Musician offers reward after rare Les Paul guitar was stolen

The distinctive and rare Les Paul Custom guitar stolen from near the Kohukohu pub last week.

A Kerikeri musician has offered a reward for the return of his rare and much loved electric guitar that was stolen from Kohukohu last week.

Ray Lucas bought the rare 1980 black Les Paul Custom off Kiwi music legend Gray Bartlett and has loved playing it ever since - but on Saturday, September 24 it was stolen from his vehicle while watching a country music festival in Kohukohu.

Mr Lucas said the guitar is probably the only one of its type in Northland and one of only a handful in New Zealand and whoever stole it would have a difficult job selling it as it was so well known among Northland and New Zealand's musical circles.

He said to replace it would cost at least $4000 to $6000 - which he could not afford - so was offering a reward to get it back "no questions asked".

''I've been going to the Kohukohu pub's country music festival for the last five years so last weekend I went along and took my guitar in case there was an open mic session, just to have a bit of a play if there was the opportunity," Mr Lucas said.

"I parked outside the general story as there were no places near the pub, but after a while one came up so I went back to move my car to the pub and the back window had been smashed and the guitar in its case and a few other things were gone."

The guitar has two pick ups and distinctive gold plating on the hardware and pick ups, with the paint worn off on the back of neck.

"It's fairly distinctive and has a black leather strap with gold trim. The black vinyl has also been taken off the back of the case," he said.

"It's just gutting really and the silly part is that because it's probably the only one in Northland and one of only a few in the country, they won't be able to sell it easily. It's also been shared on a musician sites and Facebook so the word is out there.

The back of the guitar's neck where the paint has been worn off from use.

"I've had it and played it for 36 years. It's a great guitar to play, and while I've got others, this one is special. I find it difficult to imagine anyone knowing this guitar being stolen would want to make music with the person who stole it as this action would be deplorable to any other guitar player."

He said anybody who found the guitar could hand it in to Kohukohu police station, Kohukohu pub of the town's general store, no questions asked.
Or they could contact Mr Lucas on raylucasnz@gmail.com.