Lot 2. Bob Ezrin’s Artist’s Proof Custom Frank Brothers Ezrin Model Electric Guitar.
Bob Ezrin’s Artist’s Proof Custom Frank Brothers Ezrin Model electric guitar. The semi-hollow body guitar is constructed of Spanish Cedar and features a single bass-side f-hole and a set neck with extra deep tenon for added resonance and sustain.
This is a custom-made instrument designed by Ezrin and modeled on the sound and preferences of several of the guitar players that he has worked with over the years: David Gilmour, Trey Anastasio, Steve Hunter, and Steve Morse. He designed it to have a remarkable amount of flexibility, sound-wise, but without using electronics to get it.
In conjunction with Frank Brothers, he has devised a switching set to allow for many different combinations of the custom Seymour Duncan pickups, which include splitable bridge and neck humbuckers and a middle S-style single coil. It will go all the way from sounding like a David’s Strat, or Steve Hunter’s 335 to sounding like Trey’s Languedoc.
Numbered “00”, this particular guitar is one-of-a-kind, being the only one of this model produced. Frank Brothers has plans to produce more by custom order only sometime in the future. Exhibiting only minor wear, the guitar is accompanied by a microfiber cleaning cloth, a pack of Frank Brothers picks, a guitar tool, and extra hardware. A tweed Frank Brothers hard shell case is included, which measures 16.75”x42.25” and 4.5” deep and exhibits only minor handling.
Legendary musician and songwriter Joe Walsh was born in Wichita, Kansas, on November 20, 1947. After attending college at Kent State, he joined the Cleveland-based James Gang in 1968, scoring hits with singles like “Funk #49” and “Walk Away” and gold certifications for the albums James Gang Rides Again (1970) and Thirds (1971). Walsh departed the group following the landmark 1971 live album, Live in Concert, recorded at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, which the James Gang were the first rock band ever to play.
In 1972, the much-loved self-titled debut by Joe’s next band, Barnstorm, was released. The group’s second album, 1973’s The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get, yielded the biggest hit of Joe’s career to that point, with “Rocky Mountain Way.”
Later, Joe found a new sense of home in the musical melting pot of Los Angeles, forming bonds with Glenn Frey and Don Henley, who asked him to join the Eagles. Walsh was able to bring his rock edge to the vocal harmonies he loved so much in the band. The result was lightning in a bottle, and the new line-up of Eagles defined an entire era with Hotel California. The album took the already-successful band to dazzling new heights: Hotel California went on to sell over 50 million copies and the title track won the band a Grammy for Record of the Year.
Walsh next recorded and released a solo album, 1978’s But Seriously Folks…, which spawned his signature send-up of the rock and roll lifestyle, “Life’s Been Good.” In late 1979, the Eagles released The Long Run, which included three top ten hits and won the band another Grammy. By the following year, the extremes of being the biggest band in the land took its toll, and the Eagles split up.
Joe followed up with a series of solo albums, 1981’s There Goes the Neighborhood, featuring perennial fan favorite “Life of Illusion.” You Bought It – You Name It came out in 1983; The Confessor in 1985; Got Any Gum? in 1987; Ordinary Average Guy in 1991; and Songs for a Dying Planet in 1992. He joined Ringo Starr’s inaugural All-Starr Band, toured extensively with Australian supergroup the Party Boys, and played on records by everyone from the Beach Boys, Bob Seger, and Steve Winwood to Michael McDonald, Warren Zevon, and Lionel Richie.
In 1994, Walsh teamed up again with Don, Glen and Timothy to reform the Eagles, releasing Hell Freezes over and embarking on ten years of record-breaking tours. Their 2007 follow up album, Long Road Out of Eden, went platinum six-times over.
