Randy Bachman on auctioning off his guitars: “I want them all to get a good home”

Courtesy of Julien’s Auctions

Legendary musician Randy Bachman, founder of such bands as The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, is auctioning off over 200 guitars from his personal collection via juliensauctions.com. He decided to do so after dealing with some serious health issues.

Bachman tells ABC Audio that he had “four or five health challenges in a row,” including Covid and four different cancers, and he says surviving them “made me look at my fragility.”

He decided to ask his eight kids if they’d want his guitars when he was gone, and they all said they’d rather have money, and knowing he’d get more for them alive than they would get for them after he was gone, Bachman decided to sell.

And the lot of guitars available is certainly impressive, including his ’59 Les Paul, which hasn’t been played since 1970.

“The last thing I played it on was ‘American Woman,’” he says, referring to The Guess Who classic, which spent three weeks at #1.

“These all played on number one records and albums. So I want to make a big deal out of it,” he says of the guitars up for auction. “I want them all to get a good home.” 

Of course, it won’t be easy to say goodbye to his instruments. When asked which guitar will be the hardest to say goodbye to, Bachman joked, “every single one.” 

Julien’s Auctions’ Music Icons auction of The Randy Bachman Collection is happening Thursday, May 30, live at the Hard Rock Café in New York. More info can be found at juliensauctions.com.

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