TOKYO, July 2 (BUS): Canadian rock legend Randy Bachman’s long search ended Friday when he was reunited in Tokyo with a treasured guitar 45 years after it was stolen from a Toronto hotel.
“My girlfriend’s right there,” said Bachman, 78, a former member of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, as Japanese musician handed him a Gretsch guitar on which he had written “American Woman” and other hits before he bought him from a Tokyo store in 2014 without knowing its date, the Associated Press reports.
He said all guitars are special, but the orange 1957 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins he bought as a teenager were exceptional. He said he worked multiple jobs to save money for a $400 guitar, his first purchase of an expensive musical instrument.
“It made my whole life. It was a hammer and a tool for writing songs, making music, and making money,” Bachman told The Associated Press before the handover at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.
When it was stolen from a Toronto hotel in 1977, “I cried for three days. He said. “It was so annoying.” He said he ended up buying about 300 guitars in unsuccessful attempts to replace them.
Bachman has repeatedly spoken about losing the guitar on interviews, radio shows, and most recently on YouTube shows that he has been performing with his son Tal.
In 2020, a Canadian fan who had heard the story of the guitar launched an internet search and managed to locate it in Tokyo within two weeks.
The fan, William Long, used a small spot in the guitar’s wood grain that appears in old photos as a “digital fingerprint” and traced the instrument all the way to the site of an antique guitar shop in Tokyo. Another search led him to a YouTube video showing the instrument being played by a Japanese musician, TAKESHI, in December 2019.
After receiving the news from Long, Bachman called TAKESHI immediately, and recognized the guitar in a video chat they had.
“I was crying,” Backman said. “The guitar almost talked to me over the video, like, ‘Hey, I’m going home. “
Takeshi agreed to give it to Bachman in exchange for a very similar one. So Bachmann searched and found a “sister” guitar – made within the same week, with a close serial number, with no alterations or repairs.
“Finding my guitar again was a miracle, and finding her twin sister was another,” Backman said.
Takeshi said he decided to bring the guitar back because as a guitarist he can imagine how much Bachman missed.
“I only owned it and played it for eight years and am so sad to have it back now. But he has been heartbroken for 46 years, and it is time for someone else to feel sad,” said Takeshi. “I felt sorry for this legend.”
He said he felt fine after returning the guitar to its rightful owner, but that it may take time for Gretsch to love the new one as much as he loves that guitar.
“It’s a guitar, and it has a soul. So, even if it had the same shape, I can’t say for sure if I could love an alternative the same way I loved it.” “There’s no doubt that Randy thought of me and searched hard[for the alternative]so I will gradually develop my affection, but it may take some time.”
Backman said he and Takeshi are now like two brothers who own guitars, “twin sisters.” They are participating in a documentary about guitar that they plan to perform the song “Lost and Found” together.
They also performed several songs on Friday’s delivery, including the song American Woman.
Backman said he would lock up the guitar in his house so he wouldn’t lose it again. “I will never ever take her out of my house again,” he said.