Fan accumulates epic collection of rock music memorabilia

Bill Guardino stands amid the nearly unfathomably large collection of music memorabilia that overwhelms the house he shares with his wife Janet and his dog Zappa in Gilroy

“I don’t know where to begin,” the 69-year-old fan says as he is about to guide me on a private tour of his artifacts, curiosities and undeniably cool stuff.

So, I make the decision for him and immediately zoom past the Beatles, Grateful Dead, etc. and follow my own musical passion right to a gorgeous framed display of Black Sabbath’s debut record, signed by all four of the band members.

“That’s the album that started it all,” Guardino says of the 1970 epic that is considered to be ground zero for heavy metal.

From there, Guardino continues to provide commentary as we soak up such treasures as a signed Doors picture (“That’s a rare piece — to have all four signatures on a photograph like that”) and a copy of Pink Floyd’s “A Saucerful of Secrets” album that is signed by all four original band members — including the late Syd Barrett (“I just can’t believe that I have Syd’s signature on that.”)

We pause a moment to savor the sight of a bass guitar that is signed by none other than the legendary Paul McCartney.

“It might be one of my favorites,” Guardino says. “But There are too many to choose.”

That’s made abundantly clear as we move on to a framed Traveling Wilburys display featuring signatures from all five members of the ultimate rock supergroup — Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. And, oh, wow, that’s a guitar signed by the great bluesman Muddy Waters.

“What I’m showing you is just the tip of the iceberg,” says Guardino, who operates a successful drywalling business, Guardino Drywall, Inc, in the South Bay. “What I am showing you today is probably 1 percent.”

Actually — doing the quick math — it’s far less. I’ll only see a few hundred pieces (at least up close) during this tour. Yet, Guardino estimates he has 250,000 items, constituting what he believes to be the largest collection of music memorabilia in Northern California.

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