A musician has been left devastated after a treasured guitar bought with her dad’s inheritance was stolen in a break-in.
Olive Snape, guitarist with up-and-coming Manchester band The Navettes, woke up to find the ice blue Fender American Telecaster – worth £1,800 – had been stolen on Sunday morning (August 18).
Thieves also took other musical equipment including guitar pedals, as well as her boyfriend’s guitar, an Xbox and a laptop from the house on Amersham Park Road in Langworthy, Salford.
Olive, 21, says the stolen items are worth around £3,000 to £4,000, but have much greater sentimental value.
The burglary happened just hours after Olive returned home from playing at one of The Navettes’ biggest gigs so far, at the O2 Apollo Manchester on Saturday.
Thieves are thought to have broken into the house between 12am and 7am while Olive and her partner were sleeping upstairs.
The stolen ice blue Fender American Telecaster, far left
It not known how they got inside.
The Navettes’ drummer Chris Storer has launched a crowdfunding appeal to help Olive buy new quipment.
Other Manchester-based musicians have shown their support and offered to lend Olive their guitars.
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Olive told the M.E.N: “My band played a gig at Manchester Apollo. That is a huge deal for us, we are just starting out.
“We were excited and it went really well. I came home at about 11.45pm.
“I locked my doors and went to bed. My boyfriend and I got up in the morning and went downstairs.
“My boyfriend couldn’t find his bag. I came downstairs. Then I realised everything had been taken.
“My laptop, Xbox had gone from the living room. My guitar was gone and my pedal board.
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“There was a frantic half hour while we tried to work out what had happened.
“They came in overnight while we were asleep. That is the scariest bit.
“They could have done anything, we wouldn’t have known.”
She added: “My dad died in 2011 and left me a bit of money. My whole family loves music and he was a musician.
“It was important to me to get something musical with what he gave me. I bought a beautiful guitar with it.
“It is so frustrating they have come in, and probably thought ‘great we can take all of this stuff’, without realising how much sentimental value it holds.
The Navettes
(Image: Hayley Grace Rawlings)
“It has been hard. I am a musician, it is really hard to break the scene. We work really hard.
“The past couple of days I have been overwhelmed, in a positive way. Friends have been offering us to borrow equipment.
“The first day or so I was thinking, how am I going to do this, it is so scary thinking how am I going to play gigs.
“Playing a gig should be a euphoric experience – the next gig will be sad not having my guitar there.”
A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police confirmed an officer was called to the address and an investigation is underway.
The stolen guitar
The Navettes will next be performing this evening (Tuesday) at The Whisky Jar in the Northern Quarter.
To the crowdfunding appeal, click here.
Olive is appealing to anybody who sees the following items being sold to call police:
– Fender American Elite Telecaster Thinline in Mystic Ice Blue
– Donner Digital Octave Guitar Effect Pedal
– Boss OS-2 OverDrive/Distortion
– TC Electronic 3rd Dimension Chorus
– TC Electronic Polytune
– BOSS RV-6 Reverb
– BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay
Witnesses, or anyone with information, can contact GMP on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
