On the morning of July 4, 1999, a Ryder truck holding Sonic Youth's massive collection of one-of-a-kind modified touring gear (amps, drums, pedals, guitars) was stolen in Orange County, California. The truck was found several days later in L.A., its door hanging open, completely empty. All was lost.

But over the years, some fans have remained on the lookout, tipping the band off whenever a guitar for sale raises an eyebrow. This month, the sixth and seventh guitars to be recovered from the robbery both mysteriously reappeared within one week of each other. "It's kind of wild," Lee Ranaldo said. "After all this time, things are still surfacing thanks to the diligence of fans."

One white Jazzmaster, used by Thurston Moore on songs including "Bull in the Heather" and "Dirty Boots" and in the "Diamond Sea" video, came from a fan in Belgium who noticed it on eBay. "He wrote saying, 'Check out this auction. The color's different, but it definitely looks like your guitar. The serial number matches,'" Ranaldo says.

Thurston's recovered guitar, pre-robbery:

The second was Lee's burgundy Jazzmaster from "French Tickler" on A Thousand Leaves, put up for sale by a pawn shop and discovered in a lengthy thread at the website OffsetGuitars, a "forum of geeks for these kinds of guitars," Ranaldo said. "Three pages into this discussion, someone said, 'This looks like it's Sonic Youth-ized or one of those stolen SY guitars.'"

Lee playing the guitar, pre-robbery: