Chicago Music Store Reunites Owner With Rare $20K Guitar Seven Years After It Went Missing

By Kim Bellware in News on Feb 28, 2012 10:20PM

(L-R): Musician Jamie Lynn Paradise with her guitar. The one-of-a-kind Paul Reed Smith Private Stock 12-string guitar. Chicago Police Officer Zullo posing with the recovered guitar. (All images courtesy of Make'n Music)

When Pennsylvania-based musician Jamie Lynn Paradise lost a one-of-a-kind guitar, it was a long shot she'd ever see it again. The purple 12-string was hard to forget, which is why it immediately stood out to Teddy Gordon when he spied it roughly three weeks ago in his store, Make'n Music—seven years after it originally went missing.

Make'n Music's P. Griffin Baron said the circumstances around the guitar's disappearance were unclear, but that Paradise lost it or had it stolen from her while performing at a bar seven years ago. Baron said the guitar is not only rare, but extremely valuable.

"The guitar is a one-of-a-kind Paul Reed Smith Private Stock 12-string guitar that is the highest quality model you can get by the company," said Baron. "It's the highest type of wood, extremely ornate. When it came out, that guitar probably cost [Paradise] about $20,000."

"Since it was so unique, [Paradise] put pictures of it on forums online," said Baron. "The picture was up for some time but no leads came from it."

Then, about three weeks ago, Baron said "two guys" came in with a guitar to sell.

"Teddy saw the guitar and immediately recognized it," said Baron. "He went into the back to look up some information. And sure enough, it was the same serial number, the same guitar. And he told the guys, 'look, this guitar has been missing for some time. What's going on? What's the deal with this?'"

The sellers said the guitar had been given to them by someone who owed a debt, offering Paradise's purple guitar in lieu of money. With the the pair moving away from Chicago, they stopped into Make'n Music hoping to get some cash from the sale.

"They knew it was worth more than they were asking [us], but they just needed some money to move out of town," said Baron. "[Teddy] ended up going to the police, and the guys were cool with it. The police explained what was going on with the guitar. The police showed up and filed a report and took the guitar down to the station."

Once Make'n Music identified the guitar, they still had no way of connecting it with its one-time owner. Baron, who acts as the store's social media liaison, said Make'n Music took to Facebook for help.

"We were trying to find this woman, so we mention something about it on our Facebook page," said Baron. "And with 11,000 fans, within a day or so, we had found this woman's name. The outpouring of support was all these people was awesome. We got in touch with her and finished up the entire process with the police department."

The police returned the guitar to Make'n Music when the investigation was complete, and the store cleaned up and re-strung the instrument free of charge before sending it back to Paradise.

"When it arrived at the shop, the guitar was filthy," said Baron, "It was all dusty and covered in grime. It looked like nobody had touched it in years. It was just sitting somewhere."

Make'n Music still doesn't know how the guitar was stolen or what happened with the pair that brought it into the store. While they were initially questioned by the police, Baron said "[They] just wanted some money to move out of town. They didn't know anything about it being missing. They were really cool about it."

Paradise received her guitar on Feb. 18, and Baron said she was understandably shocked and thrilled to have her Amethyst-colored ax back.

"She also has a purple mandolin and apparently plays out of a purple 1995 Vox AC-30," said Baron. "She loves her purple."

Make'n Music is located at 1455 W. Hubbard