Michael J. Fox has weighed in on the missing Back to the Future guitar mystery, and against the backdrop of a global hunt for the long-lost Gibson guitar has offered his own theory as to what happened to it.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future, and to mark the occasion Gibson launched an effort to track down the long-lost ES-345 that starred in the film’s iconic school dance scene.
After Marty McFly – played by Fox – used the classy six-string to rip through Johnny B. Goode and filming wrapped on the production, the guitar mysteriously and inexplicably went missing. Despite being perhaps one of the silver screen’s most culturally impactful guitars, it has not been seen in four decades.
Since announcing the hunt, Gibson has shared some telling details to help identify the guitar, and hired the investigators who spearheaded the search for Paul McCartney’s Hofner violin bass to assist with the search.
Apparently, there’s been no breakthrough yet – although Gibson is readying a signature production model of the guitar – but Fox himself has an idea about what happened to the ES-345.
Writing in his new book, Future Boy (via Parade), McFly says, “I wish I could claim to possess it, but I didn’t have the foresight to know how valuable it would become.
“Unfortunately, somebody did anticipate that and snagged it for themselves. Whether it’s in their active collection or stashed in their attic or home studio, they’re not speaking up.
“Perhaps they’re waiting for the statute of limitations on vintage guitar theft to expire.”
Whether that is the case remains to be seen, but with Gibson seemingly hitting an impasse in its hunt, we dare say it’d take a miracle – some divine intervention – to have the authentic model returned safe and sound.
Earlier this year, Fox reflected on the Back to the Future guitar, and discussed that show-stealing scene in which his character lets loose on the guitar in question.
He said, “When we talked about the 'Enchantment Under the Sea' scene, I sat down with the cinematographer and choreographer and said, 'I want to riff through all of my favorite guitarists, like doing Jimi Hendrix behind the head, Pete Townshend doing a windmill, and the Eddie Van Halen hammer thing.' It was so cool that they were open to that, and we laid it all out there.”
The hunt hasn't been totally fruitless, though. Gibson did indeed find a Back to the Future Guitar – just not the one it was originally looking for.
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