Tokyo, July 1 (AFP\/APP): They say you never forget your first love, and after pining for his stolen guitar for almost half a century, Canadian rock star Randy Bachman has finally been reunited with the instrument which an eagle-eyed fan tracked down in Japan.<\/p>\n
Bachman, who wrote the original “American Woman” with his band The Guess Who, was in Tokyo for the emotional handover on Friday — 46 years after his cherished orange Gretsch was snatched from a Toronto hotel.<\/p>\n
“Wow,” a stunned Bachman said, holding the guitar lovingly and tuning it up on stage before playing in a special concert at the Canadian Embassy.<\/p>\n
The 78-year-old told AFP he had been “pretty much devastated” by the theft.
\n“With that guitar, I wrote many million-selling songs… it was like my magical guitar. And then when it’s suddenly gone, the magic is gone.”<\/p>\n
The rocker bought the now vintage 6120 Chet Atkins model as a teenager in the early 1960s with $400 painstakingly saved up from mowing lawns, washing cars and babysitting.<\/p>\n
He had long admired the instrument, spending hours staring at it in a shop window in Winnipeg with his friend and fellow musician Neil Young.<\/p>\n
It meant so much to Bachman that he would chain it to hotel toilets on tour. “Everybody in the band made fun of me, but because I worked so hard to get this guitar, I didn’t want it stolen.”<\/p>\n
But in 1976, he entrusted the guitar to a roadie who put it in a room with other luggage while the band was checking out.
\nBefore they knew it, it was gone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tokyo, July 1 (AFP\/APP): They say you never forget your first love, and after pining for his stolen guitar for almost half a century, Canadian rock star Randy Bachman has finally been reunited with the instrument which an eagle-eyed fan tracked down in Japan. Bachman, […]<\/p>\n
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