Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan Reunited With His Lost Guitar of 27 Years

Billy Corgan performing with Smashing Pumpkins in 2016
Billy Corgan performing with Smashing Pumpkins in 2016. Photo by Larry Marano/REX/Shutterstock (5669046k)

Everyone loves a soppy reunion story and this one is about a rock star and his beloved guitar.

Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins lost his signature Fender Stratocaster after playing a show at Detroit’s Saint Andrew’s Hall in 1992. He has described the guitar as a signature part of his sound and admitted that he “heavily identified with the guitar.”

Over the years, plenty of false rumors concerning the guitar’s whereabouts have circulated. Now, 27 years later, it looks like Corgan has been reunited with his beloved ex.

“Somebody sent me a picture a couple of weeks ago of another one of my guitars, and I wrote the guy back and said, ‘How did you get my guitar?’” the Smashing Pumpkin told the Rolling Stone.

“And he wrote back, ‘Oh, it’s a recreation.’ He’d literally gotten the same stickers, worn them down in the same way and scraped the paint so it looked worn. You could have fooled me.”

Corgan checked out the guitar in person and sure enough, it was the same guitar he lost 27 years ago.

“It instantly changed the way the band sounded and the way I played,” Corgan said of the guitar. “When it was stolen, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, gee, my guitar just got stolen.’ It was the guitar that affected the way I played and I was heavily identified with the guitar.”

Now the two have been reunited at last. Who doesn’t love a happy ending?