Liz’s Notebook: Donavon Frankenreiter’s guitar stolen after Hilton Head show

A man who clearly has no idea it’s 2016 and that there are cameras — and Facebook detectives — everywhere made off with singer-songwriter Donavon Frankenreiter’s one-of-a-kind guitar Sunday night at the Rooftop Bar at Poseidon on Hilton Head Island, where Frankenreiter performed that night.

If the man thought for one second he’d gotten away with the crime of the century, he was surely in for a surprise when the next day his picture was posted all over social media with pleas from Frankenreiter’s fans to find the thief and get back the guitar.

Frankenreiter is a nationally known act whose laidback music gives off a chill vibe. After his Hilton Head show, however, he seemed to be feeling anything but peace, love and understanding for the thief.

“This guy ripped out a bit of my (soul) last night,” Frankenreiter wrote on Instagram in a profanity-laced tirade after the show. “... Let’s get this guy.”

The Rooftop Bar at Poseidon and Frankenreiter posted on Facebook videos and photos of the suspect, a white man who appears to be in his late teens or early- to mid-20s and who seems to confidently walk into the area where the equipment was stored backstage, then give the room a Scooby-Doo scan and take the guitar.

The guitar, a white left-handed Fender Stratocaster that was customized to play right-handed, is valued at $20,000, according to a report from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

The man reportedly left the bar in a silver Jaguar, which is believe to have been Uber’d.

The posts on the Rooftop Bar’s page and on Frankenreiter’s page had been shared hundreds of times as of late Monday afternoon.

“We’ll all do what we can,” one commenter on Frankenreiter’s page said. “To the thief: May bad bad karma surround you. It would the right thing to have the guitar sent anonymously to Poseidon ... THINK ABOUT THAT.”

Another said: “Legend has it that a stolen guitar will never tune for the thief. He is destined to play only sour notes.”

I spoke with John Sturm of John’s Music of Hilton Head Island about a musician’s love for his instrument.

“They’re like their babies,” he said.

Musicians, he said, can get particularly attached to the way a certain guitar feels, the way its neck feels, the way it tunes, the way it sounds in particular songs.

“It’s a violation,” he said of the theft.

Steven Carb, president of the SERG restaurant group, which operates the Rooftop Bar at Poseidon, said earlier Monday that the restaurant was determined to get Frankenreiter’s guitar back.

“We’re all over it right now. ... We’re going to get him.”

Facebook was instrumental in helping to identify the perpetrator of another incident at the Rooftop Bar in which a patron was seen on surveillance video causing damage, Carb said.

He is counting on similar social-media assistance now.

“This guy stole a priceless guitar from a national recording act,” Carb said. “It doesn’t show well for the island.”

This was Frankenreiter’s second time performing at the Rooftop Bar at Poseidon. The singer, who lives in Hawaii and made a stop on Hilton Head on his way back from East Coast performances, is known for his surfing and surfer-style of music. He has worked with Jack Johnson and G. Love.

The incident is under investigation by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Anyone with information should contact Sgt. Doug Seifert at 843-255-3414.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Liz’s Notebook: Donavon Frankenreiter’s guitar stolen after Hilton Head show."