BURSTA glow-in-the-dark guitar with a mysterious past has led two Langford music store owners straight into the orbit of a Canadian rock legend.
Alloy Music owners and married couple Geoff Round and Laurie Zarr bought the electric guitar from a man in his 80s who was downsizing. Almost immediately, its unusual appearance piqued their curiosity.
“It had all these glow-in-the-dark stickers around the body of the guitar and up on the headstock, so it was very distinct looking,” said Round.
Their curiosity sent Zarr down an online rabbit hole, using keywords and image searches to trace the instrument’s history.
The search paid off, turning up a photo and a grainy 1980s video revealing the guitar’s original owner: Canadian rock icon Randy Bachman, guitarist, singer and songwriter of The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive fame.
“Laurie’s the hero of the story in my eyes,” said Round. “Without someone smart enough to do all that sort of stuff, it might have just hit the shelf and been sold to the next person that thought it was cool and we’d be none the wiser.”
Through an acquaintance, the couple was able to confirm with Bachman that the guitar did indeed once belong to him. In fact, they learned it had gone missing more than two decades earlier, disappearing from his studio on Salt Spring Island.
“You don’t count every single guitar in your studio every single day when you have 300 of them around,” said Round. “So it took a while for him to finally figure out that this guitar was not there anymore.”
Bachman told them the guitar held sentimental value and invited them to join him backstage at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre Aug. 25, where he was performing with The Guess Who.
“He had a big smile on his face,” said Zarr about the moment they handed the guitar back to Bachman.
Round said Bachman was amused to see that all the original stickers were still in place, including one on the back of the guitar made using a label maker.
It read “Calianne,” the name of Bachman’s daughter.
“He was super happy to get it back,” said Round.
Bachman told the couple the guitar was gifted to him by fellow rock icon Eddie Van Halen in 1986, shortly before Bachman–Turner Overdrive joined Van Halen’s 5150 tour as the opening act.
The glow-in-the-dark stickers were Bachman’s playful attempt to match Van Halen’s larger-than-life stage presence.
“He put all the stickers on the guitar because he knew he couldn’t outshine Eddie as a player,” said Round. “But when the lights would go down his guitar would be glowing in the dark – so that was his sort of way of shining on the stage.”
For Round, the chance to return Bachman’s guitar was particularly meaningful. He counts Bachman among his childhood musical heroes, alongside The Beatles, and credits them with inspiring him to pursue a career in music from the age of 12.
“Another fellow musician and I wanted to be the next Lennon-McCartney or Bachman-Cummings, if you will,” he says.
More than two decades ago, Round also had the chance to watch the ‘Takin’ Care of Business’ singer perform in Kelowna, where he showcased some of his signature tricks, playing his instrument with a drumstick and using rhythmic harmonic techniques.
“As a young musician, I’ve never seen that before, so obviously it was very cool and inspiring to see,” said Round.
That lifelong passion for music eventually became a career. Round worked at Alloy Music for 16 years before he and his wife took over ownership of the nearly 40-year old Langford business in 2024.
“Instead of waiting for your once a year vacation, create yourself a life that you don’t want to take a vacation from,” he muses.
The couple and Bachman plan to keep in touch, but with the 82-year-old still maintaining a busy touring schedule, it could be some time before they meet again in person.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive will hit the road again in January for a 10-week U.S. tour, and Round hopes the reunited guitar will make a full-circle return to the stage with its original owner – four decades after it first toured with him.
“My hope is that he’ll bring the guitar on stage with him and maybe start telling the story of where it’s been,” he said.
For now, Round and Zarr are basking in the afterglow of meeting one of their musical idols – and wondering what other treasures might walk through the doors of Alloy Music.
Perhaps, as Bachman might say, they ain’t seen nothin’ yet.