Guitar played on Ghost Town up for auction

The electric bass guitar played on The Specials' era defining 1981 hit Ghost Town is being auctioned and expected to sell for £20,000.

The song was written by the Coventry-based band's founder, Jerry Dammers, about the recession at the time, police harassment and unemployment and reached number one in the charts.

The 1971 blue Fender Precision is being sold by The Specials' bass player, Horace Panter, who paid £200 for the instrument in 1981.

"I'm not overly attached to the bass but it would be nice if it went to someone who'll play it rather than shut it in a vault. It plays really well," the musician said.

The guitar will be auctioned on 10 March.

The song was credited with summing up the depressed mood of the country at the time, with riots in several British cities in 1981.

Ghost Town spent three weeks at number one, 11 weeks in the Top 40 and all three of the UK's major music magazines at the time named it their single of the year.

Luke Hobbs, from Gardiner Houlgate auctions in Wiltshire, said: "This is a bass guitar that's going to stir up quite a lot of interest among fans and collectors.

"Ghost Town is such an evocative track reflecting the social and political unrest of Britain at that time - and Horace Panter's bass is a big part of it."

After The Specials broke up in 1981, Panter used the bass with new wave super group General Public, who had a US hit in 1984 with Tenderness.

The band featured former members of The Beat, Dexy's Midnight Runners, The Clash and The Specials.

In 1988, Panter sold the bass but bought it back in 2010 to use when The Specials reunited.

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