Here's one for anyone who lives or works in New York City -- or any of you who might be NYC-bound in the near future:
New York guitarist Foster McGinty, 26, lost his Fender Stratocaster on the subway on July 21, and he's offering a $1,500 reward -- three times what he says the Strat is worth -- for its return.
"My lost guitar isn't just another instrument. It was the guitar, my guitar," McGinty said. "Given to me by my father after purchasing it from a local man who never got to give it to his son for his 19th birthday because he died in a car crash on his way home from college."
McGinty and his wife were on the L train after a photo shoot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on the way back to Manhattan when the conductor announced that the subway was being rerouted.
"We got off the train, and she said, 'Where's the guitar?'" McGinty told the New York Daily News. "I turned around, and it was almost in slow motion: The doors closed, and the train disappeared."
McGinty, a professional musician who plays mostly funk and rock, said he pounded on the car doors but had to watch in horror as the train pulled away at walking speed. He and his wife took a cab to the next station at Lorimer Street and rode a different L train to every remaining stop, with no sign of the guitar.
McGinty is asking anyone who has seen his guitar to contact him at info@fostermcginty.com.
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"You don't want someone to replace your best friend," he said. "I'm willing to pay more than my rent for it."
The rest of this blog is from McGinty himself:
"Both photos were taken during a shoot a few hours before I lost the guitar. The first photo features the case I painted by hand (the guitar was lost inside this case) and the second photo is a shot the press has been using of the guitar.
"All the years I spent hovering over my instrument I never thought the day would come when it would be stripped from my hands by an unmarked train bound for streets with names I had not known. I feel the texture of the worn neck in my mind and the sounds we created out of air since I was 11. My restlessness is fueled knowing 'you're out there somewhere'."
Damian Fanelli is the online managing editor at Guitar World in New York City, home of Chip Taylor, the guy who wrote "Wild Thing." The city is also famous for other things.
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
