Wholesome: Jon Bon Jovi Reunited With His First Guitar After 45 Years, It Inspired a Song on Bon Jovi’s New Album

“I opened up that same cardboard case and there it was with five strings.”

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There seems to be a lot of cases of found old instruments lately, be it those owned by regular folk or legendary rock musicians. Whatever may be the case, a wholesome story about an old guitar showing up somewhere and getting back into the hands of its old owner always warms our hearts.

As it turns out, Jon Bon Jovi got his first guitar back, 45 years after selling it to a “kid down the street.” The topic was brought up during his appearance on the “Howard Stern Show” where he revealed that he sold it for $100 in its cheap cardboard case.

The guitar in question is a Univox Strat copy and the reason for selling it was so that he could save up for an actual Fender. The sale happened in the late 1970s, and Jon said the whole thing happened by chance.

“I didn’t run into him for the next 45 years,” he said. However, one of the volunteers at his non-profit community restaurant brought them back together.

“A volunteer at the Soul Kitchen told me, ‘Not only does he still have it, but I think he’d be willing to give it back to you.'”

The two got back together, and Bon Jovi was more than grateful to the guitar buyer. He added:

“He was kind and I have him some money and I met his daughter and I gave him another signed acoustic guitar in return for that.”

“And I opened up that same cardboard case and there it was with five strings. If memory serves me, the sixth string was broken [when I sold it to him], so I don’t think the kid ever played it.”

“I picked it up and I wrote a song with it called ‘My First Guitar’ – it was one of those songs that had to be on the new record.”

The album in question is Bon Jovi’s “Forever,” which is planned for a June 7 release.