Ever wanted to own your own little piece of rock history? Well, how does a vintage keyboard or customised amp that belonged to the legendary Lou Reed take your fancy?
The late, great Reed amassed a lot of gear in the 71 years before he shuffled off to the great gig in the sky eight months ago and now a selection of the influential musician’s gear is up for auction on eBay.
Before you go crying, ‘pillaging from the dead, you vultures!?’, note that the offloading of Reed’s instruments, amps, and FX pedals is legit, and in fact all proceeds are going towards a great cause, helping preserve the memory of the legendary musician.
According to a post on the official Lou Reed Facebook – which you can read in full below – items for Reed’s collection will be placed up on the specially created eBay space, the ‘Lou Reed Archive’, over the coming days, while those in Reed’s native New York City will be able to sign up for exclusive listings available for local pickup.
The most important gear however, will be saved for Reed’s touring company, Sister Ray Enterprises, for his archive – meaning you probably won’t be able to get any guitars strummed in the making of The Velvet Underground & Nico for instance, but there’s already some items that will tickle the fancy of gearheads available for auction.
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Current listings including three keyboards, a vintage distortion rack with foot switch, preamps for acoustic instruments, preamp modules, and several effects pedals.
All proceeds from the auction will “go towards the work that is underway to develop the Lou Reed Archive,” which will honour the fallen musician and his influential musical legacy.
Reed died of liver disease last October at the age of 71, leaving behind a hugely influential body of work – as both solo star and as frontman of The Velvet Underground – that dwarves his significant collection of musical gear, mostly amassed in the pursuit of pushing his own sonic boundaries. Something the musician touched on in his final interview with Rolling Stone.
“Sound is more than just noise. Ordered sound is music,” he told the publication a month before his death, discussing the remastering of his back catalogue “to take advantage of the new technology. And it was so beautiful, it made me cry. I am very emotionally affected by sound. Sounds are the inexplicable… There is a sound you hear in your head, it’s your nerves, or your blood running. It’s kind of amazing to hear that.”
“Lou Reed eBay Auction:
Over the past thirty years Lou Reed amassed a large collection of equipment in support of his many tours. While all of his most important guitars, amps, and effects will be kept by Sister Ray Enterprises for his archive, there are many pieces of musical gear and road cases that need to be sold. Over the next few weeks these items will be auctioned through eBay. The proceeds will go towards the work that is underway to develop the Lou Reed Archive.
Please support this effort by checking our eBay page, http://stores.ebay.com/Lou-Reed-Archive. New items will be posted every few days. A wide variety of items will be available. All of these items were kept at Sister Ray Enterprises and were used by Lou and his band on tour. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to own a piece of music history.”
