Category: Guitar Crime

Willy Nelson avoids jail. Judge doesn’t want to be “mean”

Posted 30 Mar 2011 in Artist News, Guitar Crime

Willie Nelson is not going to jail over his marijuana charge. The judge says he won’t be “mean” to the country legend. Nelson was arrested on a marijuana possession charge in Texas last November when a police officer found the substance on his tourbus. Now the Hudspeth County prosecutor is letting him off with a fine. Nelson had been found with 6oz of marijuana. Prosecutors said that when the packaging was removed it only weighed 3oz, making the offence just…

Thieves steal Strat hidden in coat pocket

Posted 24 Mar 2011 in Guitar Crime

Two thieves hid a £1,900 Strat in a secret coat pocket and walked out of a music store in Oxford, UK. They had switched it with a cheap lookalike while staff were distracted. The shop put up a £500 reward for information leading to a conviction of the people responsible for Saturday’s theft. Shop manager, Dan O’Donnell, said that “The man had what looked like a medium length jacket draped over his arm, which we now know had a huge…

Sandi Thom furious about pedal board theft

Posted 21 Mar 2011 in Artist News, Guitar Crime

Sandi Thom’s pedal board was stolen from her manager’s car earlier this week, in Liverpool UK. In an interview with the Daily Record Sandi said, “You put a pedal board together for different sounds and it’s quite unique for each person. It was my first pedal board and there’s quite a lot of sentimental value there too, which is maybe a geeky guitar thing… my name was on a lot of them, so the thief will know they are mine….

Swedish police uncover double barrelled guitar

Posted 20 Mar 2011 in Guitar Crime

Swedish police swooped after receiving a tip off that 54-year-old man was hoarding a one-man armoury of unlicensed firearms at his house. The man told police that, “They are therapy to keep off the drink”. Aside from the six more conventional weapons found in the apartment and a quantity of ammunition, police discovered that a wall-mounted guitar was not quite as it first appeared. The neck of the guitar has been hollowed out and equipped with two shotgun barrels and…

Motorist accused of smashing car with guitar

Posted 12 Mar 2011 in Guitar Crime

It is alleged that a 44 year old man released years of bottled-up frustration by smashing up his neighbour’s Nissan with a guitar. Gray is then accused of hurling racist threats at his black neighbour – telling her: ”Do you want a Jihad war?”. He denies two counts of criminal damage, causing racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress, and resisting a police constable. Bristol Magistrates Court heard how years of animosity between the man and his neighbour came to head…

Man accused of stealing and pawning his friend’s 1970 Les Paul

Posted 02 Mar 2011 in Guitar Crime

It is alleged that a man from Hopkinton, MA, broke into a friend’s house last week and stole several items, including a vintage guitar, a prosecutor said yesterday in Framingham District Court. The items were then pawned. This included a 1970 Gibson Les Paul, along with two iPods and a laptop. The accused thief had been in a band with the victim but he’d been kicked him because of his heroin addiction. The items were recovered from the pawn shop…

Guitar stolen at tribute to late guitarist

Posted 01 Mar 2011 in Guitar Crime

At a show, ironically called “Gimme That Guitar”, a thief has stolen a guitar on loan to the son of Sherbet’s late guitarist, Harvey James. The show was being held in Sydney, Australia, as a tribute to Harvey, 58, who lost his battle with lung cancer in January. The guitar was on loan from Fender and, if not returned, Harvey’s sons Gabe and Josh will have to pay for it. The serial number of the guitar is #MX10169115. Sources: http://www.undercover.fm/

Signed White Stripes Guitar Stolen

Posted 25 Feb 2011 in Guitar Crime

A guitar worth £15,000 signed by the White Stripes frontman Jack White has been stolen from a studio in east London. Paul Biver from Old Street had been storing the Fender guitar in his art studio while he built a display case for it when it was stolen. Thieves also took a television and computer from the studio in Sara Lane Court, Hoxton. The burglary happened between 2000 GMT on 23 January and 0930 the next day. The 37-year-old set…

Man Assualted and Robbed of Guitar

Posted 24 Feb 2011 in Guitar Crime

Detectives in Kilmarnock, Scotland, are appealing for information and witnesses following an assault and robbery in Kilmarnock on Monday, February 21 Around 7.30pm the 20 year old student was walking through town when he became aware of someone shouting behind him and two men following him. The two suspects then approached him from behind, threatened him before assaulting him and robbing him of his guitar. Speaking today from Kilmarnock CID Detective Constable Omar Sheikh said: “Thankfully the victim was not…

Robber clobbered by guitar

Posted 16 Feb 2011 in Guitar Crime

Police in San Fernando, Cadiz, Spain have arrested a 50 year old man who presented himself at the ticket window of a Renfe train station with his face covered with a scarf, and threatening the employee with a large knife, demanded the box containing the ticket money. The employee not only refused to hand over the money but hit the man a blow with a guitar that he had bought in to practise on during lulls in his work. He…