Twenty-seven years ago, Billy Corgan’s favourite guitar was stolen after a Smashing Pumpkins gig at at Detroit’s Saint Andrew’s Hall in June 1992. The guitar was reportedly stolen just minutes after Corgan left the stage. The guitar—an early ’70s Fender Stratocaster— was used to record the band’s debut record Gish. At the time, Corgan offered a $10,000 reward to anyone that returned it. He later upped that offer in 2010 to $20,000.
Now, after almost three decades, Corgan reunited with his beloved guitar in Flushing, Michigan on Tuesday. Rolling Stone has shared the story of how the guitar came back to him:
“The guitar made its way back to him via Beth James, a mother of three who doesn’t play guitar and lives in Flushing, Michigan, about 80 minutes northwest of Detroit. She’d spotted the guitar at a Detroit yard sale and plonked down $200 for it because she thought it would be a cool conversation piece in her basement. ‘I thought it was painted cool,’ she says. ‘I literally don’t know anything about the guitar. I actually told my husband I only paid $100 for it because he would have killed me if he found out I paid more.’ And there it stayed for the last 10 to 12 years.”
Watch: The Smashing Pumpkins – Bullet with Butterfly Wings
It was one of Beth James’ friends who recognised the guitar as Billy Corgan’s. The friend informed James who then eventually got in touch with the Pumpkins’ frontman through Alex Heiche, founder of Sound Royalties. Upon it’s return to Corgan, James turned down the $20,000 reward. Instead she asked Corgan to sign a different guitar for her.
“I always felt the guitar would come back when it was time,” Corgan shared with Rolling Stone. “And I know that sounds strange, but today didn’t surprise me. I always felt the guitar would come back when it was time.”
Read the entire Rolling Stone feature here.
Earlier this month, Karen O released a stunning cover of Smashing Pumpkins 1995 hit ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’, check it out now.
