Hundreds of rare guitars up for auction
Vast collection expected to fetch more than $1 million began with a Paul Reed Smith Custom 24
Here's your chance to pick up a guitar from the collection of John Lennon, or one that Allen Collins strummed to Free Bird, or maybe the flying V that Jimmy Hendrix powered out those Purple Haze chords with.
Those and about 250 other rare guitars, 150 good-as-new amps and hundreds of assorted floor pedals go on sale at Able Auctions on Saturday, June 11 in an online bidding session.
“I don't think people have seen quality like this in a collection, ever,” the guitars' owner is quoted as saying.
The quality and craftsmanship of the items for sale guarantee there will be worldwide interest, Able Auction's Jeremy Dodd said. The collector has a public profile in Vancouver and asked he not be named to protect him from being overwhelmed by inquiring guitarists and collectors.
“I went out there, took a look, and floor-to-ceiling, stacked maybe 30 or 40 feet deep in the basement and his entertainment room, floor-toceiling were guitars, amps, all kinds of equipment,” Dodd said. “You could see what was in the front and what you could see was spectacular, but it just kept getting better and better and better as we went deep into the pile.
“I couldn't believe what I was looking at.”
The last time Postmedia News wrote about a massive guitar sale it involved 300 of the instruments, including a 1941 Harmony Gaylord and a rare 1963 Gretsch acoustic. That sale, five years ago, was also handled by Able Auctions.
“This one makes that one look like a pimple on a horse,” Dodd said. “These guitars are so high-end, and the amps that this guy has are vintage amps from the '70s, '80s, '90s but they look brand new, all of them.
“It's an incredible, amazing collection.”
When Dodd spoke with Postmedia last week, the auction house had photographed perhaps 20 per cent of the guitars and amps. He hopes to have the full collection online by mid-month. People must be registered to attend a physical viewing on Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The auction is electric-guitar heavy, but there are acoustic guitars too, including a rare Les Paul.
Many models hail from the late 1980s and early 1990s: Gibsons, Stratocasters and Telecasters; limited-edition artist models of guitars played by Gary Rossington, Johnny Winter, Gary Moore, Zakk Wylde, Randy Rhoads, Santana, Johnny Hiland, David Grissom, Joe Satriani ...
The collector began playing guitar as a teen and would have liked to make his career the same way Santana or Satriani did, but seeing friends struggle financially while they pursued the same dream, he put down the guitar and went to university.
Then one day in the early 1990s he wandered into Mothers Music on South Granville and saw a Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 on sale, a beauty he bought. He not only began playing again, his pursuit as a collector was also born.
Based on comparable listings on Reverb, the guitars up for auction probably range in value from $4,000 up to $20,000. The seller estimates the total for sale is worth somewhere between $1 million and $1.5 million.
It took five people three days to wrap and transport everything in a big truck and bring it back to Able Auction.
“You can tell quality, you can tell condition, you can tell the way it's been kept,” Dodd said. “So you don't need to be a guitar person to know that this was beautiful equipment and ... that he was a real collector.”
The guitars are for auction because the collector needed to renovate his basement. He said it was either a matter of moving everything out, storing it all, then moving it all back in, or selling most of the collection (he's keeping about 100 guitars).
“It was a lot of fun collecting all this stuff over the years,” he said. “It's time now for somebody else to enjoy them.”
Instructions for registering for the auction can be found on Able Auctions' website, and information about the guitars can be obtained by emailing sales@ableauctions.ca.
These guitars are so high-end, and the amps that this guy has are vintage amps from the '70s, '80s, '90s.”
Jeremy Dodd