Guitars - The Museum

No one suspected a thing. After decades hidden from view, one of Umeå’s best-kept secrets finally came to light. Behind an unassuming door in the heart of the city lies a treasure trove of hundreds of guitars, amplifiers and stories from rock history. Guitars – The Museum is the result of twin brothers Samuel and Michael Åhdén’s lifelong passion for collecting – and today houses one of the world’s largest privately owned guitar collections.

For many Umeå locals, the museum remains a hidden gem. But for guitar enthusiasts around the world, it’s a destination well worth travelling far to experience.
 

It all began with two brothers, a fascination with American culture of the 1950s and 60s, and a love of music. Samuel and Michael Åhdén grew up surrounded by American cars, rock ’n’ roll and blues. As youngsters, they discovered artists such as The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry and Eric Clapton – and somewhere along the way, a fascination with the instruments behind the music was born. In the 1970s, their collecting began in earnest.

What followed was a decades-long quest to track down rare instruments. Long before the internet and online marketplaces, the brothers built connections with guitar dealers and collectors around the world through letters, phone calls and personal networks. Today, their passion has grown into a museum that attracts music lovers from every corner of the globe.
 

Hundreds of Guitars - Each with a story to tell

On the top floor of Umeå Folkets Hus, you’ll find instruments from some of the most significant eras in guitar history. Fender and Gibson guitars stand alongside bass guitars, amplifiers, music memorabilia and other objects that together tell a broader story of popular music, design and 20th-century culture. Highlights include a 1954 Fender Stratocaster, a 1959 Gibson Flying V and a 1951 Fender Nocaster.

To the uninitiated, these instruments might simply look like beautiful vintage guitars. But to those in the know, they represent defining chapters in modern music history. And it’s the stories behind these objects that make Guitars – The Museum so much more than just rows of rare and valuable instruments.

 

The hunt for one of the World’s most sought-after guitars

One of these stories follows the brothers’ quest to find a Fender Broadcaster – a model Fender began producing in 1950, with only a limited number made before its name was changed. During their search, they even came across one owned by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. The price was beyond their budget at the time, but the hunt continued. Eventually, they found another example in the USA, in almost untouched condition, which was shipped across the Atlantic to northern Sweden in the mid-1980s.

And that’s where it remains to this day. The story says a great deal about the museum as a whole. Behind many of the instruments lie years of searching, chance encounters, valuable connections and an almost unbelievable level of determination.

 

You don’t need to know a single guitar chord

You don’t need to know the difference between a Telecaster and a Les Paul to enjoy a visit. Guitars is just as much about the people, the quest and the stories as it is about the instruments themselves. The collection also reflects the culture that emerged around rock ’n’ roll – from American cars and design to music, fashion and technological innovation. For the Åhdén brothers, it has all been part of the same cultural heritage, worth collecting and preserving. The museum opened in 2014 and moved to its current home on the top floor of Umeå Folkets Hus in 2019.

 

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