If you are in this thread, then I assume you know the singer/songwriter Janis Ian, singer of the beloved At Seventeen, winner of two Grammys, etc.
What you may not know is that Janis has a love affair with a guitar - a 1937 Martin D-18 that she was given by her father and on which she learned to play. On a bad day, that guitar would be worth a bunch - well over $25 grand. But it had a bunch of repairs, and anyway, value means nothing when it is that guitar to you as a player.
Then it was stolen.
It was a long story, where Janis would include the serial # of the guitar on the liner notes of her albums in the hopes it would be found.
After something like 40 years, it was found.
In that link, someone shares the link to the story about the guitar from Janis’ website. A bunch of folks comment, but by page 3, Janis comes onto the and forum posts about it and the comments folks have, good and bad, about caring so much about a guitar.
I forgot to mention that I saw this sort of thing happen a long time ago…
I can’t remember who was in Tallahassee for a show at the Moon back in the early 1990s, but the guys had some time on their hands and wanted to go pawnshopping (that was still really a thing back then). I sent them to Folmar’s (great place and I knew Lee and Travis, the sons of the owner) as it had the added benefit of being close by so they wouldn’t get lost or something.
Anyway, one of them came back with this awesome Mosrite guitar that he had found at Folmar’s. I’ve always liked Mosrites (thanks, Johnny Ramone!) so I commented on how awesome it was that he found a Mosrite in a small town pawnshop. He came back with how it was REALLY awesome because he knew this guitar! Turns out it had been stolen from a friend of his (who was in another touring rock band) like 20 years prior in Seattle. Same finish as when his friend had it, so he borrowed the phone at Folmar’s and called his friend to see if he still had the serial number and sure enough it checked out. Old Man Folmar just charged him what he had invested in it and a guitar was returned to it’s rightful owner!
I wish I could remember who this was… seems like it was Screaming Trees that was in town and the guitar was from one of the guy’s in Green River, but I could have that wrong (I did 3-5 shows a week, 2-3 bands per show, for about 4 years back from 1989-1993; I think by now I’ve prolly let some details go hide in the dark corners of my mind to make room for other stuff, eh).
