When it comes to guitar auctions, artist connections rule. The world’s most expensive electric guitars and acoustic guitars have been refinished, refretted, and beaten up, but thanks to their rock star provenance they’re worth more than any mint condition 1959 Gibson Les Paul.
The list that follows, containing the most expensive guitars ever sold at auction, is all the evidence you need to prove such a theory. The list itself looked very different, up until March 2026, when the greatest guitar auction in history took place in New York.
