Buddy Cage Reunited With Stolen Pedal Steel Guitar

In May of 2002, legendary pedal steel guitarist Buddy Cage of New Riders Of The Purple Sage returned to his Chrysler Voyager van, which was parked in NYC’s East Village, to find that his custom-made Hilt-brand 12-string pedal steel guitar had been stolen. Twelve years later Cage has finally got his beloved instrument back as detailed by the New York Post.

[Photo by Susan Weiand]

Cage, who’s jammed with Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin, had all but given up hope of finding the pedal steel guitar when he received a call from a fan this past Sunday altering him to an eBay listing for the instrument. Buddy enlisted the help of a friend, Bob Geis, who’s a retired detective that had helped him look for the pedal steel guitar after it was first stolen. Geis found one of the detectives at the 9th Precinct that worked on the case, who then traced the eBay listing to a Brooklyn resident named Miguel Tapia. Miguel told the detective he purchased the instrument a long time ago at a Manhattan flea market and had no idea of its importance or that it was stolen.

“I tried to play it but I couldn’t figure out how, so I just threw it in my basement and forgot I even had it,” Tapia told the New York Post. “After I found out it was stolen, I didn’t want to make money off of it. I’m happy to give it back. It was the right thing to do,” Tapia explained. Though bidding had reached $820 Tapia pulled the auction and brought the instrument to the 9th Precinct, where Cage picked up his long-lost pedal steel guitar on Tuesday. “I still can’t believe it. I can’t wait to play it…I cant wait to get it back on tour with me,” Cage told the Post. Buddy did give Tapia $150 for his troubles.

[via New York Post]