The incredible story of The Cribs' Ryan Jarman and his stolen guitar

Imagine your guitar gets stolen at a gig, only for it to turn up almost 20 years later in the hands of another hugely famous musician? 

Well, this is a reality for The Cribs guitarist Ryan Jarman.

The incredible story begins when the band purchased a vintage Fender Mustang ‘78 Sunburst model that they used to write to some of their earliest music when they were an up and coming group in the early 2000's. 

Speaking to Guitar World, brother Gary, who is the bass player in the band, said: "It was still cheap. It was £600 quid or whatever, in the late ’90s. It was a really nice guitar."

However, during a show at the Cockpit in Leeds in the year 2002, the guitar was sadly stolen. But, 18 years later in 2020, Jarman came across the robbed prize once more. 

"During the pandemic, I was reading an interview online and there, in the background [of the photo], was the Mustang on the wall. I was like, ‘That looks like Ryan’s Mustang," Gary said.

"The interview was with the owner of the Dirty Hit [Jamie Oborne], which was The 1975’s label. I knew The 1975’s A&R guy, so I contacted him. I was like, ‘Hey, can you put us in touch with this dude? I think that’s Ryan’s Mustang. So then we started matching photographs to it, and it looked exactly the same". 

Eventually, they then heard from The 1975 frontman himself Matty Healy, who told them that the stolen guitar was his for a bit, but that it had changed hands once more. This time, it fell into the possession of Beabadoobee, who was last pictured using it in 2021. 

Gary continued stating, "We’re still trying to get it back! That is one of the only guitars that’s ever meant anything to me." 

The Cribs are currently in a battle for the Official Albums Chart Number 1 this week with their latest record Selling A Vibe. During the midweek update, they were sat at Number 2, just behind boyband Blue.