- Professionally modified to Ringo Starr’s exact specifications.
- Comes with a certificate of authenticity.
- It is expected to sell for at least €50,000 ($51,000)
Ringo Starr is one of the most famous people in the world, and not only for his voiceovers in the Thomas The Tank Engine animations. The former Beatle is a hugely influential drummer and still makes music today: his latest country and roots music album, Look forIt came out just four days ago. And now you can own unique equipment from your own recording studio.
The equipment in question is a Studer 80 audio recorder, the same recorder that was used at Abbey Road Studios and many of the world’s other major recording studios in the 1970s. It is sold on the Catawiki online marketplace. , where it currently has an offer price of 18,000 euros, lower than the reserve price. The bidding is open until February 2, 2025 and is expected to exceed 50,000 euros.
Expect to pay a little more for shipping, unless you’re local to the Netherlands – it weighs almost 100kg.
What’s so special about Ringo’s recorder?
This particular Studer recorder has been modified by the Fab Four’s sound engineer, Eddie Veale. And it is authentic: the current owner, Lex van Coeverden, a celebrated Dutch mastering engineer and producer, has owned it since 1988 and it comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by Veale himself and detailing the modifications made by Veale.
The auction is one of several Beatles-related listings on the website Catawiki, which describes itself as “Europe’s most visited curated market for special objects.” Those items include rare Pokémon trophy cards, a Chrysler Stratus Convertible from Real Madrid’s European Cup victory procession and also the occasional Banksy original, as well as considerably more affordable items.
As for Ringo, he’s on tour with the new album. You can see the dates of their currently planned US tour here. And with Record Store Day 2025 dates now set for April, there’s never been a better time to get into vinyl. What better place to start than with rubber core?