A Langley musician, producer, and manager has recovered a stolen guitar with some serious sentimental value B次元官网网址 15 years after it was first stolen.
Mitch Merrett lost 14 guitars when a storage locker in Surrey was burgled in 2007.
Cpl. Bob Keay of the Surrey RCMP was assigned to the case, and managed to recover three of the stolen guitars fairly soon after the theft. Another two were recovered over the years by the Ridge Meadows RCMP and Vancouver Police Department.
But Merrett said heB次元官网网址檚 always kept an eye out on Craigslist when checking out guitars.
B次元官网网址淭hey kind of pop up every once in a while,B次元官网网址 he said.
Merrett recently spotted what he was pretty sure was his stolen Telecaster.
Although it had been a decade and a half since the theft, he called Keay back, and the RCMP officer remembered the case and said he would look into it right away.
The next day, Keay called back to say they had seized the guitar from a Vancouver pawn shop. Keay turned the recovered guitar over to Merrett a day after the report.
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This was a special guitar for Merrett.
B次元官网网址淭his was a guitar that my mom and dad got me many, many years ago,B次元官网网址 Merrett said.
He had just begun to play country music, and his dad said he ought to have a Telecaster.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 like a little piece of you goes missing,B次元官网网址 he said of losing the guitar.
Now he and the guitar are reunited, and heB次元官网网址檚 already found out it still sounds great.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 think itB次元官网网址檚 been played since it was stolen,B次元官网网址 Merrett said.
Although he owns a number of guitars B次元官网网址 he declined to say how many, in case some other thief decides to try to clean him out again B次元官网网址 as a musician, itB次元官网网址檚 like having a toolbox full of tools.
Merrett has played, produced, and managed in country music in B.C. for years. HeB次元官网网址檚 toured in the past, but with two boys, aged 11 and 13, heB次元官网网址檚 staying off the road for now.
But Merrett is still a part of Black Mountain Whiskey Rebellion, a Southern-rock inflected band he started a few years back with a group of old friends in the music business.
B次元官网网址淚 think the next song for Black Mountain Whiskey Rebellion will have this guitar featured on it,B次元官网网址 Merrett said.
There are still several guitars from the stolen batch that have not been recovered, including a green Ernie Ball Music Man Albert Lee.
Anyone with information about the theft can call the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502, or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or www.solvecrime.ca.
Have a story tip? Email: matthew.claxton@langleyadvancetimes.com
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