“My girlfriend is right there,” said Bachman, 78, formerly of the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, as the Gretsch guitar on which he wrote American Woman and other hits was given to him by a Japanese musician who had bought it at a Tokyo store in 2014 without knowing its history. He said all guitars were special, but the 1957 Chet Atkins orange Gretsch 6120 he bought as a teenager was exceptional. He worked several jobs to save money to buy the $400 guitar, his first purchase of an expensive instrument, he said. “He did my whole life. It was my hammer and a tool to write songs, make music and make money,” Bachmann said before the handover at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo. When it was stolen from his Toronto hotel in 1977, “I cried for three days — it was a part of me,” he said. “It was very, very upsetting.” He ended up buying about 300 guitars in unsuccessful attempts to replace it, he said. Bachman has often talked about the missing guitar in interviews and on radio shows, and most recently in YouTube programs in which he played with his son, Tal. Bachmann, right, accepts his old Gretz from Japanese musician Takeshi at a concert in Tokyo on Friday. Photo: Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images In 2020, a Canadian fan who heard the story of the guitar started an online search and successfully located it in Tokyo within two weeks. Fan William Long used a small spot in the guitar’s wood grain visible in old pictures as a “digital fingerprint” and traced the instrument to a vintage guitar shop in Tokyo. A further search led him to a YouTube video showing the instrument being played by a Japanese musician, Takeshi, in December 2019. After receiving the news from Long, Bachman immediately contacted Takeshi and identified the guitar in a video chat they had. “I was crying,” Bachman said. “The guitar almost spoke to me over the video, like, ‘Hey, I’m coming home.’ Takeshi agreed to give it to Bachman in exchange for one that was very similar. So Bachman searched and found the guitar’s “sister” – made the same week, with a close serial number, no modifications and no repairs. “Finding my guitar again was a miracle, finding her twin sister was another miracle,” Bachmann said. Takeshi said he decided to return the guitar because as a guitarist he could imagine how much he missed Bachman. Bachman on stage circa mid-1970s. Photo: Doug Griffin/Toronto Star/Getty Images “I’ve only owned and played it for eight years and I’m very sad to be giving it back now. But he’s been sad for 46 years and it’s time for someone else to feel sad,” Takeshi said. “I felt sorry for this legend.” He said he felt good after returning the guitar to its rightful owner, but it may take time for him to love his new Gretsch as much as he does. “It’s a guitar and it has a soul. So even if it’s the same shape, I can’t say for sure if I can love a replacement the same way I loved this one,” Takeshi said. “There’s no doubt that Randy has thought about me and searched a lot [for the replacement]so I will gradually develop an affection for it, but it may take time.” Bachmann said that he and Takeshi were now like brothers who had guitars that were “twin sisters”. They are taking part in a guitar documentary in which they plan to perform a song together, Lost and Found. They also performed several songs at the Friday tradition, including American Woman. Bachmann said he would lock the guitar in his house so he would never lose it again. “I’m never going to take it out of my house again.”