Johnny Ramone’s main Mosrite electric is going up for auction
The main guitar of Ramones legend Johnny Ramone is going up for auction. His ‘Number One’ Mosrite was reportedly played at every Ramones gig between 1977 and 1996, for a total of over 1,900 shows.
READ MORE: Rig Diagram: Johnny Ramone, The Ramones (1996)
The auction is part of The Ramones And Punk Collection Of Daniel Rey from RR Auction beginning 24 August and ending on 25 September in Boston, Massachusetts.
The guitar is a Mosrite Ventures II, featuring a single-coil in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan mini-humbucker in the neck. The white finish has seen significant wear, accumulated over the years of constant use. It’s signed on the back: “Johnny Ramone, My Main Guitar, 1977-1996”
The instrument was purchased by Ramone in 1977, intended as a backup to his then primary guitar, a blue Mosrite. When this was stolen from his storage unit, this white Ventures II became his main guitar until the band disbanded in 1996.
According to the listing, the guitar’s fretboard also features “an incredible amount of wear to the bass side of the higher register frets,” thanks to Ramone’s intense playing style. The neck has at one point been refretted with larger gauge wire, but never refinished. The back of the neck, therefore, also shows “extreme” wear between the first and fifth frets.
Upon the Ramones’ disbandment, the guitar was sold to producer Daniel Rey, who is auctioning off a number of other Ramones ephemera. See full details of the auction here.
Currently, the bid for the guitar sits at $80,526 after 14 bids. The next bid will bring the price up to $88,579. See the lot at rrauction.com.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
