A Warwick bass once owned by The Who’s late, great John Entwistle has tripled in value ahead of its auction after wood grain analysis revealed its links to another British rock icon.
The 1986 Warwick Buzzard was initially estimated to sell for £10,000 (approx $13,000), though its value later rose to £40K (approx $52,300) after “a painstaking exercise in matching the pattern of the wood grain” uncovered its extra-illustrious past.
Precise grain-matching has confirmed that it’s the very same bass played by Queen’s John Deacon in the video for the band’s 1986 single, Friends Will Be Friends, and during their Montreux Pop performance in 1986.
It’s believed to have been loaned to Deacon, after which the bass returned to Entwistle’s sizable collection by the time of his death in 2002.
“The wood grain of a guitar is like a fingerprint, so thank goodness the bass wasn’t painted,” says Gardiner Houlgate’s Luke Hobbs. “If it had been, the current owners probably wouldn’t have been able to prove the connection to Queen.”
The guitar was auctioned off for £3,500 (approx $4,600) in 2003 by Sotheby’s, but the connection between the two massive bands hadn’t been made. If it reaches its £40K estimate, its value would have inflated by 1,042%.
Entwistle's signature bass was designed in collaboration with Warwick in the mid-1980s. It features a wild X-like shape and a pretty sizable headstock, designed to resemble a buzzard’s beak.
This particular bass is a prototype of the Buzzard made in 1986, with the serial number #005, four EMG pickups, and that all-important natural finish. Entwistle had partnered with the German firm after pivoting away from his Rickenbacker 4001.
The bass became a regular feature during Entwistle’s final years with the band. Deacon, it turns out, was also privy to its kind of magic.
This doubly prestigious bass will be auctioned by Gardiner Houlgate on Tuesday, December 2. It will also be available for public viewing ahead of its second sale.
Visit Gardiner Houlgate for more information.
Its price tag falls way short of the most expensive bass auctions, with Billy Wyman's Fender Mustang, which sold for $384,000 in 2020, and Paul McCartney's $496,100 Yamaha BB-1200, auctioned off a year later, topping the pile. The most expensive guitars sold at auction sit comfortably ahead of those.
