Zakk Wylde is one lucky SOB! His custom-made, $10,000 Les Paul guitar stolen which was stolen off of his tour bus outside The Chicago Theatre in March has been recovered after being sold to a Chicago pawn shop.
The guitar, only one of two aged Pelham Blue Les Paul guitars bearing Wylde’s signature bulls-eye pattern was recovered on Friday after the owners of Royal Pawn began to suspect that the instrument was probably worth more than the $50 they paid for it on March 24; 10 days after Wylde had reported it stolen.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the pawn shop had been alerted about the reported theft right after it took place, said Randy Cohen, who along with his brother Wayne owns the Loop pawn shop that was previously the subject of the Tru TV reality show “Hardcore Pawn: Chicago.”
“I forgot about (the alert),” Cohen said. “That happens every day. To be honest, I can’t remember (expletive).”
As is required by law, the seller’s information was recorded as part of the transaction, the Cohens said, and the guitar’s serial number and description was entered into an online national database accessible by law enforcement across the country.
The guitar went unnoticed for so long mainly because of a Chicago ordinance that requires pawn shop owners to lock items in a vault for 30 days after they are brought in. But as the brothers took a closer look, they said they started to realize the guitar could be more valuable.
“I said you know what, let’s get this thing checked out,” Wayne Cohen. So, they had it taken to Chicago Music Exchange in the city’s Roscoe Village neighborhood, where staff quickly identified it as Wylde’s stolen guitar.
The Cohen brothers informed the Chicago police after experts at the Chicago Music Exchange identified the guitar as Mr. Wylde’s stolen instrument. Apart from its bull’s-eye design, it had hooks that Mr. Wylde uses instead of guitar-strap pegs. They were also able to confirm the serial number.
A Chicago police spokesman confirmed that detectives recovered the guitar on Friday, and that Area North detectives are handling the investigation.
Police were at the pawnshop Saturday afternoon to retrieve information about the seller, the Cohen brothers said.
The guitar is being held by the Chicago police, who planned to return it to Mr. Wylde when he returns to Chicago for a performance on May 20.
This isn’t the first time Wylde has had a favorite guitar go missing, only to turn up at a pawn shop.
His favorite – the infamous 1981 bullseye-painted Gibson Les Paul custom (also known as “The Grail”), was lost after it fell from the back of a truck transporting equipment as he was travelling between gigs in Texas. Rewards were offered to anyone that had information about the guitar.
Wylde and The Grail were reunited years later when a fan bought it at a Dallas pawn shop and saw the initials “Z.W.” carved into the humbucker pickups backs. He contacted Wylde’s webmaster to arrange its return it. Wylde invited the fan to a show and gave him two other Les Paul’s in exchange for his sacred “Grail.”
Note to Zakk and crew: Lock up the tour bus and make sure his shit is loaded up before pulling out!
