Rory Gallagher’s iconic battered 1961 Fender Stratocaster going under the hammer – guide price £700k-£1m

The rock and blues legend’s instantly recognisable 1961 Fender Stratocaster with its wonderfully scuffed body is the prime lot from the The Rory Gallagher Collection that is open for bidding between now and October 17.

Though born in Ballyshannon and brought up in Cork, Rory lived for while in his father’s home town of Derry and attended the Christian Brothers at Brow-of-the-Hill as a boy.

Rory’s brother Dónal has suggested that it was while living in Derry where there was a large US naval presence that Rory first got into the blues through icons such has Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, who he heard on the American Forces Network.

Bonhams, the London-auction house, are handling the remarkable auction of a range of instruments, amplifiers, effects pedals, treble boosters, tape delays, flight cases and other musical memorabilia, some at reasonably affordable starting prices.

The 1961 Stratocaster which Rory bought in 1963 for £100, from Crowley's Music Store in Cork is the undoubted showstopper.

The auctioneer notes that due to Rory's extensive touring the instrument would have undergone extensive modification.

"Rory believed that the guitar's worn appearance added to its distinctive sound and almost mystical quality. 'It's a 1961 model,' he recalled in 1990. ‘It was £100, which was an absolute fortune at the time. It was in good condition then, but it's got so battered now it's got a kind of tattoo quality about it. There's now a theory that the less paint or varnish on a guitar, acoustic or electric, the better. The wood breathes more. But it's all psychological. I just like the sound of it,'” according to the lot notes.

It was the instrument famously used by Rory when he stole the show at the Isle of Wight Festival with Taste in August 1970. It featured on his Irish Tour 1974.

Another lot that will be prized by fans is his 1968 Martin D-35 flat top acoustic guitar which is guiding between £30,000 and £40,000.

Rory bought the instrument second-hand in London in 1970, and it became his main acoustic guitar throughout his career, for both live and studio performances.

Daniel Gallagher, in an article on ‘Rare Guitars’ for guitar.com, wrote: "This is the one. It's his acoustic for everything. From Taste onwards, it was all done with this... He loved playing blues on acoustic.”

A 1942 Martin Mandolin that was often used for renditions of the Gallagher staple ‘Going to My Hometown’ is going under the hammer for between £10,000 and £15,000.

"It's a small folk-size mandolin but it joins at the 14th fret. It's got a mahogany finish and I have an Ibanez pick-up underneath the strings between the sound-hole and the bridge.

"It works best there for me. It's got an extra pickguard on top because I was wearing it away too quickly. I was putting Gaffa (sic) tape on and it was getting a bit rough and ready looking. I just use standard mandolin strings,” Rory told ‘International Musician’ in 1977.

To view The Rory Gallagher Online Sale running from October 7 to 18 visit https://www.bonhams.com/auction/30318/the-rory-gallagher-collection/

The traditional Derry song that inspired Steve Martin and is one of his all-time favourites