These guitars once played by the Beatles, Prince, Bob Dylan, Mark Knopfler, Chet Atkins, Robbie Roberston, and more - will soon head to New York where they’ll be sold at auction. But for this week only (May 15th through May 18th) you can see them, up close and personal, at Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum. At the end of the month, each will be sold to the highest bidder as part of a Music Icons Auction run by the world-renowned Juliens.
“We’ve been doing this for 20 years and it’s rare to have this many important guitars in one sale,” says Darren Julien, Executive Director and Co-founder of Julien’s. “To have this many in one auction is unbelievable.”
The guitars all have unique stories with ties to legendary artists and rock music history. But the two crown jewels are a Cloud guitar owned by Prince thought to be missing for decades, and a guitar John Lennon played on Help! that was hidden in an attic for the past 50 years.
John Lennon’s Lost Guitar
“This story around John Lennon’s guitar is one of the best stories we’ve ever had,” Julien says. “You couldn’t make this up. People keep asking, was it really in an attic?”
Indeed, it was.
A family in England happened to be clearing out their property and came across the guitar. The head of that family, now in his 90s, was the former Road Manager for the British pop duo Peter and Gordon.
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“I got a call from his son who said I’m helping them downsize and my dad always talked about this guitar, but we didn’t realize it’s been in the attic all these years,” Julien explains. “He sent me photos, and we had an inclination it was associated with John Lennon because Peter and Gordon were heavily involved with the Beatles.”
John Lennon can be clearly seen playing this guitar on the song “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” from Help!
“When you see that video, it gives you chills because it’s just such a great iconic song,” Julien says. “And both George and Ringo used this same guitar on the album Rubber Soul.”
A couple of weeks ago, Julien got a chance to show Ringo Starr the Beatles’ long-lost guitar.
Bidding has already started online for the Music Icons Auction. Much to the surprise of the family that had this guitar tucked away, the early bid for this one kicked off at $600,000. It will end up selling for much more. In 2015, Julien’s sold a John Lennon guitar that went for $2.4 million.
Prince’s Missing Cloud 3 Guitar
Up next, there is Prince’s Cloud 3 guitar, thought to have disappeared years ago.
“There were four Cloud guitars made for Prince in the 1980s,” notes Julien. “Cloud 1 is in the Smithsonian, and we sold Cloud 2 for $600,000 several years ago. It would have sold in the millions, but Prince smashed it, so you can’t play it. And he never played Cloud 4, he gifted it to charity.”
This guitar has actually been in plain sight all along, but everyone thought it was a replica. In fact, Christie’s sold it twice (for a mere $6000 the second time around), then it ended up on eBay. But the guy who bought it on eBay thought it might be more than a replica, so he took it to Julien’s, who took it to the guitar archivist at Paisley Park.
“The archivist told us they’d have to put it through a CT scan. If the pinholes and everything showed up in the scan, this could be the missing Cloud 3 guitar.”
Julien spent $6000 to rent a CT scanner, but it was worth it. He was able to confirm this was Prince’s Cloud 3.
Prince had a habit of modifying his guitars which made this one hard to identify.
“When you see him playing a black Cloud guitar in the 80s, that’s this guitar. When you see him playing a peach one, that’s this guitar. It has layers of paint underneath which is why you couldn’t tell it was Cloud 3. It’s been modified so many times.”
Guitars Owned By Other Music Legends
Other guitars include one owned by Randy Bachman (of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. He used the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard to write “American Woman.
There’s the 1965 Fender Telecaster Robbie Robertson used in The Band that Bob Dylan gave him. When Dylan owned it, it had a black lacquer finish, but Robertson had the black finish removed.
Chet Atkins once gifted a 1987 Gibson Custom Shop Edition Chet Atkins Country Gentleman to Mark Knopfler. The Dire Straits legend has donated the guitar to the King’s Trust which is King Charles charity.
Brian May also donated a guitar to the King’s Trust that will be part of this Music Icon auction, but that guitar hasn’t arrived yet, so it’s not pictured here.
The main guitar Steve Jones used with the Sex Pistols is part of this collection and currently on display in Nashville. There used to be two stickers at the bottom and you can see the slightly faded spots left behind when Jones removed them.
The guitars will be auctioned off with other guitars and music memorabilia, but Julien wanted to bring them to Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame to allow visitors to see them.
The Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville
“This is really one of the best museums in the world,” Julien says. “I don’t think the people of Nashville really understand how much of a benefit and rarity it is to have it here. You come and see the iconic items on display, the presentation, the preservation here. And it covers so many different genres. We’re going to be doing a lot more with this museum in the future.”
“We’re so excited to display these guitars to the public,” says Linda Chambers, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. “Especially the Lennon guitar which hasn’t been seen in 50 years and has never been in the United States.”
The museum has a long history with the Beatles. Ringo Starr was inducted here late last year, and there are current displays honoring both Ringo and Paul McCartney (and Wings) during previous recording visits to Nashville, as well as one with George Harrison when he had famed steel guitarist Pete Drake travel to London to play on one of his albums.
Music Icons Auction - May 29th and 30th
Julien’s Music Icons auction is set for May 29th and 30th at the Hard Rock Café in New York.
“People are bidding now and can bid online at www.juliensauctions.com. You can also participate in real time and see the auctioneer. You can register to phone bid, or you can come in person on the day of the auction.”
Julien’s currently holds the record for the most expensive guitar ever sold, which was Kurt Cobain’s MTV Unplugged guitar. It went for $6 million. It will be interesting to see if any of these guitars go for a higher amount.
“If there’s a guitar that might break that record, it’s that one,” Julien says, pointing to John Lennon’s 12-String acoustic.
It’ll be interesting to see the final bids on all of these iconic instruments.
In the meantime, they’re on display, for the price of regular admission, at the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville.
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