Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who handed away in 2023, left a legacy of nice songs—and a exceptional assortment of devices. Amongst them, one stood aside: his Gibson B-45-12. Late final fall, this 12-string guitar was the top-selling merchandise in a Heritage Auctions property sale, going for $350,000 to a bunch of Canadian collectors.

Over a profession spanning greater than 60 years, Lightfoot amassed dozens of nice acoustic guitars. Whereas he didn’t favor a single model—the public sale additionally included a 1959 Martin 0-18 tenor, 1979 customized Manzer, early Nineteen Eighties Guild F-412, and others—the Gibson was in a category of its personal.

A few of Lightfoot’s best-loved songs—“Sunset,” “If You Might Learn My Thoughts,” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (transcribed within the September/October 2023 subject)—had been composed on the B-45-12. Open up a duplicate of Sunset, his 1974 best-selling file, and also you’ll see this prized guitar by his aspect.

“Gordon all the time returned to that 12-string,” says Rick Haynes, his bassist of 55 years. Fellow bandmate and drummer Barry Keane provides, “On industrial flights, Gordon all the time purchased a first-class ticket—for the guitar.”

Gibson launched the B-45-12 in 1961, rapidly incomes favor amongst 12-string gamers like Reverend Gary Davis and Leo Kottke. The mannequin was made with each pinned bridge and trapeze tailpiece variations; Lightfoot’s guitar options the previous. Its worn high, formed by years of regular play, speaks to a songwriter who not often set it apart.

The one modification to Lightfoot’s B-45-12 got here within the Nineteen Eighties when, on the suggestion of a highway crew member, he put in a pickup underneath the bridge. The addition proved purely beauty—Lightfoot tried it as soon as in sound test however by no means used it once more, preferring a single directional stage microphone. As Haynes remembers, “Gordon was actually a purist that means.”

Study to play the Lightfoot basic “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” within the September/October 2023 subject.

This text initially appeared within the July/August 2025 subject of Acoustic Guitar journal.