Workshop belonging to recluse who made guitars for George Harrison and Bob Dylan up for auction

Think of an electric guitar and the name Tony Zemaitis is unlikely to be the first to come to mind. Yet to those in the know, Zemaitis is a moniker to be revered alongside Leo Fender and Orville Gibson.

Working from a garage in Kent, Zemaitis became one of the greatest guitar makers of the rock era. Yet rather than cashing in and selling off his name and designs, as Fender did, the London-born luthier continued to beaver away in his Chatham garage, often turning away work.

Extravagant, metal-fronted designs and technical innovations drew in the stars, with Ronnie Wood,  Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Pete Townshend and Bob Dylan among the musical royalty to make a pilgrimage to Chatham and wield a Zemaitis guitar.

Now, 20 years after his death, the contents of that garage are to go up for sale.

Among the lots from Zemaitis’s workshop are documents, books, tools, his workbench, memorabilia and wall panels covered with photographs and designs.

Letters from Harrison and even one of the legendary Beatle’s own sketches for a guitar are expected to attract heavy bidding.

Born in Tottenham of Lithuanian descent, Zemaitis was originally a cabinet-maker who used his skills to craft some of the most iconic acoustic and electric guitars ever created.

In 1969, he built an oversize 12-string acoustic guitar for Eric Clapton called Ivan the Terrible, reputed to be the biggest of its kind in the world.

Other leading artists to have played his creations on stage include Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mike Oldfield and Donovan.

Auctioneer Luke Hobbs, from Gardiner Houlgate auctions in Corsham, Wiltshire, said: “This is a unique sale and we’re estimating the items could fetch in the region of £20,000 to £30,000.

“Tony’s workshop is virtually a shrine for guitar fans. Tucked away in this quiet, suburban street, he produced some of the finest guitars this country has ever seen.

“I’m surprised the council hasn’t put up a blue plaque on it. Some of the most famous rock stars in the world visited Tony there.”

Zemaitis developed an ornately engraved metal shield and also pearl inlays for the front of his electric guitars.

The inspiration for the move, he once said, was actually derived from one of his technical innovations. Zemaitis included pre-amps in his guitars to allow him to set the pickups further from the strings and reduce unwanted feedback.

It was the metal chassis of the pre-amps that led him to design the whole guitar fronts around them.

Zemaitis’s son, Tony Zemaitis Jnr, said: “We’re incredibly proud of what dad achieved and don’t want the contents of his workshop, which has remained untouched since his death, to just disappear.

“The auction is a way for people who loved dad’s work to have something of his.”

Recalling his father’s famous visitors, he said: “I might come home from school to find Bobby Womack in the workshop, or George Harrison would arrive unexpectedly in his Porsche 944 then compare notes with dad, who had the same model car.

“At other times, I’d find various rock stars in the kitchen enjoying mum’s homemade pizzas. Our neighbours had no idea who was visiting.”

Limiting his production to maintain quality, the high demand for Zemaitis guitars in the 1990s led to his instruments changing hands for £20,000 each on the second-hand market and the manufacture of fake Zemaitis guitars.

The auction will take place on Dec 8.