Steve Vai has his stolen ‘Swiss Cheese’ guitar returned after 36 years
Steve Vai has had his iconic ‘Swiss Cheese’ guitar returned to him nearly 40 years after it was stolen in 1986. The custom guitar boasted a major innovation: the now ubiquitous monkey-grip handle.
Vai nicknamed the instrument the ‘Swiss Cheese’ for the shallow holes dotted over its body. The former Frank Zappa collaborator famously used the guitar in the music video for ‘Yankee Rose’ by David Lee Roth in 1986, the same year it was stolen.
The guitar was stolen along with three other instruments from a California rehearsal room and has been missing ever since. Now, Vai has welcomed its return after it was located in Mexico. “Oddly enough, after going missing 36 and a half years ago, my custom… ‘Swiss Cheese’ guitar was finally returned to me,” Vai explained.
His Swiss Cheese guitar was returned by Iván González Acosta, who discovered the instrument “in the attic of his grandparent’s home… not too long ago”. Acosta then posted images of the guitar online, which Vai and his team spotted. They then arranged “a drop off” with Acosta to “bring this guitar home”.
Acosta was “reorganising things” in his grandparent’s home when he came across the guitar. He was recently pictured standing alongside Vai with the long-lost instrument. “It seems the people that lived in [Acosta’s] grandparents’ house before they purchased the guitar somewhere along the way and it was just stuck in the attic,” Vai wrote, explaining that the guitar is in “great shape” and still sounds “vibrant” despite 30 years of neglect.
Vai also thanked the guitar’s designer and creator, Joe Despagni, his team, and Acosta for their “solid vigilance”. He continued: “Receiving this guitar feels like an old friend has returned home after so many years to jam with me…I believe that [Acosta and I] will make a wonderful Ham and Swiss sandwich together.”
