Rocker's guitar stolen from hotel

Thugs in Philly steal everything from cash to copper. Wednesday night, someone stole a famous guitar.

Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore reported on the band's Facebook page today that someone pinched his circa-1966 Fender Jazzmaster guitar around midnight from the Best Western hotel at 501 N. 22nd St., in the city's Spring Garden neighborhood.

"It's Thurston's iconic Sonic Youth black Jazzmaster with all the stickers on its body," according to the Facebook post. "A police report has been filed. Please email us if anyone tries to sell this relic to yur (sic) store, it would be appreciated. Please forward to other guitar stores you may know in the area."

Such pleas have helped the band track down stolen gear before, when thugs stole a rental truck full of their one-of-a-kind guitars, amps and drums from Orange County, Calif., in 1999.

Philadelphia police spokeswoman Jillian Russell said Moore was in the hotel's bar with his luggage and guitar when he noticed the guitar was missing. It is valued at $20,000, Russell said. Tipsters can call Central Detectives at (215) 686-3093.

Moore was in town to play with Howlin' Rain's John Moloney at Space 1026 on Arch Street near 10th. The mop-haired, bespectacled 54-year-old is a founding member of Sonic Youth, an alternative/experimental band that formed in 1981 in New York. He ranked 34th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list in 2004.