A Langley musician, producer, and manager has recovered a stolen guitar with some serious sentimental value sa国际传媒� 15 years after it was first stolen.

Mitch Merrett lost 14 guitars when a storage locker in Surrey was burgled in 2007.

Cpl. Bob Keay of the Surrey RCMP was assigned to the case, and managed to recover three of the stolen guitars fairly soon after the theft. Another two were recovered over the years by the Ridge Meadows RCMP and Vancouver Police Department.

But Merrett said hesa国际传媒檚 always kept an eye out on Craigslist when checking out guitars.

sa国际传媒淭hey kind of pop up every once in a while,sa国际传媒� he said.

Merrett recently spotted what he was pretty sure was his stolen Telecaster.

Although it had been a decade and a half since the theft, he called Keay back, and the RCMP officer remembered the case and said he would look into it right away.

The next day, Keay called back to say they had seized the guitar from a Vancouver pawn shop. Keay turned the recovered guitar over to Merrett a day after the report.

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This was a special guitar for Merrett.

sa国际传媒淭his was a guitar that my mom and dad got me many, many years ago,sa国际传媒� Merrett said.

He had just begun to play country music, and his dad said he ought to have a Telecaster.

sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 like a little piece of you goes missing,sa国际传媒� he said of losing the guitar.

Now he and the guitar are reunited, and hesa国际传媒檚 already found out it still sounds great.

sa国际传媒淚 donsa国际传媒檛 think itsa国际传媒檚 been played since it was stolen,sa国际传媒� Merrett said.

Although he owns a number of guitars sa国际传媒� he declined to say how many, in case some other thief decides to try to clean him out again sa国际传媒� as a musician, itsa国际传媒檚 like having a toolbox full of tools.

Merrett has played, produced, and managed in country music in B.C. for years. Hesa国际传媒檚 toured in the past, but with two boys, aged 11 and 13, hesa国际传媒檚 staying off the road for now.

But Merrett is still a part of Black Mountain Whiskey Rebellion, a Southern-rock inflected band he started a few years back with a group of old friends in the music business.

sa国际传媒淚 think the next song for Black Mountain Whiskey Rebellion will have this guitar featured on it,sa国际传媒� Merrett said.

There are still several guitars from the stolen batch that have not been recovered, including a green Ernie Ball Music Man Albert Lee.

Anyone with information about the theft can call the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502, or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or www.solvecrime.ca.