The manager of Discount Electronics on Manchaca Road made an unexpected and unwanted discovery Friday morning when he went into the store and found shattered glass.
General Manager Ken Greene said thieves broke in through the back door and raided the display case.
"A number of relatively unimportant items had been taken but the most important item was the guitar," Greene said.
The guitar is a blue Fender Stratocaster, signed in gold marker by Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jeff Beck.
"That was, to my knowledge, used by Jeff Beck on Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jeff Beck's North American tour in 1989," said Greene.
Each Discount Electronics store has it's own theme. The one is South Austin is dedicated to music and has a replica of Austin's Stevie Ray Vaughn statue and his guitar.
The signed guitar, that was in a case with glass that was supposed to be behind break-proof, was the first piece of memorabilia in the store.
"They also took a guitar that was signed by the members of Los Lonely Boys and the members of Vallejo, both the Vallejo brothers, as well as a couple of other local artist. And they took a guitar that was signed by a number of national country music celebrities including Wynona Judd, Gary Allan and Merle Haggard," said Greene.
Break-ins are something the Austin owned and operated company is used to. Most times the thefts are committed by bold, but not so bright, thieve and the latest criminals made some obvious mistakes.
Stealing the 65-inch plasma TV off the wall may have seemed like a good idea, but when they turn it on, they'll find the words "Discount Electronics" burned into the display. And the case they smashed to steal electronics is completely open in the back. While they got away with about $1,000 worth of goods from the store, they left behind all the power cords. And those guitars they stole are easily identifiable.
"They're all registered collectibles, they're all easily tracked. None of them are items that you will ever find a duplicate of so if you see a blue Fender Stratocaster signed by Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jeff Beck, it's the only one that exists," said Greene.
The thieves did have one advantage: the store's security cameras didn't work so there's no video of them. The company is fixing that problem. Discount Electronics is offering a cash reward of $2,500 to get the guitar back.