A rock star has finally been reunited with his beloved guitar 41 years after it was stolen. Richie Sambora purchased his 1976 Gibson Explorer when he was just 16.
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That was before he went on to become a rock star alongside Bon Jovi. While on tour for the band in 1985, someone snatched the guitar. It wasn't discovered again until someone found it in Paris, France at a vintage guitar shop.
Now, it's been return to its rightful owner. The rock star told People, "It was f---ing trippy as s--t. I put it on, I started to play it. It seemed like it was untouched. It's almost in perfect shape."
Sambora used the guitar on the band's band's self-titled debut and the 1985 record 7800° Fahrenheit. He bought the guitar after being inspired by Eric Clapton.
"Clapton was a huge hero of mine. So I went to the store and I found one," he said. "They let me get it and pay it off. And throughout the years, I basically ripped it apart and made it [for] all the things that I was doing — sessions and club gigs and concerts."
Rock Star Reunited with Guitar
It was his favorite instrument.
"I said to myself, 'This is the guitar that I can make talk.' When I wanted to be a bada--, that's what I took out," he says. "It easily was the best guitar I owned, and the specs were mine. So basically it was the first Richie Sambora custom model."
But someone snatched the guitar from a warehouse in New Jersey while he was in Japan.
"The record company had to lend us money to buy new equipment and we just went and did it," he recalls. "So obviously what happened in my career happened in my career, it was fantastic. And about 10 years ago, I get a call from Guitar Center in New Jersey. I'm staying at my mom's, and they go, 'Your Explorer was in here. We just sold it to some guy.'"
Over the years, the rock star searched high and low for the instrument. He resorted to hiring a private detective. But finally someone tracked it down to Matt's Guitar Shop in Paris. Owner Matthieu Lucas told Guitar World that someone in Michigan sold the guitar.
Lucas sought to return it to the rock star after realizing it had been stolen.
"He sent me a picture and I go, 'Get the f--k out of here. You got it,'" Sambora recalls. "He goes, 'I knew it was yours. I bought it immediately for you.' So that was really, really cool of him."
