Gibson Super 400
A rare wartime guitar – played by a member of an award-winning dance band and used to accompany the Glenn Miller Orchestra – hit the right notes with bidders at an antiques auction in the Cotswolds recently.
GIbson 400 with Amp - Click to enlarge
American manufacturer Gibson ceased imports of the Super 400 and other models to the UK at the outbreak of the second world war in 1939, making UK models rare then and now.
However, professional musician Maurice Goodearl – who played with Eric Wakefield and his Blue Rhythm Band and once accompanied members of the Glenn Miller Orchestra at Wycombe Abbey – managed to find one at Francis Day & Hunter in Charing Cross Road in 1941, for which he paid £90.
And when it went under the hammer at Moore Allen & Innocent’s Selected Antiques Sale in Cirencester, it was plucked for £5,000 – at the top of the £3,000 to £5,000 estimate and the joint top price of the day.
