$22,400 for a Zakk Wylde Epiphone Les Paul? $32,000 for a Squier Bullet Strat!? Joe Walsh gear auction raises huge sums for charity – and raises eyebrows as unexpected guitars attract big money bids

Joe Walsh plays his orange Duesenberg live onstage with the Eagles. On the left, his stage-played Zakk Wylde Epiphone Les Paul. On the right, a signed Bad Company Squier Strat. All three guitars just fetched huge sums at auction.

Joe Walsh’s epic Life’s Been Good auction has just closed at Julien’s, and with more than 750 items sold, the Eagles guitarist and vocalist’s fundraiser for VetsAid will have raised a fair few bucks for the veterans’ charity.

But even in this day and age of bonkers prices for artist-owned electric guitars and gear, Walsh’s auction really did require a double take. This was an occasion when someone bid $32,000 for a Squier Bullet Stratocaster – that’s right, the archetypical beginner electric guitar, going for grail prices. Why? How? What?