A Yamaha C3 grand piano used by Queen’s Freddy Mercury, among other great musicians, is to be auctioned as part of the Reinhold Mack Collection of artefacts in October.
The Yamaha C3 in question is from Munich’s Musicland Studios, and was extensively played by Freddie Mercury when composing both solo material and some of Queen’s greatest hits including Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
Being part of the legendary, and now sadly defunct, German studio founded by Giorgio Moroder in the early ’70s, the C3 was also played by such greats as Leonard Cohen, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Donna Summer and Bryan Ferry.
A pre-sale estimate puts the piano at between £200-400k.
The Yamaha C3 – part of the C series of grand pianos – is no longer manufactured, being sold new in the late ’70s, the 1980s and the early ’90s. It succeeded the G series of grands, and has nominally been superseded by the CX range of grand pianos.
It’s a 6-foot-1-inch conservatory grand piano and is still used extensively in music schools, recording studios and by advanced pianists.
