“My manager said, ‘Wow, you did a good job putting everything back.’ I said, ‘This is what I left behind’”: Joe Bonamassa on the evacuation of Nerdville – one of the world’s latest gear collections – following L.A. wildfires

Joe Bonamassa has opened up on the evacuation of Nerdville, which took place earlier this year as a result of the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles.

As the widespread wildfires in January spread throughout L.A., Bonamassa’s museum-grade home, which houses one of the world’s largest collections of vintage guitar gear, was under serious threat.

Though he moved some of his most prized assets and electric guitars when the flames got close to his doorstep, he couldn’t move everything. So, how did he choose which guitars to take to safety, and which gear picks were, with a heavy heart, deemed potentially sacrificial?

The wildfires caused mass destruction across the city. 18,000 buildings were destroyed – including the homes of Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith and Primus' Larry LaLonde – and reports confirm over 57,000 acres were burned. Nerdville escaped a fiery fate, but Bonamassa still had some tough choices to make.

“It’s something I’d care not to go through again, but a lot of people lost everything, so I consider I’m one of the lucky ones,” he says in the latest issue of Guitarist.

As per Guitar World’s coverage of his gear evacuation, there was only so much he could do as he shared a solemn image of himself with a small cluster of the electric guitars he relocated.

“A friend and I were able to get all the big stuff out,” he continues. “The Flying Vs, there were nine sunburst Les Pauls at the house at that time, a fancy Martin, the Broadcaster... all the big stuff went. We only had one shot, and it was like, I think, 55 guitars and a Dumble and a Trainwreck [a legendary and uber-rare, wooden shell amplifier built by the late Ken Fischer].”

It’s likely that at least one of those guitars was a 1958 Korina Flying V – one of the rarest guitars the company has ever made. The Martin he alludes to is quite possibly his 1941 Martin 000-045, which he says is “one of the few instruments in my collection that I’m actually scared to play”. It was subject to a special reissue late last year, marking his first-ever signature guitar with the historic acoustic guitar builder.

Though he owned eight Dumble amps at the time – a figure which reached nine earlier this month – it would be a safe bet to assume the Dumble he spared was Lowell George’s Super Overdrive Special.

Hailed as “the crown jewel of my amplifier collection” in June 2024, he spent 15 years tracking down the amp, which hadn’t been played since the day before the Little Feat guitarist’s death in June 1979.

That is, of course, operating under the assumption that all those pieces of gear were in the L.A. Nerdville West facility, and not the Nerdville East location in Nashville.

The forced relocation of just a fraction of his collection also underscored how much gear he’s accumulated. Most of it is rare and extremely valuable.

“My manager [Roy Weisman] was there a couple of weeks later for the Grammys, and he was at my house,” Bonamassa recalls. “He's like, ‘Wow, you really did a good job putting everything back after you were evacuated.’ I said, ‘Roy, this is what I left behind.’

“I mean, I have 400 guitars there and probably 300 amps; there was just no way I could take all of it. It would take a week to move it.”

Bonamassa is the cover star of the new Guitarist issue, which discusses his forthcoming album, Breakthrough, the gear used behind its creation, and his “vast” live rig.

Head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy.

And for gear buying advice, JoBo has you covered. He’s discussed why buying the right amp doesn’t have to cost a fortune, why guitar players should be selfish when buying gear, and how one simple mod can turn Fender Strats into a “Swiss army guitars.”

He’s also set to play three Rory Gallagher tribute shows in the late virtuoso’s hometown of Cork, Ireland, next month.