An Eddie Van Halen guitar sold for $3.9 million

The iconic "Frankenstrat" guitar that Eddie Van Halen played on stage and in Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" music video has been auctioned off for an impressive $3.9 million, according to Rollingstones.fr.

Sotheby's auction also included other items from the famous 1984 music video (including the straitjacket and white gloves worn by Eddie in the video), but the main attraction was this guitar with its De Stijl-inspired paint job, which was Van Halen's trademark. The guitar surpassed the estimated price of $2-3 million before the auction.

The item also came with a letter from Paul "Unk" Unkert of Kramer Guitars, who built the instrument to Van Halen's specifications at the end of 1982.

After serving as Eddie Van Halen's primary instrument for a few years, the guitar was given in 1990 to the group's drum technician, who then gave it to his nephew, who sold it to Neal's Music store in Huntington Beach, California, which then auctioned it off via Sotheby's to an unknown bidder.

While the sale set a record for the most expensive Frankenstrat guitar sold at auction, it remains lower than the sales of historical guitars owned by Kurt Cobain, including the MTV Unplugged acoustic guitar, which sold for $6 million, and the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" guitar, which sold for $4.5 million.