“When it got stolen, he said he felt as if he had lost a part of himself”: Guitarist reunited with his vintage Gibson Les Paul, 27 years after it disappeared

In one of the more heartwarming guitar stories of the year so far, a budding guitarist has finally been reunited with his beloved Gibson Les Paul, after it had been stolen from him almost three decades ago.

The tale was first told on TikTok earlier this month, when a video posted by user ‘elisethalman’ – one of the daughters of the guitarist in question, who helped track down the missing electric guitar – documented the moment the vintage 1981 Les Paul Custom was reunited with its rightful owner.

And, if that wasn’t enough to give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside, the guitar was presented to the player, who was robbed of his prized LP way back in 1997, on his 50th birthday.

As the original TikTok video explains, “27 years ago my dad had his prized possession 1981 Gibson Les Paul Custom stolen out of the back of his truck. For his 50th birthday we wanted to finally reunite him with his guitar.

“After searching the serial number almost monthly about 4/5 years, and sifting through hundreds of guitar listings, we finally found it sometime last April-ish. After keeping it a secret from our dad, he finally got his gift yesterday.”

@elisethalman

♬ Daughters - John Mayer

Naturally, the father gets visually emotional upon opening the guitar’s case – “How did you find it?” he can be heard asking – whose grand reveal was met with applause by those in attendance at the party.

In the video, one of the two daughters can also be heard explaining to the crowd, “A year ago, Dad asked us to plan this party, and within 10 minutes [we] texted each other like, ‘We just have to find this fucking guitar.’ The rest of the party planning we didn’t pull our weight on, but we did find the guitar. Don’t lose it this time!”

A Reddit post from one of the daughters who helped locate and return the ‘81 LP Custom delved deeper into the rescue mission, and gave further context surrounding the importance of the guitar itself.

“My dad had a 1981 Custom Gibson Les Paul stolen from the bed of his truck in Washington in 1997,” the post read. “The guitar was his everything, he recounted the 600-700 hours he spent playing the guitar in the marines. Sitting in the barracks, going out and doing shows, he played the thing all the damn time. 

“When it got stolen he said he genuinely felt empty as if he had lost apart [sic] of himself,” it went on. “After years of searching on consignment websites I found the guitar last April. 

“The natural finish made identifying it quite easy even though the guitar had been lost longer than I had been alive. Many of our friends and family donated to help us buy the guitar back, even some of my friends who had never met my dad. 

“My sisters and I kept the guitar a secret until his 50th birthday party yesterday. My dad is at the foundation of all the music I hold very near and dear to my heart. It was an honor to reunite him with the guitar he genuinely had accepted that he would never see again.”

Oddly enough, it’s not the first time that a guitar has been reunited with its owner after exactly a 27-year period. In 2020, Billy Corgan was put back in touch with his ‘70s-era Fender Stratocaster that he used to record the Smashing Pumpkins' 1991 debut album, Gish.

There are accounts of guitars being retrieved after a period even longer than three decades, too. It took 31 years for Peter Frampton to be reunited with his legendary Gibson “Phenix” Les Paul, while Randy Bachman recently got reacquainted with his beloved orange 1957 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins after 45 years.

Other examples that spring to mind include Steve Vai and his Yankee Rose ‘Swiss Cheese’ model reuniting after 36 years, and the incredible story behind Jimmy Page reacquiring his beloved 1960 Les Paul Custom nearly 50 years after it was stolen.