A SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR, CUSTOM SHOP REVERSE-HEADSTOCK STRATOCASTER FOR JEFF BECK, BY TODD KRAUSE

Jeff Beck used this guitar as his #1 Strat throughout his 2019 tour, until the final show of the tour at the Hollywood Bowl, when he switched to lot 120. Music historian Chris Gill, who worked with Jeff on the guitar captions for BECK01, explains the reverse headstock: 'The most notable feature of this guitar is a neck built for a left-handed Strat, which places the arrangement of the tuners in reverse order. This also reverses the tension of the strings, making the high E and B strings much easier to bend and the low E and A strings more percussive and brilliant. Some consider this an essential element of Jimi Hendrix’s distinctive Strat tones, as Hendrix played left-handed and strung a right-handed Strat in reverse order and flipped the guitar over.' The guitar was then tuned a half step down for use as Jeff's #2 Strat on his 2022 tour for performances of Hendrix/ 'Little Wing' and 'Space For The Papa', the latter performed on UK dates only. Questioned by Guitar World's Brad Tolinski on why he added Hendrix' 'Little Wing' to his set after all these years, Jeff replied: 'I still marvel at his contribution. After withstanding the shock of him blowing us all away in 1967, he actually forced me to change my style. I couldn't do some of those more outlandish things I was mentioning before because people would think I was stealing from him... I've come to really appreciate how advanced he was. The way he was able to cram so much innovation into three or four years is quite remarkable.'