In a posting on his official site (via starpulse), Chris Cornell reported his collection of 15 guitars have finally been returned after a 4-year court battle with his ex-wife and former Soundgarden manager, Susan Silver. Cornell wrote,

“Speaking of guitars. I was just dusting off the 15 or so guitars that I recently had returned to me after the end of a very long lawsuit where someone had decided that maybe the tools of my trade and guitars I played on my entire catalogue should be in their possession forever.”

For Cornell, the squabble over his “tools of [the] trade” isn’t only a simple disagreement between former lovers, but it is also emblematic of the greater issue of musician’s rights. He wrote,

“It seems to me that some strangely desperate people involved in the music business forget that they are not the ones that write these songs, spill their guts and expose themselves to the public on the most personal level. We invent this s%*t and f*&king own it and no matter what, nothing will change that.”

No wonder the singer has been making keyboard-heavy hits with Timbaland and not rocking. He had no guitars, you see. Now let’s hope his ex didn’t keep his amps and distortion pedals too.