Rock star Randy Bachman to reunite with his guitar in Japan 45 yrs after it was stolen

The Mainichi ^ | 6/29/22 | Mainichi Japan

[sushiman]

TOKYO -- A guitar that once belonged to legendary rocker Randy Bachman, a former member of the Canadian rock band The Guess Who, that was stolen 45 years ago in Toronto while he was on tour has been found in Japan. The rock star is now in Tokyo to retrieve his lost love after a Japanese musician who had bought the guitar at a vintage shop agreed to give it back to its rightful owner.

[\/\/ayne]

Sorry! Sorry! You may have your guitar, thank you!

[Red Badger]

I used to love Taking Care of Business until that commercial ruined it....................

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

So Bachman bought another ‘57 Gretsch 6120 and exchanged it with the fellow who had bought the one that was his. Classy, and not inexpensive move. That’s an $8K-$14K guitar in 2022. My first “real” guitar was a Gretsch, a double anniversary. I hated it; my brother got it for me through a connection of his. It was not at all the right kind of guitar for a Beatles-rocker, and yes, the Beatles played numbers of Gretsch guitars, even my then-hero Geo Harrison but I’ve never much liked them.

[NorthMountain]

It pays to read the article:

Bachman relied on one of his acquaintances who handles vintage guitars to find a different Gretsch made in 1957, and decided to exchange it with his lost Gretsch now in the possession of Takeshi.

If I were somehow in Takeshi's position, I'd rather have the "different Gretsch" that Bachman (or Bachman's buddies) tracked down for me than reward money.

[subterfuge]

Peter Frampton had a similar story with his Les Paul that was missing for decades. Interesting story.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/how-peter-frampton-lost-and-then-recovered-his-legendary-gibson-les-paul-custom

[sushiman]

I’m a drummer , and have owned 50’s / 60’s Gretsch drums , made in Brooklyn NY ! Sold them all . Oversized shells made for calf heads . Had to force plastic heads on . Pain in the ass .

[minnesota_bound]

The guitar was in baggage claim the whole time....

[gloryblaze]

Now someone needs to recover Billy Squier’s 1958 Les Paul Sunburst that was stolen outside a recording studio in the mid 80s.

That guitar is easily worth a half million.

He says he'll buy it back at market value, no questions asked.

[max americana]

Wow. What is it with these dudes losing / having their guitars stolen XD

[Psalm 73]

Mark Steyn did a great interview with Randy Bachman a couple years ago - fascinating guy.

And Randy and his son do a weekly Beatle's music analysis show on XM-radio, a very worthy listen.

[xp38]

His son Tal is even more awesome as a conservative but yeah in the 1970s BTO rocked.

[Ouderkirk]

I suspect that wanting and having will not have the desired effect

[4yearlurker]

My oldest brother (he's 74 now) bought a Les Paul Sunburst circa 1974. He still has it,in it's original case just sitting in his bedroom closet. His hands are so twisted from arthritis he is unable to play it.

[glennaro]

Randy Turner's two-minute video about dissecting the opening chord of the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" using the original master tapes is worth watching:

Hard Day's Night Opening Chord-Bachman

[glennaro]

Sorry, Randy Bachman (I’m only on my second cup out here!)

[gloryblaze]

My oldest brother (he's 74 now) bought a Les Paul Sunburst circa 1974. He still has it,in it's original case just sitting in his bedroom closet. His hands are so twisted from arthritis he is unable to play it.

Amazing! He must enjoy just knowing it is there. Nothing he'd buy with the $$ - or the $$ themselves - would be as satisfying.

[subterfuge]

Yep. Nowadays the big name guys could put tracking devices inside their high value guitars.

[1Old Pro]

cool

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

My impression, not knowing that much about drums, is that early drums were fairly lightweight in construction. Even the better brands, Gretsch, Slingerland, Ludwig. And certainly, so were guitars, the most popular (rock) guitar models having been introduced in the 50’s and are nothing if not fanatically faithful to how they were made back then. But you strum guitars but beat the hell out of drums. Early drum hardware seems really lightweight compared to beefy modern drum hardware. There weren’t that many power drummers back in the 40’s and 50’s, not until Elvin Jones & Tony Williams.

[subterfuge]

There is also a story about Slash ending up with a guitar Joe Perry of Aerosmith lost track of. He tried to buy the old Les Paul from him for years but Slash wouldn’t sell. After some time Slash shipped the ax to Perry for his birthday one year.