UPLAND : Seized Guitars Attract Collectors

The collector shouted “8,000” to the auctioneer, and Brent Haesler knew it was time to quit bidding.

Haesler, an amateur guitarist from Palos Verdes, was prepared to spend up to $4,000 for a classic six-string but instead settled for a well-worn 1950 acoustic that was easily within budget at $300.

“I’ve never seen this many collectible guitars in one location,” said Haesler, 36, whose modest collection includes a 1957 Gibson Les Paul.

More than 150 dealers, collectors and musicians from Washington to Japan converged on an Upland auction yard Thursday night to bid on 87 vintage guitars seized last year from a Thousand Oaks drug dealer.

When the bidding ended, United Auctions had taken in $112,850, and the anti-drug unit of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department was $102,693.50 richer, after deducting a 9% auctioneer’s fee.

Sheriff’s deputies seized the guitars, along with $76,155 in cash and a 1988 Camaro, during a September, 1989, raid on the Potrero Road residence of William H. Budnik.

Budnik argued that he paid legitimate money for the guitars, whose value he estimated at about $100,000.

He dropped the claim after pleading guilty to possession of marijuana for sale and serving several months of a one-year sentence in the Ventura County Jail.

The auction was held under an outdoor canopy with a jazz band accompanying registered bidders who wanted to test the guitars’ sound quality.

Albert Sullivan, 57, of Thousand Oaks satisfied a longtime desire when he walked away with a 1949 Gibson jazz guitar.

Sullivan, who works in the electronics industry, said he has put off guitar studies for years because he lacked a finely crafted instrument.

“I have an affinity for Gibsons since I had one in college that I sold when money got tight,” Sullivan said. “This scratches a longtime itch.”

Collector Mac Yasuda paid the top price of the night in shelling out $8,000 for a 1962 Fender Stratocaster, which was valued at $10,000. Several of the most expensive guitars sold below their appraised values, while many guitars worth $200 to $300 netted twice the price.

“We had a lot of happy buyers who walked away with bargains,” said Bob Mohs of United Auctions.

But, “There may be some purchases that people will be disappointed about once they come out from under the ether.”

Sheriff’s Department officials suspected that Budnik might turn up to reclaim some of his most coveted pieces, but auction officials recorded no sales to him.

Judy Thompson, the Sheriff Department’s property custodian, said the onetime owner could only have gone away heartbroken.

“There are a lot of guitars here he could never replace,” she said.

Said Doug Moran of United Auctions: “It would be tough for him to show up. Sort of like going to your girlfriend’s wedding or being the bellhop on her honeymoon.”