A vintage guitar owned by the late Tom Petty is to go up for auction.
The ‘Free Fallin” hitmaker – who passed away in October aged 66 – played the 1965 Gibson GS electric instrument while on tour with Bob Dylan in 1986 and now one lucky fan can get their hands on it, along with one of the rocker’s top hats, at a sale on July 21.
The items are being sold by Tom’s friend, Norm Harris, who runs a rare guitar shop and originally sold the item to the musician. Years later, the ‘I Won’t Back Down’ hitmaker handed it back to his pal when he gave him another rare instrument.
Heritage Auctions will stage the sale on July 21 and a portion of the proceeds will go to two California charities, The Midnight Mission, which helps the homeless, and the Tazzy Animal Rescue Fund.
Tom passed away from an accidental overdose of medication, with his family previously explaining he had a number of ailments that left him in agony, but he refused to stop performing as he didn’t want to let his fans down.
And the singer’s loved ones believed he accidentally took too many pain killers because the agony was "unbearable".
They said in a statement posted on his website when his cause of death was revealed in January: "Unfortunately, Tom’s body suffered from many serious ailments including emphysema, knee problems and most significantly a fractured hip. Despite this painful injury he insisted on keeping his commitment to his fans and he toured for 53 dates with a fractured hip and, as he did, it worsened to a more serious injury.
"On the day he died he was informed his hip had graduated to a full on break and it is our feeling that the pain was simply unbearable and was the cause for his over use of medication."
Tom Petty’s guitar to be auctioned
