The term “prodigy” gets thrown around too much these days, but if anyone deserves the title, it’s Neal Schon. He joined Santana at age 17, after rebuffing Eric Clapton’s offer to fill the late Duane Allman’s spot in Derek & the Dominos. By 19, Schon formed Journey. Today, 40 years and 100 million albums later, Journey is still going strong (even with a new singer), and Neal is playing better than ever. Now, if you’ve got the cash, you can buy one of his guitars that propelled Journey to the top—the famed “Lights” Stratocaster.
This guitar is truly a mongrel. It features a refinished Pearl white body, a Gibson PAF pickup in the bridge, an early Floyd Rose bridge, and a 1963 neck that’s not exactly stock:
Neal played this Strat on the Journey albums and on songs like Don’t Stop Believin,’ Faithfully, Open Arms, Send Her My Love, and of course, Lights. Asking price for this axe: $100,000 (shipping not included.)
Here’s Neal talking about the guitar:
And a video of Neal demonstrating his guitar work in Lights:
To buy, head here.
So what do you think, is this Strat worth $100,000?