CF News EXTRA

Clockwork Flowers legend John Bliss’ stolen guitar found…but not returned after 30 years: 'Incredibly ungrateful'

John here. I accidentally found this guitar ‘1964 Fender Jazzmaster Candy Apple Red’ on Reverb.com few days ago. I’ve seen similar Jazzmaster Candy Apple Red (1963-1966) several times on Reverb, ebay, etc. But this particular guitar with very familiar marks and dents, as soon as I saw the photos…I strongly felt like…this is it…found it finally after 30 years! And all those memories with this guitar like gigs, tours, recording sessions and so on just came back…very emotional but mixed feelings.

I bought this guitar back in 1984 for about $3000 (3 year loan). This was my main guitar for the next 12 years until the guitar was stolen along with other instruments in Avebury, Wiltshire, UK during Christmas in 1996 while we’re away…the last time I used this guitar in public was on my Japan Tour 1995 (this photo was taken during the tour) and everything went wrong after the tour. Everything I used (instruments) or wore (costumes) on this tour was stolen or badly damaged…and I was (we’re) treated like a criminal at Narita International Airport for no reason! when I left Japan and therefore I was again treated like a criminal for no reason! at Heathrow Airport and had to spend few hours there…I still remember that it was very uncomfortable experience.

After the Japan Tour 1995, everything went really wrong…it was my ’nothing makes me happy’ period for whatever reason. In the end, we decided to leave London we loved very much (Portobello Road, Notting Hill to be precise) for Avebury, Wiltshire in order to lead a quiet and peaceful life…however we experienced the most terrifying and scary events instead. Eventually, we lost everything and were forced to leave the UK…

Anyway about the guitar, when the guitar was stolen, I kept the original tremolo arm in a different place because I didn’t use much so that the burglars couldn’t find it. And this 1964 Fender Jazzmaster Candy Apple Red is now available for $27995.00! (with this money we could survive few years, at least a year!) in Sydney, Australia - the shop says everything is original except tremolo arm…however there’s more, the neck pickup is not actually original - the cover is original though. But only person who knows about this secret (apart from me and Anthea) is Brinsley from Brinsley Schwarz/The Rumour because he repaired the guitar and we talked about the pickup…but I don’t think he remembers that!

Now, I’m quite sure that this is my Jazzmaster but I can’t really prove it. Of course, I reported the burglary (not only this guitar but many other items) to the police in Marlborough, Wiltshire back then but I was only told that if nothing is insured then nothing they can do. I have some photos of the guitar but not with details or serial number as such…the event took place 30 years ago. And yesterday, I got a phone call from my local guitar shop saying my electric guitar (1960s Harmony/Holiday H19) has just been repaired and ready to be picked up after several weeks…so I keep thinking…what’s the meaning of all this? in this precise moment!…Om Ah Hung!!

Love & Peace

Clockwork Flowers

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