Elvis’ guitar donor says he is rightful owner

FILE - This April 22, 2013 file photo shows Memphis-based guitarist Robert Johnson standing by a display of guitars that belonged to Chet Atkins and Johnny Cash that he donated to the National Music Museum in Vermillion, S.D. Johnson also donated the guitar played by Elvis Presley during his final tour. Johnson says the deal to donate the Presley guitar to the museum was legitimate. A federal judge has been asked to determine if Johnson rightfully owned the broken instrument when he donated it last year. The museum insists in a lawsuit that it is the legal owner of the guitar “The King” played during his 1977 tour. Collector Larry Moss says Johnson sold him the guitar earlier. (AP Photo/Dirk Lammers, File) FILE - This April 22, 2013 file photo shows Memphis-based guitarist Robert Johnson standing by a display of guitars that belonged to Chet Atkins and Johnny Cash that he donated to the National Music Museum in Vermillion, S.D. Johnson also donated the guitar played by Elvis Presley during his final tour. Johnson says the deal to donate the Presley guitar to the museum was legitimate. A federal judge has been asked to determine if Johnson rightfully owned the broken instrument when he donated it last year. The museum insists in a lawsuit that it is the legal owner of the guitar “The King” played during his 1977 tour. Collector Larry Moss says Johnson sold him the guitar earlier. (AP Photo/Dirk Lammers, File)

By Associated Press July 31, 2014 3 min read

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – A man who donated to a South Dakota museum a slightly damaged acoustic guitar played by Elvis Presley that is at the center of a custody battle insisted Thursday he had the right to give it away because he owned it.

The instrument’s fate is now in the hands of a federal judge in South Dakota tasked with determining whether blues guitarist Robert A. Johnson owned the guitar when he donated it to the National Music Museum last year along with a guitar made for Johnny Cash, one of Bob Dylan’s harmonicas and other objects.

The museum, located in Vermillion, South Dakota, insisted in a federal lawsuit last week that it is the legal owner of the broken Martin D-35, which “The King” played during his 1977 tour and gave to a fan in St. Petersburg, Florida after a strap and string snapped. But collector Larry Moss argues that Johnson agreed to sell the guitar to him before it was donated.

Johnson and Moss, both of whom live in Memphis, Tennessee, are each listed as defendants in the museum’s complaint.

Moss had the opportunity to buy the guitar in 2007 but did not pay for it in full, Johnson told the Associated Press Thursday.