Fan Uses Facial Recognition on Japanese YouTube Video to ID Randy Bachman’s Stolen Gretsch Guitar

When rock star Randy Bachman (previously) of such supergroups as The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive was first starting out, he fell in love with a gorgeous 1957 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins model in western orange that he just had to have. He performed all sorts of side jobs in order to afford such an extravagant guitar, yet once he had it, he never let go of it. That is until it was stolen in Toronto in 1976.

Since that time, Bachman has been buying all sorts of guitars to fill the void left by that Gretsch, but to no avail. Luckily, a fan of Bachman’s saw a video of Japanese pop star Takeshi who was playing a guitar that looked just like the one that was stolen. The fan then used facial recognition to positively confirm the identity of the 1957 Gretsch and contacted Bachman to let him know that his guitar had been found.

Bachman’s daughter-in-law Koko, who is Japanese, contacted the pop star and an agreement was made over Zoom to give Takeshi another 1957 Gretsch for the return of the original. Bachman plans to travel to Japan to make the exchange.

He’s a very honorable guy. He said that he would give me back my guitar but I had to find him its twin.

Takeshi, who was born after the guitar was stolen stated that he was unaware of its history and was honored to be the one to return it.

I’m so honoured and proud to be the one who can finally return this stolen guitar to its owner, the rockstar, Mr. Bachman, who was searching for it for nearly half a century, and I feel very grateful for this miracle happening in both our lives.

Here’s Takeshi’s video where the fan spotted Bachman’s beloved guitar.

via Boing Boing

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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