Rick Nielsen Puts His Five-Neck Hamer Up For Sale For The First Time

More than 300 pieces from the Cheap Trick guitarist’s personal collection will be auctioned in Nashville, including guitars played onstage, handwritten “Heaven Tonight” lyrics and the 1955 Ford Thunderbird he once called his “first extravagance”.

by Paul Cashmere

Rick Nielsen is putting one of the most recognisable instruments from his collection up for public sale for the first time, with his custom 2004 Hamer five-neck guitar leading a 300-plus lot auction of guitars, cars, clothing, memorabilia and personal archive material in Nashville on October 24.

The five-neck Korina guitar, estimated at US$175,000 to US$200,000, is one of more than 70 guitars being offered from Nielsen’s personal collection through Julien’s Auctions. A portion of the proceeds from the sale will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

For Nielsen, the auction represents a significant reduction of a collection that has grown across more than five decades. The Cheap Trick guitarist began collecting before he was even playing guitar, growing up with parents who owned a music store and later buying his first Les Paul, a 1955 Gold Top, for $65.

“I started out with one guitar, and over the years the collection just kept growing,” Nielsen said. “It seemed like a good time to sell some of it. You can’t take it with you. When it’s all over, hopefully I’ll still have one guitar.”

The five-neck Hamer is among the most unusual pieces in the sale. Nielsen originally imagined an even more elaborate six-neck instrument that would spin like a wheel while he played it. The final design was reduced to five necks, creating the guitar that Nielsen used onstage from Cheap Trick’s 2004 Another State of Mind benefit show at Chicago’s Metro through at least the band’s 2013 Budokan 35th Anniversary concert at the former CBGB’s John Varvatos venue in New York.

It is not, however, the most highly valued guitar in the auction.

That distinction belongs to Nielsen’s stage-played 1975 Hamer Standard, serial number 0004, which carries an estimate of US$200,000 to US$300,000. The guitar has a particularly direct connection to the early history of Hamer Guitars and Nielsen’s relationship with luthier Paul Hamer.

Nielsen had sold Hamer a sunburst Les Paul Standard in 1973, helping provide funds for Hamer’s fledgling guitar business. When Nielsen wanted an Explorer-style guitar in 1975, Hamer built him the natural-finish instrument that became serial number 0004. While it was being completed, Hamer lent Nielsen his own serial number 0000 guitar. Nielsen ultimately bought both.

The 0004 was subsequently used on stages around the world, including Cheap Trick’s career-defining performance at Japan’s Budokan in April 1978. Nielsen was also seen playing it on Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert, at Chicagofest and at Rockpalast in Germany.

The auction goes well beyond guitars. Nielsen’s 1955 Ford Thunderbird, which he bought in 1978 and described as his “first extravagance”, carries an estimate of US$60,000 to US$80,000. A 1958 Ford Ranchero is estimated at US$40,000 to US$60,000, while a customised 1989 John Deere tractor with Cheap Trick checkerboard graphics and snowplough is estimated at US$20,000 to US$30,000.

Some of the more personal pieces provide a different connection to Cheap Trick history. Six sheets of Nielsen’s handwritten working lyrics and studio notes for Heaven Tonight are estimated at US$3,000 to US$4,000.

There is also the multicoloured sweater Nielsen wore on the front and back covers of One on One, in the video for “If You Want My Love” and during a 1982 MTV interview. It carries an estimate of US$1,000 to US$2,000. His Detroit Tigers baseball cap from the One on One album cover is estimated at US$700 to US$900.

Other guitar highlights include a 1963 Fender Stratocaster estimated at US$40,000 to US$60,000 and a 1984 Gibson Les Paul XPL estimated at US$15,000 to US$20,000.

Nielsen’s reason for parting with the collection is practical, but his connection to the instruments remains clear.

“I couldn’t sing or dance, but I was big into songwriting, and I tried to put everything I had into that,” he said. “I never wanted to be like anybody else. I just wanted to be me. I knew I was never going to be a virtuoso, so I ended up being a ‘medium-oso’.”

The Rick Nielsen Collection will be held live and online at the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville on October 24. Registration is required, with bidding available online, by telephone, in person or through absentee bids.

The sale offers collectors the opportunity to acquire objects directly connected to Nielsen’s career, but it also documents how closely his instruments, clothes, cars and visual identity have been intertwined with Cheap Trick’s history. Among them, the five-neck Hamer remains the clearest expression of Nielsen’s approach: unconventional, highly personal and designed to be seen as much as heard.

Date:
October 24, Nashville, Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum