The first photo is Mitch Easter at the console of Fidelitorium Recording and the second is a wide shot of the studio control room at his state of the art studio in Kernersville, NC.

Kernersville is in the Triad Metro which encompasses the cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Highpoint. His first studio called Drive In Studios, also in Kernersville, was infamous in the early INDY music movement. For example R.E.M. cut their first two albums there. That alone made Mitch sort of the Phil Spector of the early INDY music movement.

August 1st, someone broke into Fidelitorium and stole eight guitars, mostly classic instruments and a pair I'd say were historically significant. Two have already been recovered thanks to alert customers at pawn shops in the Triad. He is a valuable and respected member of the music community. He deserved better than this. He was having some remodeling work done at the studio so went out of town while the work was being done. For the first time in 30 years, someone broke into his studio and stole all the guitars in the building's sunroom, where they had been placed temporarily as they had been in the studio that was being remodeled. Other guitars were locked in a gear room and the thieves did not get access to them. Oh, and the thieves also stole some beer from the fridge.

Please be on the lookout for the following still missing guitars taken in this break-in:
1. Recent production Jerry Jones Longhorn Bass, aquaburst, Serial 046706 (USA).
2. 2004 Fender pink paisley Stratocaster (CIJ).
3. 2003 Fender brown-body Telecaster (MIM) with rosewood fretboard in a gig bag.
4. (GULP!) 1966 Fender Electric XII, Olympic White w/tortoise pickguard (USA). I consider this to be historically significant as this is the guitar Peter Buck played at the Mitch Easter produced R.E.M. sessions that you hear clearly on "South Central Rain," "Pretty Persuasion," and others. It is also personally significant to Mitch as it was the first guitar he ever got and he is totally devastated.
5. 1962 Kay red sunburst 6-string acoustic rebuilt by Scott Baxendale (USA). You can clearly see Mr. Baxendale's trademark setup/repair marking "BAXENDALE" through the soundhole.
6. Fender '52 RI Hot Rod Tele - Butterscotch finish. It has a TV Jones neck pickup. Serial number is XN62697 and this one belongs to artist Jonny Allbright who had a project in progress at Fidelitorium. It is pictured here:


Also taken was a natural finish 1980 G&L L-2000 MARK I bass (with the FENDER headstock shape, which to me would make it historic too) and a black 1979 Guild S-60 acoustic. These two instruments have been RECOVERED. They were spotted by alert musicians at Triad pawn shops who knew instantly exactly where they came from.

PLEASE, if you see or hear anything about these instruments send Mitch a message via his studio Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1392542086&sk=wall or send me a private message with your contact information and I'll have him call you.

In case you didn't notice, Mitch only had ONE serial number. This is a good time to remind everyone HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GEAR AND GET IT BACK IF IT IS STOLEN. I wrote a page about that some two years ago and posted it on my bass website here:
http://brotherdave.com/add_protectyourgear.htm I suggest you do that right now. The steps are easy, fast, free and will greatly improve the odds that you'll get your gear back should it ever be stolen.

I browse Craigslist and ebay daily I'll keep my eyes open Dave. I'm not too far from you just south of the border.

I know Mitch would appreciate it. Like I said, he of all people didn't deserve that. Sure he can afford to replace them, but his dad helped him get that 66 Fender 12, it was his Christmas gift from his father. He could buy another but I don't think it would be quite the same.

The sheriff's office deputy investigating thinks it was possibly teens on ATV's. The still missing guitars may be in the woods somewhere. Might take a while before anymore pop up.

Remodeling + workers = stolen gear
same thing happens on a job when the contractor leaves a trailer full of tools on site
somebody thinks they're not making enough or gets fired, they go and raid the place