“They called the police and said, ‘This is Mark Tremonti’s guitar’”: Mark Tremonti once had one of his earliest PRS guitars stolen – but a fan bought it back for him from a Guitar Center parking lot

Mark Tremonti says he was reunited with one of his cherished PRS guitars after it was stolen thanks to the help of an eagle-eyed fan.

The Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist recently gave Revv Amps a tour of his current live rig, with PRS guitars a natural topic of conversation. But it’s the story of the last guitar he pulls off the rack that feels the most remarkable, because he’s lucky to have it still.

The six-string, finished in a striking ‘Tiger Eye’ burst, was one of the earliest single-cut guitars to ever come off the PRS production line. It's his main instrument for Open D5 tuning songs, in Alter Bridge and Creed, but for a while, he had to live without it.

“The guitar was stolen from me, back when we had a rehearsal spot in Orlando; somebody had broken in and stolen a bunch of stuff,” he says.

But the guitar gods were smiling down on him, as the thief, apparently loitering outside a Guitar Center looking for a buyer, came across someone willing to take it off their hands – because they knew exactly what guitar it was.

Tremonti remembers, “Somebody bought this from somebody in a Guitar Center parking lot, called the police, and said, ‘This is Mark Tremonti’s guitar.’ They were nice enough to call us up, and we bought it for whatever price they had paid for it.”

“I'm glad to have it back,” he adds, “because this is a guitar I use a lot.”

From Alter Bridge’s Open Your Eyes to Creed’s Weathered, Tremonti uses the alternate tuning a lot. Consequently, this truly beautiful guitar – complete with enviable tiger stripes on the back of its neck – is a valuable part of his arsenal.

The Coolest PRS Ever Built — Mark Tremonti's #1 Guitar - YouTube

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In related news, Tremonti recently made the argument for PRS guitars and Dumble amps being the perfect tonal match, and reflected on Alter Bridge becoming the first band outside of the Van Halen family to record at the legendary 5150 Studios – a place that Eddie Van Halen once nearly burned down after an amp test.