'Elvis' movie star Austin Butler drops in to Gold Coast Music and checks out our Elvis guitar!

By: Malina Hamilton-Smith   On: 23 June 2022 

'Elvis' movie star Austin Butler dropped in to Gold Coast Music store to buy some guitar strings and have a look at our Elvis guitar! Stewy tells us the history behind the guitar, which was once owned by Elvis.

 

Baz Luhrmann's lavish Elvis biopic opens in cinemas around the country today, bang on Gold Coast Music store co-owner, Stewy's, birthday!

What you may not know is that Stewy is a massive Elvis Presley appreciator and owns one of the King of Rock'n'Roll's actual original guitars - A vintage Gibson J-200 acoustic. The guitar is displayed in pride of place in a glass cabinet in the middle of our guitar room. If you haven't seen it, have a look next time you're in.

The Elvis movie's star, Austin Butler, popped in to the store to pick up some Elixir guitar strings while he was here on the Gold Coast, and he had a chat with Stewy and a look at the guitar. Stewy told him the story behind it.

We managed to grab the busy man to ask him to tell us the story too, so we could share it with everyone, here on the blog:

Stewy tells us "The guitar was used as the jam guitar at Graceland, and they took it on the road as well, so who knows what songs were written on it."

 

Gold Coast Music store's signed, vintage Elvis Presley Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar

 

"Priscilla Presley had an auction in the 1980's and a lady from Australia flew over there for the auction, and brought the guitar home."

"A friend of mine who is a lawyer did a job for this lady and she offered him the guitar as payment. She'd now be quite elderly I imagine – I'm not sure if she would even be with us anymore."

"My lawyer friend lives up on Springbrook Mountain and when the devestating bushfires went through there a couple of years ago, he was terrified the guitar would be lost in a fire, so he offered for me to buy it off him, knowing that I'm a huge Elvis fan. I won't tell you how long it took to pay it off!" Stewy said.

"The reason the guitar is signed is because Elvis gave it to his Aunty as a present. The signature has been verified and I also have paperwork from Graceland and Gibson to vouch for its authenticity."

 

Close up of Elvis Presley's signature on Stewy's vintage Gibson J-200, originally owned by Elvis

 

If you're wondering if the guitar was used in the Baz Luhrmann Elvis movie shot here on the Gold Coast, Stewy tells us, "No, it's far too rare and expensive and if it got damaged, it's irreplacable – Did you hear what happened with the vintage Martin on the set of The Hateful Eight?"

(We can fill you in on that – Kurt Russell accidentally smashed an original 1870s Martin on set instead of an intended replica, and the Martin Guitar Museum no longer loans guitars to movie production companies.)   

So, the movie comes out today, which is very exciting, and only one question remains: – What are your plans for your birthday, Stewy? Are you going to see the movie?

"I certainly am. It's all booked in. Yay. To think that the movie is airing on my birthday is very cool," Stewy said.   


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