Honolulu musician Makana has lost his most precious guitar, a gift from the late slack-key legend Sonny Chillingworth, to a thief who took it from his Kaimuki home last weekend.

"It's the guitar I always play; it's the guitar on the cover of my 'Ki ho'alu: Journey of Hawaiian Slack Key' CD," Makana said. The now-weathered Takamine acoustic instrument was a gift from Chillingworth 14 years ago, when Makana was a 13-year-old protege of the ki ho'alu master.

"It's not an expensive guitar, but it has so much personal and sentimental value," Makana said. "It's beat-up from playing; but it's my best friend."

The vintage instrument, along with an electric guitar, was taken last weekend when Makana was not at home, sometime between Saturday evening and noon Sunday.

The thief also took a laptop computer, which held digital files of irreplaceable live recordings and lyrics for 60 unrecorded tunes, along with notes on a dissertation on slack-key guitar he was composing.

"Unfortunately, I didn't have backup," he said. "So I definitely lost my life's work. ... But the guitar is of the highest sentimental value. It's priceless."

Makana, formerly known as Matt Swalinkavich, studied guitar with Chillingworth as a teen, under a State Foundation on Culture and the Arts grant that recognized the young artist's potential to carry on the legacy of ki ho'alu.

"Uncle Sonny was such a master," Makana recalled. "I can't quite explain it, but he picked the greatest guitar for me. He knew it was perfect for me — and it has been crucial to my creative process. I have much more expensive guitars, but I don't feel connected to them the way I do with this one. Anyone else can play it, and they won't get the sound; it's very personal. So much of the music I've writ ten has been on this instru ment."

A police investigation has n't turn ed up any leads, so Makana de cided to go pub lic with his loss "in the hopes that someone might recognize the guitar, either at a pawnshop or at a home. I'm sure whoever has the instrument doesn't know it has so much personal value."

The instrument, brownish-pumpkin in color, has distinctive wear-and-tear marks on the front as the result of years of strumming. There are holes in the face of the guitar, too, near the sound hole, also from years of use. It has two electric jacks.

Anyone who has seen the guitar or has information on its whereabouts may call Makana at 255-3826. "No questions asked; we just want the guitar back," he said.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.