Sambora Recovers Stolen 1976 Gibson Explorer After 41-Year Search

Richie Sambora got back his 1976 Gibson Explorer. Thieves stole it from a New Jersey warehouse in 1985 while he was touring with Bon Jovi. Matt's Guitar Shop in Paris had it and returned it to him earlier this year.

The guitar still looks great. Sambora played at the Unbridled Eve Derby Gala in Louisville on May 1, just before the Kentucky Derby.

"I put it on, I started to play it. It seemed like it was untouched. It's almost in perfect shape," the guitarist told People.

Sambora bought the Explorer when he was 16. He found it at Lou Rose Music Center in Edison, N.J. Eric Clapton played one, and that inspired him. He worked with luthier Phil Petillo to change it, adding an ebony fretboard and star inlays. Those changes made it the first Richie Sambora custom model.

"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 said to People. "It easily was the best guitar I owned, and the specs were mine."

You can hear the Explorer on Bon Jovi's first album and the 1985 record, 7800° Fahrenheit. Someone broke in two days before the band flew to Japan in 1985, grabbing the guitar and other gear from a Perth Amboy warehouse.

The hunt went on for decades. Around 10 years ago, Guitar Center in New Jersey called Sambora. They told him the Explorer had been there but was gone. He offered the buyer twice what they paid. Nobody responded. The 66-year-old even hired a private detective.

Shop owner Matthieu Lucas purchased it from someone who said they were from Michigan. Lucas discovered it had been stolen. He reached out to Sambora to give it back.

"He sent me a picture and I go, 'Get the f--k out of here. You got it,'" Sambora said to People. "He goes, 'I knew it was yours. I bought it immediately for you.' So that was really, really cool of him."