Any fan of Back to the Future knows that Michael J. Fox’s character, Marty McFly, accidentally invented rock n’ roll on that fateful night in 1985, er, I mean, 1955, when he played “Johnny B. Goode” with Marvin Berry’s band. The fictional Marvin, in the movie, made a quick phone call to his brother, the real-life Chuck Berry, and the rest, I guess, is history. Or something like it.
BTTF, which is getting a limited re-release later this month as part of the 2025 movie schedule in honor of its 40th anniversary, is a seminal movie in the minds of many, and that scene is, for many reasons, one of the most iconic. The guitar that Marty plays, a Gibson ES-345, has been missing since the scene was filmed. No one seems to know where it is, including Fox, who recently opened up about trying to find it.
The Guitar Just Disappeared
In Fox’s recently released book, Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum, via Us Weekly, the star talks about the lost guitar. He writes:
In the decades since the movie’s release, the guitar used in ‘Johnny B. Goode’ has grown more important for what it isn’t than what it is. What it isn’t is available.
The guitar, it seems, was snatched up by an unknown crew member or someone else on the set. Fox wishes he still had it, both for its sentimental value and its monetary value. Says Fox:
I wish I could claim to possess it, but I didn’t have the foresight to know how valuable it would become.
He suspects someone on the set recognized the value and has it, somewhere, but as for now, Fox doesn’t know who:
Somebody did, though, and whether it’s in their active collection or stashed in their attic or home studio, they’re not speaking up. Perhaps they’re waiting for the statute of limitations on vintage guitar theft to expire.
It’s impossible to know just how much the guitar could be worth. Vintage Gibson ES-345s are pretty valuable on their own, to say nothing about this particular one, given its status in Hollywood history. Fox, of course, is a guitar player himself, so you just know he’d love to have it in his collection.
Gibson Has Promised A Documentary If The Guitar Is Located
I love a great guitar story, and surely this famous Gibson has one. According to Fox, the company is actively looking for it and has even promised to make a documentary about the instrument, should it be found:
[Gibson is] even going so far as to sponsor a documentary film chronicling the quest to find my famous red rock and roll machine. They haven’t found it yet; the documentary’s eventual release is linked to the existential discovery and retrieval. We’ll keep you posted.
Much like the search for Paul McCartney’s long-lost Hofner bass is being made into a documentary and will likely be released as part of the 2026 movie schedule, this could make for an amazing film. So let’s all hope it’s found soon!