Animals As Leaders's Javier Reyes's home was robbed in 2012 while the band was on tour. The thieves made off with 10 of his guitars, his Chevy Blazer, PA equipment, and amplifiers. He'd been reunited with the Blazer and one guitar since then, and over the weekend the recovered guitar count got upped to two!
Reyes posted that he's been reunited with his Rick Toone guitar, which Toone has verified himself and made a statement on below. Toone also says the guitar is worth about $25,000, which is absolutely bonkers.
Congrats to Javier!
Excellent news!
Tony Acquaviva of Castaic, California, emailed me to report he located Viceroy 8-string guitar. As many of you are aware, the instrument was stolen from the home of Javier Reyes and Tosin Abasi June, 2012. Javier filed a report with the LAPD.
Tony identified the guitar via my signature, tracking the instrument to this website. He was kind enough to share the news of his wonderful discovery and send photos seen here.
Due to the instrument's historical significance as a matched pair with Blur and absolute rarity (only one was ever made — it was a gift to Javier from me) I would place a value on the guitar of at least $25,000. This guitar is so easily recognized it would be nearly impossible to sell without alerting authorities…likely the reason it has taken almost five years to resurface.
All of us would like to thank Tony for his kind help in returning the guitar to its rightful owner. We look forward to seeing the guitar in Javier's hands. He is a gifted musician and Viceroy was designed to help him elevate his art.
I have positively identified the guitar as authentic. It is not a forgery. Based on what I can see, the instrument appears to be in good condition.
