Gordon Close has spent 45 years assembling rare and one-of-a-kind equipment for his Rocky Mountain Music Museum, from microphones gripped by Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison to a recording console used by the Bee Gees, guitars owned by Chet Akins and Johnny Smith, and enough grand pianos to fill a smal l warehouse — and 8,200-square-foot warehouse in Englewood to be exact. But a few weeks ago, Close learned that the lease on the building that houses his museum, as well his longtime music instruction and repair businesses, Elite Sound, and his nonprofit Harvest Guitars shop, is coming to an end Dec. 31. “The problem isn’t just that, it’s trying to find a space that will be large enough to store it while I look for a new home,” said the 85-year-old Denver native, who has played with Stevie Wonder in concert and still performs music professionally along the Front Range. “I think I can consolidate down to 3,000, maybe even 2,500 square feet, but it’s not like you can stack up a bunch of pump organs like crackers.” Close has been in talks with several nonprofits and metro-area cities, which he declined to name, about taking in a collection that he hopes will become the premier museum for historic musical instruments in the Rocky Mountains. It’s already about 400 items strong, having been cobbled together through decades of donations and acquisitions — including a major one from the Country Music Hall of Fame that included the Presley and Orbison microphones. Rare harp guitars, and the personal ones owned by Colorado Springs jazz great Smith and Nashville legend Atkins, join a vintage Nickelodeon player piano, world music instruments, portable recording and studio gear, gold records, a classic Victrola (the first ever record player), and dozens of others. He estimated the value of the collection at more than $1 million. However, Close won’t completely move out of his current space by Jan. 1, 2026. “I don’t like to make a lot of different moves with this stuff, which is lovely and historic to see but big and heavy and awkward,” said the North High School and University of Denver graduate. “We’ve had a very good response from having it here up to this point, with tours and people from senior centers and schools visiting. Everybody goes out of here just beaming and smiling, so we know it can be successful.” Visitors to rockymountainmusicmuseum.com can appreciate Close’s collection in detail with video tours and text that delves into the history of his items, which include nearly every type of instrument in popular music. He’s seen other collections of equipment at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and at music venues and Front Range shops, but nothing close to the size and scope of his own. Still, even staying in his current space wouldn’t have fixed the larger problem, he said. “We were in an awkward area, without good parking, in the back of a big warehouse building,” Close said. “So it was something we really couldn’t have advertised and promoted like we should have, just because of those arrangements.” He’s hopeful that even as nearby cities and nonprofits deliberate whether to house his museum, it will prove its objective worth at some point. As a music lifer, Close has been playing guitar since 13, and even toured with the Denver Broncos band overseas when that outfit was active through the early 1990s. His Harvest Guitars nonprofit sells custom acoustic guitars, but also sends $500 acoustic-guitar packages to troops overseas, at no cost, as part of a program that he started after the first Gulf War in the early ’90s. Close estimates he’s sent out about 1,000 packages in that time, which gives the troops “musical entertainment and knowledge, but helps physical rehabilitation and provides music therapy to those with PTSD,” according to Harvest’s website. These businesses will continue regardless, he said. But his music collection still hangs in the balance. “Denver is one of the top music markets in the nation and we have lots of great venues, and yet we don’t really have a music museum, which is strange,” he said. “The largest one closest to us is in Scottsdale, Ariz., and it’s become the No. 1 tourist attraction in its area, and one that makes the city money. Denver is ready.” Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox. ...read more read less