Gibson Launches a Search for The Iconic “Marty McFly” Guitar From ‘Back to the Future’

Back to the Future’s high school dance scene is one of the most memorable guitar scenes in the history of the film business, as Marty McFly unintentionally inspires the creation of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” by performing the song with the band on stage, eventually losing the crowd as his performance devolves into a Van Halen-style guitar solo. Artists, including John Mayer and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, have called that scene in the movie instrumental in inspiring them to pursue music. 

The scene almost never happened, as Robert Zemeckis contemplated going straight from the kiss to the scene at the clock tower, but it stayed in after testing at a preview when the audience reacted positively to it. 

“We had no idea it would be part of the film’s legacy, the Johnny B. Goode scene is the only scene in the entire movie which doesn’t really advance the character or plot. We were basically doing what they do in India, where we stopped the movie for a musical number,” Gale says. “It’s been amazing over the years to discover how important that particular scene was to people. It inspired so many people to pick up a guitar and be a rock and roller.”

Gibson says the guitar in the movie was likely a 1960 or 1961 ES-345 (Its use in the film was a historical inaccuracy, given most of the movie was supposed to take place in 1955 and the 345 didn’t hit shelves until three years later). An early ‘60s 345 on its own could already fetch $25,000 to $50,000 given how sought-after vintage Gibsons are, but its place as one of film’s most iconic guitars makes it priceless. 

Gibson and the doc team don’t have the guitar’s serial number, which would be the easiest way to identify a specific instrument. Luckily, they say, the guitar has a key identifier that makes it stand out. Usually, the ES-345 models would have a split parallelogram inlay going completely down the fretboard, but on the guitar in the movie, the 12th fret had a single sold bar marker on  it instead, a rare anomaly that would make the guitar more unmistakable. 

“That’s the smoking gun if we’re being honest,” Agnesi says. “It’s that inlay on the 12th fret that’s really going to let us know that we found it.”

Overall, the team feels confident their search will be successful, even if the search has to go well outside the country. Agnesi has a “Japan theory” for the guitar’s whereabouts, given a vintage guitar boom that hit the country in the ‘80s. He said Gibson’s international teams in Japan, China and Europe will help spread the word as well. 

As for what they’ll do if they actually do find it? That’s still to be determined, though Crotzer said, “there’s something poetic about the idea of reuniting this guitar with Michael J. Fox, whether it’s for an hour, or forever.”

“My hope would be whoever has this guitar is enough of a fan of the movies to allow that to happen. There are a lot of possible scenarios. Does the person who has it want to be found? Do they want to, say, lend us the guitar?”

Agnesi says he’d like to get the guitar in a place it can be showcased for “as many people to have a chance to see it as possible.” 

“If that means Gibson buys it for their collection and puts it in the vault, I am absolutely 100 percent ready to start talking with anybody who comes forward who might have the guitar about potentially buying it,” Agnesi says. 

Still, as Gale says, the focus remains on finding the guitar right now. 

“At this point, we just kind of want to know it’s in good hands and is being well taken care of,” he says. “Everything else you figure out after that, but let’s solve that mystery first.”