Guitar used by Johnny Marr after The Smiths split could fetch £30k at auction

A guitar used by Johnny Marr after his split from The Smiths is expected to fetch up to £30,000 when it goes under the hammer next month.

The white Fender American Vintage 1962 Reissue Stratocaster was played by Marr during his time with British rock band The The, which he joined in 1988, one year after leaving The Smiths.

Auctioneers Gardiner Houlgate said a private owner bought the guitar from Marr in 2020, with Marr signing the guitar’s headstock and providing a handwritten postcard describing how it had been used.

It will now go on sale at the auction house in Corsham, Wiltshire, in December and is estimated to fetch between £20,000 and £30,000.

Other guitars owned by Marr fetched almost £4 million at an auction at Christie’s in London in September.

Luke Hobbs, auctioneer at Gardiner Houlgate, said: “We’re valuing this guitar at around £20,000–£30,000 based on other recent sales of Johnny Marr’s instruments.

“Marr’s equipment is very popular with collectors and fans. Now in his 60s, he’s become something of a national treasure in the UK.”

The Smiths – completed by singer Morrissey, bass player Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce – were pioneers of British indie rock in the 1980s.

They released four critically acclaimed studio albums – The Smiths (1984), Meat Is Murder (1985), The Queen Is Dead (1986), and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987) – before breaking up in 1987.

Marr joined The The in 1988, following a brief period with The Pretenders.

He used the white Fender Stratocaster on stage during The The Versus The World tour, which took place in 1989 and 1990.

It can be seen in a film of the tour, also called The The Versus The World.

Marr launched his solo career with his 2013 album The Messenger, with all his solo albums charting in the UK top 10.

Recently, Marr has written and recorded with Gorillaz, Billie Eilish, Franz Ferdinand and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

The auction will take place at Gardiner Houlgate in Corsham, Wiltshire, on December 8, with the guitar available for public viewing on December 4, 7 and 8.

Published: 05/11/2026 by Radio NewsHub