No Fun Club loses guitars to theft

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This article was published 23/02/2022 (1349 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rob Hill, owner of No Fun Club recording studio, woke up in the early morning of Feb. 12 to the news there had been a break-and-enter.

The suspects (it’s believed there was more than one assailant) broke through a window on the north side of the studio’s parking lot, descending into the accommodations room and through an unlocked door into the common area and studio B.

They tripped an alarm but managed to make off with nine guitars, headphones and a computer before the police arrived on the scene. Hill is grateful no one was injured in the incident, although he hasn’t had a good night’s rest since.

“Hindsight is 20-20,” Hill said. “We’ve beefed up security quite a bit since then.”

Hill estimates the guitars cost a total of $20,000 to $25,000. But it’s not about the money, he said.  

“They’re not really replaceable — they’re so rare,” Hill said.

“There’s something different with each guitar, just in terms of personality or how it plays, and then sonically. With older guitars, people kind of fetishize them, but it’s just the physics of it — the wood is so old it resonates in a way you can’t artificially reproduce without letting it dry out for half a century.”

No Fun Club does have insurance. However, the deductible is so high that repurchasing similar instruments is currently outside their means. While No Fun Club draws heavy hitters from the local music scene and beyond, it is still a modest, relatively new company.

Hill moved to Winnipeg from Calgary to pursue his career in the arts and opened No Fun Club in 2020. Fortunately, this was the first time the studio, which shares a building with Wall Street Games, has experienced a break-in or attempted break-in.

The theft was brazen. A boarded-up window is still visible, in plain view of a medium-trafficked West End route. The thieves had the night on their side, and Hill suspects they may have had other factors working for them, too. He believes the break-in may have been pre-meditated.

The Winnipeg Police Service is on the case, and the serial numbers on the stolen equipment have been logged with local pawn shops.

The batch of stolen guitars includes a National Model 1106 Val-Tron 1959 (serial T10843), a 1960s Airline Barney Kessel Pro K1700, a Silvertone H621 acoustic, a black Guild S-50 1974 (serial 99052), a Silvertone Bobkat 1964, an Epiphone Joe Bonamassa Firebird, a Kay Vanguard Red Burst 1966 and a Kay K-130 Baby Blue.

Hill’s personal instruments were the Silvertone Bobkat 1964 and the Guild S-50 1974. He picked them out second-hand — for cheap — early in his music career.

“They are curated to be inspiring and kind of quirky, but also playable,” he said. “They all have recent set-ups so you can grab them off the wall and you know they’ll be intonated properly.”

The support from the music community over the loss has been overwhelming, Hill said.

“You hear about the generosity of Winnipeg and the music scene, but it really showed,” he said, adding that studios outside the country have offered to keep an eye out for the rare guitars.

Hill believes the guitars could be anywhere by now, but he hasn’t given up hope that they will come home.

In the meantime, No Fun Club still has a menu of new and vintage guitars for clients to use.

Any tips regarding No Fun Club’s missing equipment can be directed to the Winnipeg Police Service or info@nofunclub.com