Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen to Auction Over 300 Items From Personal Collection for St. Jude’s

Rick Nielsen will sell more than 300 pieces from his personal stash on Oct. 24. A chunk of the money goes to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Julien's Auctions made the announcement on Monday, Sept. 28.

Over 70 guitars sit in this haul, plus cars and clothes Nielsen wore onstage. Awards? Got those too. Memorabilia stretches across five decades. The sale happens at the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum at the Historic Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

A 1975 Hamer Standard electric guitar tops the list. Nielsen played this one from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s. He strummed it on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert on Nov. 10, 1977, and at the band's performance at Japan's Budokan on April 28, 1978. Bidders might pay $200,000 to $300,000, per the announcement.

A custom 2004 Hamer Five Neck Korina electric guitar hits the auction block for the first time. Nielsen wielded it from 2004's Another State of Mind benefit show through at least 2013 during the band's Budokan 35th Anniversary concert in New York. The five-neck beast could fetch $175,000 to $200,000.

"I couldn't sing or dance, but I was big into songwriting, and I tried to put everything I had into that," Nielsen said in the announcement. "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.' I started out with one guitar, and over the years the collection just kept growing. 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 77-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee has owned close to 2,000 guitars throughout his years playing music. He's trimming that down to about 600 pieces.

Nielsen wrote some of rock's most enduring anthems. His distinctive guitar work and stage presence helped push the band from Rockford, Illinois, to international stardom since the 1970s.

A 1955 Ford Thunderbird sits in the lot at $60,000 to $80,000. There's a 1958 Ford Ranchero estimated at $40,000 to $60,000. A custom checkered John Deere tractor with a snowplow might bring $20,000 to $30,000. A 1963 Fender Stratocaster carries a price tag of $40,000 to $60,000.

Handwritten lyrics for "Heaven Tonight" with studio notes could sell for $3,000 to $4,000. A sweater worn on the cover of the 1982 album One on One is estimated at $1,000 to $2,000.

"A portion of the proceeds will go to St. Jude because I knew Danny and Marlo Thomas, and they're great people doing really good stuff," said Nielsen in the statement. "I'm honored to support them and hopefully encourage others to do so as well."

Registration to bid can be done online at the Julien's Auctions website or in person on auction day. Bids can be placed online, by phone, in person, or by absentee bid.