Rick Nielsen’s life’s work might be the Cheap Trick catalog. But after that, it’s surely his guitar collection.
The Rockford, IL icon has acquired what is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest guitar hauls and dotted along the shelves are some of the rarest and most prized instruments ever produced.
Among them lie a 1958 Korina Flying V and three Gibson Explorers from the same year (a sizeable chunk of the 19 that were ever produced), plus, of course, his iconic custom Hamers, boutique builds and vintage oddities.
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It’s huge news that, for the first time, some of this 500-odd collection is being released for public sale via Julien’s Auctions.
There can be few greater moments in the life of a guitar obsessive and Cheap Trick fan than the chance to spend five days browsing the racks of Rick Nielsen’s astonishing guitar collection, and for Julien’s appraiser and guitar tech Mike Adams that dream came true.
Now, ahead of the sale’s conclusion on October 24, Adams gives us a first-hand account of that process, the hidden gems he uncovered, and what it was like spending time with Nielsen, amid a week in his guitar nirvana.
Just a guy
I first heard about this being a possibility almost exactly a year ago. I really love Cheap Trick. That was one of the earliest guitar things I hooked on to as a kid, so it was really exciting.
Walking up to Rick’s house the first time was different than I thought it would be. His home is big and lovely, but it’s not a mansion, like with so many other people that I’ve interfaced with over the years. It’s a home – it feels like a lived-in space.
The guy who takes care of Rick’s instruments, Mike Graham, was such a welcoming presence. We went down in the basement, where Rick keeps his guitars, and got to work. About an hour later I heard a voice calling from upstairs: “Who’s in my basement?” And it was Rick!
He came down, like, “What are you doing here? You robbing me?” I said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” And he cracked some joke about how it wasn’t a pleasure for him, and then he scooted away.
Over the five days, he came and checked on me, hung out, told me stories. It was an experience. Rick felt larger than life, a celebrity – he was wearing the checkerboard – but he was just a guy.
Of course, the 500 guitars were a big giveaway that I was in the presence of someone who was impossibly famous. But I’ve been to people’s leopard print-covered mansions and they’ve handed me bottles of water and said, “That bottle costs $20.” Rick’s not like that at all.
Like most auctions, we weren’t sure what Rick wanted to actually let go of, but we needed to take stock of what was actually there. If we could get 100, we’d have been over the moon; 70 would be great. In the end I think I tagged 470 items, and we got 69.
I only had five days to get through everything, but I did open every single case. It was frantic. It was only enough time for me to identify what the thing was, assess its condition and get serial numbers.
Hamer time
I got to see a lot of classic instruments. I’ll try to stick to things we actually have in the auction, but in his basement were some things we didn’t get, like his ’58 Flying V. It’s always exciting to see one of the few in the world. It was beautiful. That was a great guitar.
Of the things we did take, the Hamers were the most exciting out of that whole bunch. When I opened the case of Hamer #0004 – his famous, ambered-over Explorer-shaped Hamer – that was a moment.
At this point, as a tech and working at Julien’s, I’ve seen just about everything, so it’s really difficult to get me to feel reverent, but that is a guitar I one hundred percent associate with Rick. I remember looking at photos of him when I was just starting out on guitar and how powerful that image is: him, cap with the brim flipped up, and he’s got this gigantic pointy guitar. It gave me a lot of hope.
(Image credit: Mike Adams)
Opening the case and seeing it in person was really incredible for me. I can’t even tell you how excited I was to pick that up and feel the neck. Hamers of that era had skinny nut widths. I think the nut width on that was 1.56”, so perfect for me.
Another favorite was the yellow Hamer [double-cut] that has “You know you like it” on the fretboard and his face on the back of it. There are tons of photos of him using that during his famous stage trick where he puts three or five guitars on at a time, so that thing is riddled with dings and scars.
(Image credit: Mike Adams)
Give me five
We didn’t get the five-neck Hamer until much later. It took a lot of negotiation to include it, but we really felt that we needed that crown jewel. And a five-neck was the only way to go. It’s something that catches the eye of the regular, non-guitar person.
Indeed, it catches the eyes, captures the imagination, hurts the back and strains the forearms, but it’s one of three that Rick has ever had. I would think it’s the most famous one.
One of the [necks] is a mando-cello, there’s a 12-string. That was an interesting one to get on the bench – just physically getting it up there on the bench. I posted a picture of it on Instagram and people have been joking, “You’re going to need a bigger bench!” and that’s completely accurate.
I had to use two neck rests on it and I wish I’d had more. I think Rick is maybe the only person who can make that thing work the way it’s supposed to, because my arms aren’t long enough. There’s no way I can reach that fifth neck!
When I’m working on single consigner auctions, if you get enough guitars, you get a sense of how they were played. You start recognizing where wear is going to be. Rick, with his stage antics, there’s pick wear of course and there’s dings in the finish from his bracelets that he wears.
Like the 2002 “Lana” Les Paul R8. He didn’t remember playing that one on stage, but I found dings in the finish above the bridge from one of his bracelets. That led me on a search, and it took hours, to find a few concert clips where I could actually see the flame in the top – and then I found it.
Pinball wizard
One of the biggest surprises was his First Act. There was a run in the 2000s where First Act was making custom guitars for everybody and I was surprised to see that Rick had gotten a weird bowtie shape build. It’s the First Act Betty Mega Knob – a black guitar with pink binding and six lipstick pickups!
As soon as I got my hands on it, I said, “Yep, that’s Rick.” It’s got six pairs of knobs on it. It’s crazy. You plug it in and then you try to make music. God help you if you need to turn down.
I’m gonna regret this, but for underrated gems, it’s Lot 86: the 1983 Kurt Hendrick Catalyst in pink. I have long been an admirer of Kurt Hendrick’s work. He built for a relatively short period in the ’80s and he made these beautiful body shapes.
There’s something about that guitar. He’s a part of it and he built guitars that got in the hands of Billy Gibbons and all that. As soon as I opened that case, I basically held up a skull and soliloquized. I was so moved by it. It sounded amazing. Someday I hope to own another, but that one is not coming home with me at this point!
The goofiest guitar in the auction – and I say goofy with pure respect – is the 2020 Biasibetti Flippercaster, Lot 257.
It’s made of actual play surfaces from pinball machines. It does light up. And it has one strap button that is the plunger from a pinball machine. It was really fun to work on that one.
A dream come true
Meeting Rick was a dream come true in a way. I always bring a guitar with me when I travel because I have to play, but at the end of the week, we had this moment at his kitchen table where Rick was like, “Hey, what do you have in that case? Is that one of mine? Are you trying to steal from me?”
Rick played my guitar for a while… Then he handed it back and asked if I knew how to play any of his songs
And I was like, “No, Rick. I have mine!” I pulled out the Holoflake Jazzmaster that I built in 2023 from Guitar Mill parts, and Rick played my guitar for a while, which was really special for me.
Then he handed it back and asked if I knew how to play any of his songs, and I was like, “I do!” And so I played the solo of I Want You to Want Me. He went, “My God, you remembered! You nailed it note-for-note!” But he had a note for me, which was that I was playing too clean. “You gotta dirty it up!”
Unbeknownst to me, Lou Robinson, the supervisor of my department, snuck some video of it, so I have this lovely keepsake of Rick Nielsen complimenting me, but also reminding me that “rock ’n’ roll is a little sloppy.”
- Head to Julien’s Auctions to view all the lots in The Rick Nielsen Collection. The auction takes place at 10.00am CDT in Nashville on October 24, 2026.
