Richie Sambora's Beloved Guitar Was Stolen in 1985. 41 Years Later, They've Been Reunited: 'Almost Perfect Shape' (Exclusive)
Richie Sambora's Beloved Guitar Was Stolen in 1985. 41 Years Later, They've Been Reunited: 'Almost Perfect Shape' (Exclusive)
Rachel DeSantisWed, April 29, 2026 at 9:32 PM UTC
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Richie Sambora with his guitar as a teenager (L) and in 2026 (R)Credit: Courtesy Richie Sambora -
Richie Sambora's stolen 1976 Gibson Explorer guitar was found at a vintage guitar shop in Paris after 41 years
The guitar, customized by Sambora and used in Bon Jovi's early albums, remains in near-perfect condition
Sambora will perform with the guitar for the first time in decades at the Unbridled Eve Derby Gala in May
When it comes to guitars, B.B. King had his Lucilles. Willie Nelson still plays his beloved Trigger. And Richie Sambora had a 1976 Gibson Explorer, bought when he was just 16 and modified to perfection.
But after it was stolen while Sambora was on tour with Bon Jovi in 1985, he thought it was lost forever — and it was, until earlier this year when it turned up at a vintage guitar shop in Paris.
Now, 41 years after it was swiped from a New Jersey warehouse, the guitar is back with its rightful owner, who tells PEOPLE the instrument's long and winding road back to his arms was something of a “mindf--k.”
“It was f---ing trippy as s--t,” the guitarist, 66, says of being reunited with his instrument. “I put it on, I started to play it. It seemed like it was untouched. It's almost in perfect shape.”
It's the same guitar Sambora played in the early days of Bon Jovi, and fans can hear it on the band's self-titled debut and the 1985 record 7800° Fahrenheit. It still has the ebony fretboard the star had custom-made, and his signature stars, which appeared for the first time on the Explorer.
Richie Sambora and his guitarCredit: Courtesy Richie Sambora
Sambora bought the guitar at Lou Rose Music Center in Edison, N.J. after watching Eric Clapton shred on one of the instruments, a reissue of a 1958 guitar.
“Clapton was a huge hero of mine. So I went to the store and I found one,” he says, noting it was out of his budget. “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.”
He says the Explorer was his “go-to” as he built up his music career and joined Bon Jovi in 1983. It helped that he'd made it entirely his own with the help of famed luthier Phil Petillo, recommended to him by fellow New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen. Together, he and Petillo put in the ebony neck and inlaid the stars.
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“I said to myself, ‘This is the guitar that I can make talk.' When I wanted to be a badass, 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.”
Richie Sambora playing his ExplorerCredit: Courtesy Richie Sambora
When Bon Jovi headed to Japan on tour in 1985, the group stored their gear in a warehouse in Perth Amboy, N.J. Two days before they left, thieves snuck through a fence and stole everything. Sambora's beloved guitar was gone.
“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.'”
Sambora called the buyer and offered double for the guitar back, but never heard back. With the instrument now back in his sights, he even hired a private detective — and earlier this year, received a call from his guitar dealer that the Explorer had been tracked down to a vintage guitar shop in Paris called Matt's Guitar Shop.
Owner Matthieu Lucas told Guitar World that someone claiming to be from Michigan had sold him the guitar and touted it as Sambora's original Explorer. Once he learned it'd been stolen, Lucas made moves to get it back where it belonged.
Richie Sambora's guitarCredit: Courtesy Richie Sambora
“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.”
Sambora is set to perform with the guitar again for the first time in four decades on Friday, May 1 at the Unbridled Eve Derby Gala ahead of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville. It's a happy ending for the star, who fractured his hand last year playing touch football, and who lost his mother Joan in January.
“It's been a rough two years with all the injuries and everything,” he says, before proudly showing off the guitar, “but there it is.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
