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A family’s quest to locate their stolen guitar finds a happy ending at a music store on the Northern California coast   

By Anthony Mantova 

Editor’s comment:  Below is a lightly edited letter from a mom reunited with her guitar after a long search.   Names have been changed for protection of those involved, and at their request.  Mantova staff have verified the accuracy and truth of this message, but media are welcome to contact the park officials mentioned.

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I write this as our beloved, family heirloom, vintage guitar is flying toward my son in college on the east coast. This story takes place in and around Eureka, but stretches so far beyond northern California with good will.

In August of 2011, my 20 year old son Drew, took his epic solo journey down the coast of California, stopping to see friends and discover some of the beauties of this magnificent coast. He stopped to take a hike in the Redwoods, only to return to a vandalized car. Devastated, and feeling totally violated, he quickly took stock of what was missing…everything. From his dirty laundry, to his backpack, to his iPod; all was gone. But the most devastating was his vintage guitar that I gave him for graduation from high school. This was my guitar when I purchased it as a young teen in the 70′s channeling Joni Mitchell. This guitar saw a petulant 17 year old girl playing Dylan’s “The Times they are a Changing” to her parents. This guitar was played by Drew’s older brother, passed on down to Drew where upon it became his third arm. He played it for hours on end, daily.

After the National Park Officer Heide Barker took his statement, and description of all the missing items, he was sent on his way to get the window fixed in Eureka.

Most of his things were retrieved at another trail head down the road. A week later, his iPod was discovered with other stolen items on two people. Still no sign of the guitar. Within hours of the break-in, I was able to put together a flyer-with-picture and description of the stolen guitar, which was faxed to all the pawn shops and music stores in the area. After many frantic calls to shops and local law enforcement over the next few days, we just had to sit back and wait.

A month passed and a very kind Officer Lundie of the Eureka police offered some advice. Time to let this go. They never come back. That’s what I kept hearing.

Now push forward to mid-January.

Feeling lucky one Sunday morning after I found a lost item on a fence post in my neighborhood, I tried Humboldt County Craig’s List one more time. And there it was…1970′s Guild Guitar! (Oh my oh my!) Appraised at $1,800 and asking $1,500. No picture posted, but when my husband wrote he was very interested, the seller (20 year old male, from Eureka) sent him pictures that left us no doubt.

We spent the rest of the day with photos; finding ones we have of the tortoise shell pick plate below the sound hole and enlarging it. Placing these alongside of the photo the seller sent:: It’s like a fingerprint: a direct, undisputable match. Yes, lesson we learned here was to be sure to have the model and serial number on important items before you head out of the house with them.

Next we contacted the US Park Rangers Law Enforcement Division for Redwoods and State Parks and were assigned to Office Chad Mclean. He received all our gathered evidence, including the Facebook page of the seller, and started building the case. We knew he understood that time was of essence since he worked late into the night, calling us with questions. We were nervous that the seller might panic and the guitar would disappear again. The very next day, after presenting the case to the D.A., Office Mclean said he could not connect the seller with the original theft, but could seize the guitar as stolen property.

On a Wednesday in January, Office McLean and other law enforcement agents set up a sting, near Mantova’s Two Street Music in Eureka, so they could “get the guitar checked out” posing as the buyer (us!) confronting the seller. No…he didn’t know the guy that sold it to him. No..he didn’t know it was stolen. At this point, the seller left without the stolen property. When Officer Mclean got back to his office, he called us and let us know all was well, and emailed us this picture.

I can’t tell you how impressed we are with the professional response the U. S. Ranger office offered us. They never offered us false hope, but clearly did what they could to reunite us with our guitar. As Anthony at Mantova’s Two Street Music told me more than once: “This never happens after such a long time. We hardly ever see stolen instruments come back.”

She’s not much to look at, but this guitar is priceless to our family and will continue moving in music circles with my son and his music career.

Instead of charging a 30% commission–which artificially inflates prices and makes it hard to sell your gear–we now charge $5 to $10 a month per item.

YOU set the prices and you make the deals. All we do is charge you a little rent.

It’s better than commission. See you soon.

Call us at 707-445-3155 if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Anthony

In a move to keep our faithful V-Pick customers happy, we’ve begun carrying the higher end picks that the Tennessee Pick-maker has to offer.  So far reactions range from OMG! to Epic!….

I mean……c’mon now:

We have two of the infamous Psycho Picks in captivity at our Eureka store!

Big thanks to the Summer 2011 NAMM show for naming Mantova’s one of the Top 100 music stores in America!  You can read more here.

Mantova’s Two Street Music is proud to become a Select Showroom Dealer for Yamaha Guitars!

The winner will receive a $150 gift certificate to Mantova’s Two Street Music.  

 Rules:

The contest will begin March  1st, 2011, and the submission time line will end March 31st, 2011.

Voting will begin March 1st, 2011 and will continue through March, with the winner determined on: Monday–April 4th, 2011 

 In order to submit a photo, simply email photo entries to: anthony@mtsmusic.com.  Please put “Photo Contest” as the subject.

Here is a summary of the rules:

1. The photo must be YOURS…

2. The photo must be music related.

3. All photo entries must be in digital format.

4. Only one entry per participant.

5. Entrants must be Facebook fans of the Mantova’s Two Street Music.

6. Photos must be appropriate for posting on our website and should be commonly suitable in a family setting.

7.  The photo with the most “likes” on the Mantova’s facebook page will be the winner.

8. We must receive a minimum of 20 entries to award a winner.

9. BE CREATIVE AND HAVE FUN!!!

Here is the full list of rules and guidelines (stuff lawyers make us do):

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

No purchase or payment necessary to enter or win

Photo Eligibility

Mantova’s employees and their immediate family members are not eligible. Immediate family includes only spouses, parents and children. The photo subject must be relevant to Music. We must receive a minimum of 20 entries in order to award a winner.

Photo Formats

Entries should be digital images.

Photographer/Copyright

You must be the sole owner of the copyright of any image submitted. Your submission of the photo and entry form is your guarantee that you are the author and copyright holder of the photo.

Number of Entries

An individual may submit only one photo.

Photo Subject Restrictions

Photos must be appropriate for posting on our website and should be commonly acceptable in a family environment. Obscene, provocative or otherwise questionable content will not be considered. Mantova’s Two Street Music retains sole discretion as to what constitutes inappropriate content.

Ownership/Use Rights

Photographers retain the copyright to their photographs. By entering the contest, photographers agree to have their submitted photograph displayed on the website of Mantova’s Two Street Music and or the Facebook Mantova’s Two Street Music administers  without any fee or other form of compensation, and agree that Mantova’s Two Street Music may display winning photos in a “past winners” photo gallery and in future marketing materials, emails, websites, etc, and may make and retain copies of the photograph for archival purposes. Photos will be credited to the photographer named in the entry form. Entries (including non-winning entries) may be selected for display or use in other Mantova’s web pages, marketing materials, emails, social media accounts, etc.

How to Enter

Send your photos via email to anthony@mtsmusic.com . Include your name and a description of the photo. Entrants must be Facebook fans of the Mantova’s Two Street Music.

Voting

Entries will be voted on by the Facebook fans of Mantova’s Two Street Music by “liking” the photo.  In order to “like” a photo on the Mantova’s Two Street Music Facebook page, you must first “like” Mantova’s Two Street Music.

Additional Terms and Conditions (legal stuff our lawyers make us add)

By participating in the contest, you agree to release and hold harmless Mantova’s Two Street Music and its employees, affiliates, and advertising and promotional agencies from any and all damages, injuries, claims, causes of actions, or losses of any kind resulting from your participation in this contest, including infringement of intellectual property rights. Mantova’s Two Street Music and its employees, affiliates, and advertising and promotional agencies assume no responsibility or liability for any damages, injuries, claims, causes of actions, or losses of any kind arising in whole or in part from this contest.

Just bring your guitar in between 6 PM to 9 PM and get a free pack of SIT strings put on your guitar! We will also inspect your guitar and give you feedback on how its doing.

Some Restrictions may apply since this is our first time doing th…is event, First come–first serve, while supplies last.