SHOULD you spot anyone playing a rare Hofner Verithin JS guitar, please contact Crimestoppers without delay.

The guitar is one of only two in Britain, given to Sheffield singer Paul Carrack by Beatle Ringo Starr, and it has been missing since the overnight theft of Paul's white Mercedes tour van in Brampton on October 30.

However, the show must go on despite the loss of musical instruments and stage equipment.

Paul and his re-booted band play York Barbican Centre on Thursday, promoting his latest album, It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over, and new single, Happy To See You Again - "which I will be if ever see that guitar again," he says.

"I had mixed feelings about the theft. To begin with, my main concern was 'Are we insured?'; then there was a feeling of disbelief; and then I thought about not being able to play a gig that night to 1,000 people.

"You think about the inconvenience of the theft, and then it starts to sink in about losing personal items. There were a couple of really sweet guitars, especially the one I was given in the summer by Ringo when I was touring with him in the United States in the Ringo Starr All Star Band."

Ringo had been given the first in the series of only 50 guitars. "I was drooling over it on his tour, and then some time later another one turned up, and he said 'There you are, have it!'," recalls Paul.

"So I've been using it for most of the numbers on this tour. Until the last four or five years, I'd been more known as a keyboard player but I've been playing the guitar more and more, and the Hofner suited my playing style down to the ground."

Not only guitars but also drums, keyboards and a PA system are still missing, with a value running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. While it has been difficult for Paul to find any consolation, he is grateful that the thieves left behind several items.

"The piano was too bloody big to take, and then there was a flight case with three guitars, one of which was by far the most expensive: a 1952 Fender Telecaster," he says.

Paul had to call off one show after the theft - the Cambridge Corn Exchange - and in a long career that has taken in tours of duty with Ace, Squeeze and Mike and The Mechanics, he is experiencing his most unpredictable tour to date.

"It's been a bizarre few weeks," he says. "We've been playing great but we had to cancel another show, in Basingstoke, for a bomb scare. The Army had to blow up a package that had been found in the car park and had to evacuate the whole shopping centre."

Meanwhile, the search for that guitar goes on, and It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over.

Paul Carrack, York Barbican Centre, Thursday, 7.30pm. Tickets: £17.50 on 01904 656688.

Updated: 10:18 Friday, November 28, 2003