Talk about inflation of instrument prices. Saw this in an article today.
 
An American collector has bought Paul McCartney's first acoustic guitar for 330,000 pounds ($614,000) at auction.
 
Keith

..and best of my understanding, it was given to Paul by a childhood friend...
 
(Message edited by 57basstra on July 31, 2006)

Actually my understanding is that the guitar belonged to his friend and that it was the first one McCartney ever played and the one he used to audition for John's band the Quarrymen. In fact it was his friend who sold it (for his retirement fund), not McCartney. Paul provided the authenticity certificate.  
 
Valentino