B.B. King’s First Guitar

B.B. King’s Lucille guitars are famous, the name’s origin coming from a performance in which he rescued his guitar from a burning concert venue. This first Lucille has been lost to time, but the title stuck with King who went on to call many of his guitars by the same name. Many of these Lucilles have come to auction, however, B.B. King’s first guitar is a true rarity.

Given to King by Bukka White, his mother’s first cousin, in 1931, this guitar was the first the King of Blues ever played. Prior to being given the gift, King, then known only as Riley, would go over to Bukka White’s house to practice, clearly entranced with music from the wildly young age of six. While King’s naming of Lucilles was the stuff of legend, this was the guitar King called his “First Love.”

This wooden parlor guitar is humble in appearance, only containing three of the six strings it was built for. The outer edge of the body contains some small chips, and two cracks — both on the lower half of the body — are below the sound hole and bridge. A simple semi circle inlay decorates the rosette. Despite this guitar’s simple visage it is a monument in music history.

B.B. King

B.B King, born Riley B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer, known worldwide as “The King of The Blues” and highly regarded as one of the most influential musicians in popular music history. B.B. King has defined the blues for a worldwide audience, mixing traditional blues, jazz, swing, mainstream pop and jump into a unique sound he has been referred to as “the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century”.

He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many later blues electric guitar players including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Jeff Beck, Santana, SRV, John Mayer and thousands more. In B.B.’s words, “When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille”, referencing his beloved guitar he famously named after rescuing from a burning Twist, Arkansas dance hall in 1949.

In a career that spanned 8 decades, King rose to international fame and acclaim, amassing an unmatched legacy, playing an average of 250 shows per year, releasing over fifty albums and winning 15 Grammys. His numerous honors include The Presidential Medal of Freedom, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors, Living Legend Medal from The Library of Congress, Inductions into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Blues Hall of Fame, and honorary doctorates in Music from Yale University, Brown University, and Berklee College of Music. In 2011, Rolling Stone ranked King at No. 6 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Important Note:

Early in 2020, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was considering acquiring this historically significant guitar. Unfortunately, This coincided with the sudden rise of COVID which led to the temporarily closure of that wonderful institution.

On August 27, 2020 the curator of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame wrote to B.B. King’s granddaughter (the owner and consignor of this guitar) stating “Unfortunately, we are unable to move forward with acquiring the guitar currently but look forward to visiting this opportunity when things normalize in 2021.” 

As a result of the discussions with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, B.B King’s Granddaughter reached out to Pop Culture Appraisals, LLC, a well regarded appraisal service known for appraising many of the most high profile individual items and collections within within the Popular Culture. The extensive appraisal produced by Pop Culture Appraisals, issued in May of 2021 and indicating that the appraisal was for Insurance Coverage and referring to it’s Retail Replacement Value, placed a value on this guitar or $2,500,000.