Hunt on for man shown on CCTV leaving music store in Kerikeri with distinctive 'dragon' guitar

Do you recognise this man? He was captured on CCTV leaving a Kerikeri music shop with a stolen guitar. PHOTO / SUPPLIED

A music store owner is urging Northlanders to look out for a distinctive stolen guitar.

Around noon on Monday a man brazenly walked out of the Soundlounge in Kerikeri with a Crafter DGXE Rose acoustic guitar worth $1300. The instrument is immediately recognisable because its fretboard is decorated with a dragon made of inlaid abalone, similar to paua.

The stolen guitar is easy to recognise because of the inlaid dragon in the fretboard. PHOTO / SUPPLIED

The man captured on CCTV leaving with the guitar was wearing a hoodie with a distinctive pattern and an Emirates baseball cap.

Soundlounge owner Noel Redmond urged anyone who saw the guitar, or recognised the man in the CCTV image, to call Kerikeri police on (09) 407 9211.

It was not the best guitar he stocked but it was easily the "blingiest", he said.

The theft was disappointing because he wanted his shop to be open and welcoming. He didn't want to be the kind of owner who suspected everyone or was constantly looking over their shoulders.