The Remains of a 1964 Strat Destroyed by The Who's Pete Townshend Are Going Up for Auction

Features
By published

The remains of a 1964 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster, smashed to pieces by The Who's Pete Townshend during a 1967 concert, are going up for auction next Sunday, April 15, in Dallas.

According to Heritage Auctions, which is hosting the auction, Townshend smashed the guitar up during The Who's show at the Long Island Arena in Commack, NY on December 1, 1967.

The guitar comes with a handwritten, 2-page letter from the original owner—who reportedly caught the pieces of the guitar at the show that night—the ticket stub from the show and 2 aluminum engraved plaques.

According to Antiques Trade Gazette, the guitar—or what's left of it—carries a pre-auction estimate of at least $20,000. Other guitars that Townshend destroyed during Who performances have been sold for as much as $75,000, according to Heritage.

For more info on the auction, head on over to entertainment.ha.com.

Jackson Maxwell
Jackson Maxwell

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.

More about electric guitars

“What blew me away was that everyone wanted the curly maple top. People were calling, saying, ‘I’ve got to have the bird inlays’”: Paul Reed Smith on raising the Standard 24, finally cracking the noise-free guitar and why John Sykes is a tone hero

“It combines unique aesthetics with modern playability and impressive tone, creating a Firebird unlike any I’ve had the pleasure of playing before”: Gibson Firebird Platypus review

“I’ve never bought a guitar and I’m quite proud of that! I always tell people when they’re learning: there’s a guitar not being played”: Meet Sacred Paws’ Ray Aggs, the dextrous Tele-wrangler inventing new chords and capturing Thurston Moore’s imagination
See more latest
Most Popular
Ray Aggs
“I’ve never bought a guitar and I’m quite proud of that! I always tell people when they’re learning: there’s a guitar not being played”: Meet Sacred Paws’ Ray Aggs, the dextrous Tele-wrangler inventing new chords and capturing Thurston Moore’s imagination
EHX founder Mike Matthews stands in a warehouse with his fists in the air. He wears a tan jacket and has a trademark cigar in his mouth.
“Jimi was staying at a hotel in Times Square. He had his hair set in pink curlers and we would just talk band drama”: Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews on befriending Hendrix, booking Chuck Berry and the birth of pedal culture
Yves Jarvis
“I didn’t use any amps. The pedal that saved me was the Boss Super Overdrive”: How Yves Jarvis made 2025’s most exciting experimental record so far with a $50 Explorer knockoff and an unbelievably weird tuning
Buddy Guy performs onstage in London in October 1965
“Chess was cussin' when I got to the session with Muddy. But when he heard me, he just sat there with his mouth open”: Leonard Chess wanted to cash in on the folk boom, and asked Muddy Waters to bring him an old acoustic bluesman. He brought him Buddy Guy
[from left] George Harrison with his Gretsch Country Gentleman, Norman Harris of Norman's Rare Guitars holds a gold-top Les Paul, John Fogerty with his legendary 1969 Rickenbacker
“I didn’t think anybody would believe I got it from George Harrison. I figured they’d call me a liar”: Vintage guitar guru Norman Harris names the 5 most memorable guitars that have come through Norman's Rare Guitars
View from behind the camera as a man records a guitar performance
“You better be ready to prove it’s something you can do”: Giacomo Turra got exposed – but real guitar virtuosos are being wrongly accused of fakery, too
Talking Heads live at CBGB's, in 1977. On the right, David Byrne tuneshis Fender Strat, while Jerry Harrison – also playing a Strat – looks on.
“I was really broke. The only way I could get to New York to try out for Talking Heads was to take a family who were moving there in the band van”: Jerry Harrison on making Talking Heads’ 1977 debut and rejecting blues-rock to shape the CBGB guitar sound
Paul Reed Smith performing earlier this year at PRS’s 40th Anniversary concert where he played a final prototype of the new Charcoal Phoenix. It’s all on YouTube!
“What blew me away was that everyone wanted the curly maple top. People were calling, saying, ‘I’ve got to have the bird inlays’”: Paul Reed Smith on raising the Standard 24, finally cracking the noise-free guitar and why John Sykes is a tone hero
Stevie Ray Vaughan plays his #1 Stratocaster (left), Stevie Wonder sits at a keyboard
That time Stevie Wonder jammed with Stevie Ray Vaughan... and played SRV's number one Strat
Albert Collins performs at the San Francisco Blues Festival at Fort Mason in San Francisco, California on September 15, 1990
“Freddie King would ask me why I never tried using thumbpicks... I really like digging in with my fingers”: He replaced Jimi Hendrix in Little Richard's band, was idolized by Stevie Ray Vaughan, and is one of the most underrated Tele slingers of all time