$95,000 worth of Gibson Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom guitars – 13 in total – have been stolen, Gibson has announced.
The pallet of guitars was stolen from a Sweetwater Music truck at the Flying J Travel Center in Whiteland, Indiana on October 30. The truck was en route to Sweetwater's headquarters in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Gibson and Sweetwater have said that they believe the theft was premeditated.
“Somehow out of a truck full of guitars, this ONE pallet was singled out and stolen at a truck stop,” Phil Rich, Sweetwater's Chief Supply Chain And Merchandising Officer, said in a joint statement with Gibson. “We feel this person/s knew exactly what to look for and when.”
Announced last week, the Gibson Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom guitar is available in two versions: a run of 79 – each aged in exacting detail to match Jones' own '79 Les Paul Custom by the Gibson Custom Shop's Murphy Lab, and signed and numbered by Jones – and a run of 179 VOS replicas featuring exclusive silkscreen artwork on the rear of the headstock, designed by Jones and Joyce Su.
Four of the 13 guitars that were taken were the $9,999 models, while the other nine were the VOS editions.
“These guitars were the dream guitars of 13 Gibson and Adam Jones fans, who had been patiently waiting for them to be delivered,” said Gibson CMO Cesar Gueikian. “We have decided to publish the serial numbers of the 13 stolen guitars and are appealing to all of Gibson’s fans to keep an eye out for them and let us know if they surface.”
“Our fans should ask any third-party sellers for a serial number before purchasing to be sure they are not being sold one of the stolen guitars,” Gueikian continued.
The serial numbers of the stolen guitars are as follows:
Gibson Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom Aged and Signed
- 73529531 #42
- 73529531 #69
- 73529531 #41
- 73529531 #71
Gibson Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom VOS
- 73529111
- 73529047
- 73529114
- 73529145
- 73529072
- 73529030
- 73529091
- 73529126
- 73529024
Anyone with information on the stolen guitars is being urged to contact Detective Kenny Polley of the Whiteland Police Department at KPolley@whitelandpd.us or (317) 535-8100.
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