and at the end of the sessions he casually directed his crew to pack the guitar up into one of his road cases. I don’t think he realised it was mine and assumed the rental company would just charge him for it. I noticed what Prince was doing, and said, ‘Excuse me, you can buy one of your own for $200; they aren’t that expensive.’ He smiled at me, and said, ‘But I want this one’,” recalls Massy ahead of the sale.

Collectors can bid for the guitar on 10 March when it goes up for auction at Gardiner Houlgate. Still, this Fender Gemini II is unlikely to break the record set by the artist’s Blue Angel Cloud 2 electric guitar, which sold for $563 500 in 2018, tripling its initial estimate. –