As an elder millennial I must admit that I am not up on all the trends of social media. With that said, I know that to connect with the most people possible and spread the word of my guitar search journey I must jump in the fire and get on board.
I first hit the social media site that I was most familiar with: Reddit. This was tricky because each subreddit had its own set of rules and policies. Even though I was just trying to find some type of lead being reunited with my old guitar, some of my posts were flagged for violating buy/sell policies (r/Scranton). Undeterred I tried my best to cast a wide net. I posted in r/Nashville, r/Reverb, r/guitars, r/guitar, r/BonJovi, r/NEPA, r/richiesambora, r/Fender, r/fenderstratocaster, and r/Gear4sale, I let the upvotes and the comments fly.
Being fairly active on Reddit for the past decade I was very surprised by one noticable thing. People were being supportive. Anyone that has spent significant time on this particular social media site will know that Reddit can be a tough crowd and even at times toxic. However, this was not my experience. I found that many people were sharing stories about guitars that they also let get away and the regret that they still felt.
Unfortunately, Reddit has so far not yielded any significant leads. A few people with the model I am looking for reached out, but alas the serial numbers were not a match. One user who claimed to be a Guitar Center employee offered to search the serial number in their system to see if the guitar had even been in their stores though they did not get any hits. Another used suggested something I wasn’t sure I was ready for…Tik Tok. In their words “guitartok can find anything”.
To TikTok I went! I set up an account @helpmefindmyguitar and had my wife film me pleading my case. In what looks more like a nervous and sputtering hostage video than a one of those fun trendy dances, I made my first video. I let the masses know that I am on the hunt for my old guitar. I have made a few subsequent videos providing brief updates on my journey, but I have not yet gained any significant traction.
Now I’m not sure if TikTok, known for its younger audience, is going to be able to find a guitar that is a signature model of a guitarist that was most popular before most users were born, but you never know. I decided I needed to cover both ends of the spectrum and set up a Facebook. A platform I left behind years ago. I searched Marketplace for my model hoping to track down the one I was looking for. I posted in groups looking for a lead. But again it was dead end after dead end. As of today my Facebook adventure is on hold.
Next stop Reverb. While not a true social media platform, Reverb is a Marketplace for guitars and gear. I set up my searches to notify me when the model of guitar I am looking is posted on the site. But more importantly I filtered a search to show me past sales of Richie Sambora Fender Stratocasters in Lake Placid blue. I found page after page. Like a pirate who just found the buried treasure I dove right in. Looking at the geographic location of the listing and scouring the photos to try to see a serial number I went through each listing with excitement. Is it possible my guitar was listed on here and I could follow the thread to lead me to it? I went through listing after listing when finally I found one. A Sambora strat in Lake Place blue listed three years ago…in Scranton, PA. Just a few miles from where I sold mine. Of course this listing was one of the very few that did not show a visible serial number. I messaged the seller who did not seem to be very active recently and I waited and I waited. Finally after a few weeks I heard back from the seller. The reply was short, but I’ll take what I can get. He did not have the serial number and he ended up selling or trading the guitar to the local Guitar Center. I followed up by asking if he had purchased the guitar from the store that I sold mine to, however he did not. I cannot conclusively say that this was or was not my guitar, but based on the information I am leaning toward it not being the one I’m looking for. This was probably my best lead so far in this journey, but back to a dead end.
Help Me Find My Guitar 