The guitar used almost exclusively by the late Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone has been placed up for auction. The iconic 1965 Mosrite Ventures II electric guitar, alongside other pieces of Ramones memorabilia, has been listed by the auction house RR Auction.
According to the Boston auction house’s listing, John Cummings, AKA Johnny Ramone, used the guitar from 1977 to 1996, playing it at every live performance which has been estimated to have been a whopping 1,985 shows in total.
Unsurprisingly, the guitar features on every Ramones album from the period, both live and studio. The classic studio LP’s it features on are Rocket to Russia, End of the Century and ¡Adios Amigos!, the latter of which was the fourteenth and final album that the band released, way back in 1995.
At the time of writing, more than 20 bids have been made for the guitar, with the highest bid weighing in at $275,000. Bidding ends Saturday, September 25.
Daniel Rey, the producer of the Ramones albums Halfway to Sanity, Brain Drain and ¡Adios Amigos! purchased the iconic Mosrite model from Cummings in 1996 as the band was drawing to a close. Rey told Rolling Stone: “I think he wanted to move on to the next chapter in his life. Clean house.”
Furthermore, the guitar recently finished its loan agreement with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, which kept it in the museum for the past 25 years. The most iconic part of the guitar is undoubtedly Ramone’s signature of the back, which reads: “Johnny Ramone, My Main Guitar, 1977-1996”.
Johnny Ramone was one of the founding members of the influential punk band, alongside frontman Joey Ramone. Tragically, Johnny passed away in 2004 owing to a five-year struggle with prostate cancer.
Meanwhile, back in April this year, it was announced that Joey Ramone will be played by comedian Pete Davidson in the forthcoming Netflix biopic, I Slept With Joey Ramone.
Listen to Ramones ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ below and view the auction, here.
