Peter Green’s 1962 Silvertone Speed Demon Recently Showed Up on Reverb – and Was Quickly Snapped Up
Said to be in “amazing” condition, the vintage six-string features a trio of Speed Bump-style soapbar pickups.
Late Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green played a number of notable electric guitars over the years.
Of course, his most famous guitar is the near-mythical "Greeny" Gibson Les Paul Standard that Green sold to Gary Moore. Later – after first trading hands a number of additional times – the storied guitar ended up in the custody of Metallica's Kirk Hammett.
At the time of his death, though, Green's collection still contained a huge assortment of guitars, 150 of which were put under the hammer as part of a massive Bonhams auction earlier this year.
One of these choice vintage, Green-owned instruments was a 1962 Silvertone Speed Demon, which – late last week – surfaced once again on Reverb.com, and was quickly snapped up.
It's worth noting that the Reverb listing hiked the price of the Speed Demon by quite a bit – from the £1,536 (~$1,950) it sold for at auction, to $12,999.
Despite the mark-up, the seller – Chris Tapp, from the band the Cold Stares – has reported that the guitar indeed sold, just days after it was first listed on Reverb.
Said by Tapp to be in “amazing” condition, the Speed Demon features a single-cut bound and hollow maple body with a natural finish, and a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard.
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The guitar is also armed with a trio of what appear to be original Speed Bump-style soapbar pickups, with a volume knob for each pickup, a pair of tone knobs, and an amazingly retro pickup selector on the upper bout.
Also worth noting are the fretboard's block pearloid inlays, and the swanky vintage tailpiece.
The Silvertone wasn't the only one of Green's guitars that Tapp snapped up from the auction. According to the guitarist's Instagram page, Tapp also purchased Green's stunning 1931 National Duolian Style-O guitar, which the Cold Stares man says he will never sell.
To see the full catalog of Peter Green-owned guitars that went under the hammer earlier this year, visit bonhams.com.
Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com and GuitarPlayer.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.