Richie Sambora Reclaims Stolen Gibson Explorer
Richie Sambora has been reunited with a key piece of his early Bon Jovi history after his customised 1976 Gibson Explorer—stolen in 1985—resurfaced more than four decades later. The guitarist, now 66, said the instrument was taken from a New Jersey warehouse while the band was preparing to tour Japan, and he believed it was gone for good.
The guitar ultimately turned up at a vintage guitar shop in Paris, and Sambora told People that when he put it on and started playing, it felt as if it had been “untouched,” adding that it is “almost in perfect shape.”
Sambora bought the Explorer as a teenager in New Jersey and gradually modified it into what he called his “go-to” guitar, including an ebony fretboard and star inlays. He used it in Bon Jovi’s early period, and fans can hear it on the band’s self-titled debut and the 1985 album 7800° Fahrenheit, making its return notable for longtime followers of the group’s sound and imagery.
The theft occurred when thieves reportedly breached a fence and cleared out the band’s stored equipment, forcing the group to replace their rig quickly to keep touring. Sambora said the guitar briefly appeared again about a decade ago when Guitar Center in New Jersey contacted him after it had come through the shop, but he was unable to recover it at the time—adding another chapter to his long-running post-Bon Jovi storyline.
Sambora is scheduled to play the Explorer publicly again for the first time in decades at the Unbridled Eve Derby Gala in Louisville on May 1. For a player whose signature tone and stage identity were tied to that specific instrument, the reunion closes a rare rock-and-roll missing-guitar saga with an onstage return.
