www.denverpost.com
by: Matt Miller

Willie Nelson Owned Burton Acoustic Guitar together with worn guitar case bearing stickers from Willie Nelson’s 1976 Fourth of July Picnic concert and a Jesse Colin Young and Emmylou Harris concert sticker.

During one of his visits, Willie Nelson left this guitar behind at Caribou Ranch; at which point it became the campfire guitar and was used by any number of musicians during their stay.

A guitar used by Willie Nelson used  while recording at Nederland’s Caribou Ranch is up for auction.

Willie Nelson Owned Burton Acoustic Guitar together with worn guitar case bearing stickers from Willie Nelson’s 1976 Fourth of July Picnic concert and a Jesse Colin Young and Emmylou Harris concert sticker.

During one of his visits, Willie Nelson left this guitar behind at Caribou Ranch; at which point it became the campfire guitar and was used by any number of musicians during their stay.

The 1910 Steinway & Sons grand piano used to record Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” is one of 400 pieces of music history memorabilia from the legendary Caribou Ranch that will be auctioned next month by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Denver.

Objects and instruments from the collection of music producer Jim Guercio will be on display from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 19-23 at the Denver Design Center East Building and from 10 a.m. until the auction begins at 3 p.m. Jan. 24.

This summer, Guercio and his family sold the 1,600-acre Caribou Ranch property near Nederland to Indian Peaks Holdings LLC for $32.5 million.

In its heyday, Caribou Ranch attracted a long list of stars to its studio, including Chicago, Michael Jackson, Earth Wind and Fire, and Stevie Wonder.

The the auction estimates the value of the piano Elton John used on his “Caribou” album at $10,000 to $15,000.

Other instruments offered for sale include a Burton acoustic guitar left at the ranch by Willie Nelson that then became the “camp guitar,” used by other artists when they played around the campfire during their stays at the ranch, auction house spokeswoman Maron Hindman said. The sale also includes a Wm. Knabe & Co. baby grand piano that was used by Elton John, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Frank Zappa and others.

The catalog includes Western furniture and saddles, as well as the Hammond B3 organ used by nearly every artist who recorded at Caribou, a Gibson Thunderbird bass played by Terry Kath of Chicago, a Bosendorfer grand piano used on albums by Chick Corea and Al Di Meola, and even a 1985 black Corvette with personalized Caribou license plates.

A portion of the proceeds from the auction will go to The Colorado Music Hall of Fame, which Caribou Ranch will be inducted into this year.

At the time the ranch sold, Jim Guerico’s son Will told The Denver Post that about half of the memorabilia from the ranch would be given to the Colorado Music Hall of Fame to be displayed at the Trading Post at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.