Eddie Van Halen’s Iconic Guitars Sell for $422,000 at Legend-Studded Auction

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Eddie Van Halen’s “Frankenstrat” is easily one of the most recognizable instruments in rock history, and Kramer Guitars’ early take on the design (as seen in the “Hot for Teacher” music video) now belongs to a wealthy new owner.

The three instruments sold for a combined $422,050 [His customized Kramer electric guitar serial number F 0024 built by Van Halen with his guitar tech Matt Bruck at the guitarist’s 5150 home studio sold for $231,250, his 2004 EVH Charvel Art Series electric guitar was another auction highlight which sold for $140,800 and a prop guitar from the “Hot for Teacher” video sold for $50,000] at the Icons & Idols Trilogy: Rock ‘n’ Roll Auction held by Julien’s Auctions on Wednesday. It was the highest-priced seller out of the nearly 900 available items from a who’s who of music history featuring everyone from Elvis to Lady Gaga, while two of Kurt Cobain’s smashed Fenders sold for a combined $281,600 and Bob Marley’s first guitar earned $153,600.

More from SPIN:

• The 35 Greatest Concerts of the Last 35 Years

• The 35 Best Videos of the Last 35 Years

• Wolfgang Van Halen on Having a Hit Song, Lessons From His Father and a Prank From Van Halen’s Final Show

Earlier this year, Cobain’s infamous guitar from MTV Unplugged sold for over $6 million.

For those of us who can’t afford to drop six digits on a piece of music history, there were also plenty of more affordable bits of memorabilia. After all, someone dropped over $10k for a page of a book featuring George Michael’s handwritten lyrics for Wham!’s “Young Guns (Go for It),” which is a small price to pay to be able to work Keanu jokes into every conversation for the rest of your life.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest guitarists of all time, click here.