CORNER BROOK, N.L. — A piece of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia is sitting in Village Music in Corner Brook and Sheldon Power says the person who scoops it up is going to get something special.
It’s an Epiphone, Les Paul, figured top guitar made by Gibson and signed by Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist Saul Hudson, who is better known as Slash. And it’s selling for $2,000.
“It’s not a rare guitar,” Power said in terms of the style.
It was made in Korea in 1997 and marked as Number 10 in a series produced by Gibson that year.
“Which is great because it’s a very low production number,” Power says.
Slash typically uses Les Paul guitars, and while he likely never used this one, his signature on top increases its worth. So, when it came into the shop, Power said, it was a “no-brainer” for him to take it on consignment.
“I bring in Slash guitar packages and guitar kits all year long, but it’s not actually Slash’s signature, it’s a sticker of Slash’s signature and just popped on the guitar,” he says.
Power said from what he understands Slash doesn’t sign many guitars, and one article he read said when he does it’s usually on the backside of the pickguard where it’s not visible, so to get one with the signature on top that is authentic is special.
“KISS, those guys will sign a bubblegum wrapper. So, their signatures are pretty much worthless. There’s not really a whole lot of value there because they sign everything. But when you get something like a Slash signature, yeah, that’s definitely worth more money because he doesn’t typically sign a lot,” Power said.
Power is selling the guitar for Jamie Fowlow, who told SaltWire Network the guitar doesn’t have an exciting backstory.
“My son, who is now 24, went through a musical phase in junior high where he was into electric guitars and all the types of musicians who played them,” Fowlow said.
About 10 years ago, Fowlow searched out the guitar and bought it from a memorabilia place in California for his son for Christmas.
People who deal in memorabilia typically go around and try to find out where celebrities are and then ask them to autograph different things.
“So, at the time I saw some video and still photos of this guitar being autographed by Slash, and it came with the certificate of authenticity,” said Fowlow.
From that, he knew it was a good signature and everything was legit with the guitar.
His son was excited to receive the gift, which came as part of a package deal with a Slash poster, top hat and curly wig.
Fowlow said his son has had several guitars since, and this one wasn’t played a lot.
“It was more of a centerpiece, really, just an interesting item that we acquired a number of years ago,” he said.
“And now that he is living in British Columbia and not home any longer, we’re ‘unacquiring’ some things.”
Power said the guitar is in great shape and plays great, but he expects whoever buys it won’t play it much, to avoid damaging the signature.
“This is definitely a wall-hanger and a conversation piece. For anybody who is looking for a piece of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, this is definitely the piece to have.”
Power said he would love to have it for his own collection, which includes guitars signed by Charlie Major, Jesse Whitley (the son of Lorrie Morgan and Keith Whitley), Tommy Emmanuel and Damage Inc.
But, like he has with other items, he’ll have to part with it.
Taking items on consignment is something he does regularly.
“I get some very cool pieces in here. A lot of customers come in because they know I get pieces like this, consignment pieces, and sometimes I’ll buy them.”
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he had a lot of older guitars — Fenders and Gibsons from the 1960s and ’70s.
“But when the pandemic happened, and I didn’t know what way it was going to go, I ended up selling a lot.”
Most went to buyers in California.
A couple of months ago he had two early 1970s Martins, which retail for more than $5,000.
“They were super cool. One was a D38 and the other a D35. Highly sought after in the Martin world.”
Anyone interested in the Slash guitar can contact Power at the store or through Village Music’s Facebook page, or they can check out his ad on Reverb.com.