Bryan Adams' first-ever six-string has quite the story attached to it. It's been around the world and passed from hand to hand before returning to him, with quite a dark past.
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Of course, we all already know the origins of Bryan Adams' first guitar as he sings about it in the opening lines of 'Summer of '69.' "I got my first real six-string/Bought it at the Five and Dime," he sings. And that's close to the truth, according to him.
Speaking on the I Never Thought It Would Happen podcast, he said, "[I] told him that I wanted to buy an electric guitar, and he took me down to the music shop in Reading, and I still have that electric guitar. It's an Italian thing... It's an imitation Stratocaster."
And that was the beginning of Bryan Adams' life with the guitar. He started off with that simple six-string and turned it into a lifetime of classic rock tunes. However, despite having the guitar now, it was out of his ownership for a considerable amount of time.
Bryan Adams' First Guitar Lost In Transit
For quite some time, Bryan Adams travelled with his father, who worked for the Canadian embassy. Because of his job, Adams jumped from place to place. It was while he lived in Tel-Aviv that he said goodbye to his first guitar.
In a fit of generosity, Bryan Adams gave his first ever six-string to his neighbour, planning to buy a new one when he got back to Canada. He immediately regretted it. "I was like, 'Ugh, why did I do that?" he recalled thinking.
But, all was not lost. Looking back, Adams says he got a call out of the blue. "I got a random email from somebody saying, 'Hey, I have your guitar from 1970. Do you want it back?' And I was like, 'Whoa. Yeah, of course, I want it back. Thank you."
But that was the end of it, and he heard no more. Bryan Adams gave up on ever seeing his first guitar ever again. A decade later, in a Berlin club, a man approached Bryan Adams and told him he had his original guitar.
"I said, 'What?' He goes, 'I have the guitar from your childhood. Give me your address and I'll send it to you.' I said, 'Wait a minute, are you the guy who wrote to me back in '94?' And he said 'No, I'm his friend. He died in a plane crash and left it to me, and he told me he was going to give it to you, and so it came back to me."
In a wild turn of events, Bryan Adams' guitar had been returned to him. It had been given in Tel-Aviv, had the owner die, and found him again in Berlin of all places.
