'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison pays big money for a guitar owned by a legendary musician
Whenever Rick Harrison comes across a vintage guitar or any kind of rock memorabilia on "Pawn Stars," the shrewd pawn shop owner turns into a fanboy. Whenever he comes across a guitar owned by a legend, Harrison treats it as the Holy Grail. When America's most famous pawn shop owner came across a 1961 Fender Stratocaster owned by the veteran musician Vic Flick, he didn't hesitate to shell out $55,000 for it.
As soon as the guest, Vic Flick, a prominent guitarist, opened the case to show off the guitar, Harrison was taken aback."That's a big WOW factor right there. My earliest memories of as a kid is watching old videos of Jimi Hendrix playing a white early 60s Stratocaster but played he upside down," Harrison said. After acknowledging the great condition of the guitar, Harrison asked the guest about the background of the instrument. Flick shared that the guitar had been with him for years, and he had worked on many prominent records with it. "I've worked on records with Nancy Sinatra and Petula Clark, Tom Jones," he shared. He further added that he was a part of the "Herman's Hermits" and he worked with the "Beatles" for a bit as well. "You might have heard of the film, 'A Hard Day's Night'. When Ringo's walking around at the end of that film, this guitar is playing Ringo's theme," he added to amaze Harrison.
Flick then pulled out a 36-page list of records that he had worked on to add to the amazement. "I worked on 'Goldfinger James Bond'. I actually played the James Bond theme," he said. At this point, Harrison was nearly sold on the idea of getting the guitar, so he asked the owner how much he was looking for. When the owner said he wanted $70,000, Harrison called in his expert, Jesse Amoros of Cowtown Guitars, to come and verify all the information. As soon as Amoroso walked in, he recognized Flick. "This is the guy that Jimmy Page would look over his shoulder in the studio to figure out what he was doing," Amoroso said, revealing that Flick taught the famous English musician and film producer. "I was pretty stoked when they called and told me that Vic Flick was in the shop. He is one of my heroes from the '60s and 70s there's very few songs that he didn't play some guitar on," Amoroso said in his interview.
The guitar expert further acknowledged the pristine condition of the guitar and estimated that it alone would be worth $35,000. However, given the pedigree of the guitar and its provenance, Amoro estimated that at an auction, the guitar could easily bring $60,000 to $70,000. The expert claimed that many guitar collectors would want to buy this item because of the number of songs and recordings that the guitar was used for.
However, despite all the aura surrounding the guitar, Harrison wasn't willing to pay $70,000 for the guitar. He started the negotiation with a modest offer of $50,000. However, the old music legend wasn't willing to go that low, so he countered with $60,000. Harrison said he would do $55,000, and Flick accepted the deal.
In the end, Flick revealed that the amount was exactly what he was looking for. "I thought he was gonna go down to the 30s or something like that. I knew he'd probably go for 55 and I'm happy now I've got the money in my back pocket," he said in the end.
