The search for Kim Mitchell's beloved guitar, stolen after a gig in Hamilton 50 years ago

Hamilton Spectator

4 days ago

Call it the cold case of the missing guitar.
More than 50 years ago, on Jan. 11, 1975, the rock band Max Webster wrapped up a weeklong gig at Duffy's Rockpile Tavern on King Street East in Hamilton. They packed their gear into a van and stopped at a nearby restaurant for a bite before heading out of town.
But they made a classic error in judgment: they left the van unattended.
Kim Mitchell, in a circa 1968 photo, plays the orange Gretsch guitar that was stolen seven years later.
When they returned, two electric guitars, a bass and other belongings — including clothes and Christmas presents — were gone.
Insurance helped cover the loss. But one guitar — an orange 1963 Gretsch Nashville 6120 — had deep sentimental value and could never be replaced. It belonged to singer and guitarist Kim Mitchell, a cherished gift from his father.
'(My dad's) house was 11 grand at the time. The guitar was 700 (dollars). Do the math today and know that he really spent huge bucks for me,' Mitchell, now 73, is quoted as saying in the coffee-table book 'Max Webster: High Class,' by Bob Wegner.
The cover of Bob Wegner's coffee-table book 'Max Webster High Class.'
Wegner — currently updating the book for a second printing — is hoping to solve the mystery of the missing guitar. Inspired by recent high-profile recoveries of long-lost instruments, he has launched a web-based campaign called
'Kim's Lost Guitar Project'
to try to track it down.
The effort is especially reminiscent of
Randy Bachman's lost and recovered instrument
— an orange Gretsch 6120 from 1957, six years older than Mitchell's. It was stolen from a Toronto hotel room in 1976, a year after Mitchell's instrument disappeared. Like Mitchell, Bachman received his Gretsch as a teenager, and it became part of his early sound and identity.
Kim Mitchell as a teenager playing his beloved Gretsch 6120 guitar that was stolen in 1975 after a show at Duffy's Tavern in Hamilton.
Vintage Gretsch 6120 guitars are highly prized by collectors, fetching from $5,000 to more than $20,000 depending on year and condition.
The Gretsch 6120 is one of the most iconic hollow-body electric guitars in history, closely associated with legendary guitarist Chet Atkins, who helped design the model in the mid-1950s. Atkins played one himself, as did rockabilly pioneers Eddie Cochran and Duane Eddy. Decades later, it became the signature guitar of Brian Setzer, frontman of the Stray Cats. George Harrison, during early Beatles years, played a Gretsch Country Gentleman — a cousin of the 6120 also part of the Chet Atkins line.
Bachman, famous for playing in The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, got his guitar back in July 2022 — thanks to a fan named William Long from British Columbia who recognized it online. Incredibly, Long used facial recognition technology on photos and videos to locate Bachman's guitar. In the same way a face is recognized by subtle features, he focused on nuances of wood grain and blemishes to make a positive ID.
The guitar had made its way to Japan, where it was played by a musician named Takeshi. Once verified by serial number as Bachman's guitar, a trade was arranged. He gave Takeshi an almost identical vintage Gretsch in exchange.
Canadian rock legend Randy Bachman, right, receives his stolen Gretsch guitar in 2022 at Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.
More recently, Paul McCartney's original violin-shaped Höfner bass was found after being missing for more than 50 years. An international search campaign called
'The Lost Bass Project'
led to its return in 2024.
Jimmy Page and Peter Frampton have also been reunited with stolen instruments in recent years.
Another guitar at the centre of a global search is the cherry-red Gibson ES-345 played by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in 'Back to the Future.' It vanished after filming in 1985, but this year, Gibson launched a 'Lost to the Future' campaign to locate it. No luck so far, but a documentary film is underway about the search.
One challenge in finding Mitchell's guitar is the serial number is not known.
'Kim doesn't remember it,' says Wegner, a musician and writer who grew up in Hamilton but now lives in Montreal. 'But there's a scratch on the back of the body and a cigarette burn on the headstock near the low E tuning key that would make the instrument stand out.'
Rocker Kim Mitchell, left, who was the guitarist and singer for the band Max Webster, poses with author Bob Wegner.
The Mitchell Gretsch is also identifiable by double cutaways on the body — rather than the usual single cutaway on the 6120 — red felt around the mute switch, painted F-holes, and a horseshoe inlay on the headstock. Wegner has photos from the 1970s that could help confirm a match.
Maybe facial recognition-style software — like what was used in identifying Bachman's guitar — could verify a found instrument's identity. Software online can do this for free or at low cost.
Wegner says he's exploring the possibilities. Mitchell could not be reached for comment, but Wegner says he supports the lost guitar campaign.
Larry Feudo, president of the Hamilton Musicians' Guild Local 293 A F of M, says gear theft is a major problem for musicians. So much so, instruments with sentimental or high monetary value are often not taken on the road out of fear of losing them.
'Thefts happen all the time,' Feudo says. 'Guitars are regularly stolen out of vans. Thieves scope it out. Never leave your gear unattended.'
The Max Webster theft was written about at the time by Windsor Star rock writer John Laycock, who followed the band closely.
'Some of the stuff was covered by insurance, but that's not the point,' he wrote. 'A musician develops a special relationship with a guitar that's something like sex and something like family and something like best friends — and still a little different than all three. That's why a man's 'axe' is irreplaceable; each has its own personality which can't be duplicated.'
Max Webster circa 1978 featuring, from left, Dave Myles, Terry Watkinson, Pye Dubois, Kim Mitchell, Nick Krewen, Gary McCracken, in a dressing room at Uncle Sam's in Niagara Falls.
Max Webster, which broke up in 1981 with the launch of Mitchell's solo career, was known for their energetic performances of hard rock and whimsical lyrics.
They played during an era that was notable for bands being booked for an entire week at a club, rather than a single night as is typical today.
That was the way it worked at Duffy's, a storied, dingy basement bar at 59 King St. E. that featured Max Webster and even Rush in their early days. Duffy's went out of business in 1979, and the space reopened under new owners, first as a country music bar before returning to rock when it was known as Oliver's. That club lasted until 1997.
Duffy's Tavern on King Street East in Hamilton was a popular nightspot to hear live music in the 1970s.
Feudo says members of the famed Hamilton band Crowbar frequented the nightspot, including harmonica legend Richard Newell, who performed as 'King Biscuit Boy.'
Newell, who died in 2003, wrote or cowrote a song inspired by the venue called 'Blues for Duffy's Tavern,' found on his album 'Badly Bent: The Best of King Biscuit Boy.'
Maybe someday, someone will write a new song — about the return of a big orange guitar that used to ring out in a long-lost barroom on King Street.