For Auction: Jonny's Guitar "42" From Vida La Vida Tour

[spinnerthrow]

Hi Coldplayers,

 

For sale is a one-of-a-kind guitar. Jonny Buckland from Coldplay’s Fender Thinline Telecaster named "Forty" used exclusively on the tune “42” during the global Vida la Vida tour.

 

The guitar was purchased during a charity auction in 2009 and is now offered to you. I've been a fan of the band since I saw them on their first US tour in tiny clubs - saw the Seattle 2001 and Portland 2001 shows - tiny places where the shows were cut short because the band had the flu and couldn't continue. Fast forward a few years and I won the charity auction for Coldplay's End of the Decade offering. And now cannot keep the guitar, so it is time to find it a good home.

 

Below is the text from the listing on EBay. Pics of the guitar are there as well. Link to the item on Ebay is here:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COLDPLAYs-FENDER-THINLINE-GUITAR-Forty-from-the-Vida-La-Vida-Tour-/131894004556?hash=item1eb57ecb4c:g:f-oAAOSwARZXnMNa

 

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The guitar was originally tuned to an all-F tuning due to the demands of the song on which it was played. The guitar has been returned to standard tuning. No other changes have been made to the guitar of any kind since it arrived from Coldplay. It remains as reliced as it was upon receipt.

 

Wikipedia discusses the song and the guitar:

 

“The mysterious title "42" may be related to the fact that there were 42 songs that were trashed during the X&Y recording sessions, or it may be a reference to Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Many fans were also led to believe that the song was about midlife crisis at the age of 42. The band originally considered this song as the album's first single.

 

The song is a distinctive for Coldplay as it has no chorus and it's divided into three parts. In a track-by-track analysis, guitarist Jonny Buckland revealed: "We've been trying for about two years now to record a song that didn't have any chorus and didn't really have any verses... and '42' was the only time we were able to do it successfully." Frontman Chris Martin added, "Although every time we tried we've called it 42, that's about the ninth '42'. Martin also said, in an interview for MTV, that the track was called 42 because it was his "favorite number". Buckland used an ostrich tuning in this song, tuning his guitar to F–F-F-f-f-f.

 

The pictures tell the story. The guitar toured the world with the band during Coldplay’s Viva la Vida tour. The guitar is in use in London as seen here:

 

 

In addition to the guitar, you will receive a copy of the shipping manifest from Coldplay’s shipment to me, as well as the Certificate of Authenticity signed by each member of Coldplay.

 

The guitar plays and sounds great. It has never left my home, a smoke-free environment, and is in the same condition as it was six years ago upon receipt. Checking the serial number against the Fender database reveals that the guitar was made in 1977-1978, although I believe it was advertised by the band as dating back to 1974. Regardless, you have in front of you a 39 year-old Fender that has toured the world’s biggest stadiums with a great band who is now, apparently, taking a long hiatus from music.

 

To verify authenticity and provenance, another fellow purchased a different guitar from the same auction, and posted his pics here:

 

http://www.originalprop.com/blog/2010/12/25/blacky-the-vintage-fender-72-thinline-telecaster-studio-and-stage-used-by-coldplays-jonny-buckland-for-xy-and-viva-la-vida/

 

Some months ago, Matt McGinn released “Roadie: My Life On The Road With Coldplay“. Matt is Jonny Buckland’s roadie and manages his guitars, and writes about them extensively in his book.

 

This brings us in a nice, neat, Virgoan sort of way to Jonny’s onstage setup, i.e. My Job. Well, I could bore the arse off you about this stuff for hours, but really what we’ve got going on is about as simple a rig as a sonic nutcase like JB can make do with. Walking an echoey line between restraint and abandon is a big part of what Jonny’s live playing is about, to achieve which in a huge arena, theatre, dive bar or anywhere else we will need daily:

 

6 x Vintage Fender ’72 Thinline Telecasters (tuned in all sorts of ways from normal, standard tuning right through to a crazy-ass one for ’42’ that has each string tuned to a different ‘F’). All Jon’s electric guitars have names ending in ‘y’ – Blacky, Sunny, Browny etc.

 

More (pages 108-109):

 

Jonny and I, by comparison, go through about a twelfth of U2’s daily string quota. I don’t feel the need to re-string all the axes each day, partly because even at high revs his playing is so undamaging and non-corrosive that we could probably go a week of high-octane shows before any strings started to break… well, except for ’42’ where he absolutely hits the living shit out of poor ‘Forty’, mid-set, centre stage and on full turbo.

 

I'm available to answer any questions you might have. Fire away. Good luck. Please give Forty/42 a good home.

[Spider-Man]

Good luck..

[tov1988]

Would be nice if I had the cash lol

 

Having a piece of your favorite artist's music collection has to be a really surreal experience

[saramezzoforte]

Since it has ended with no bidders, what would you still want for it?

[Mojan]

If only it wasn't half of my annual wages.

 

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