An award-winning local musician is seeking the return of his custom-made koa guitar worth more than $5,000 that was stolen over the weekend when thieves broke into his car in Nu'uanu.

Chad Takatsugi, a six-time Na Hoku Hanohano award winner for his work with Alea, parked in front of his girlfriend's house Saturday night around midnight.

The next day, Takatsugi noticed that the back window had been smashed in. Thieves caused more than $2,000 damage to his car and made off with the Morgan guitar, cables, guitar picks and other personal items.

"I refuse to believe that this is an indication of how we in Hawai'i treat each other," Takatsugi said. "It just saddens and disgusts me to no end that someone would have that kind of disrespect for another human being."

Neighbors told police the break-in occurred between 2 and 3 a.m. Sunday.

Police opened a second-degree theft case and a felony car break-in case in connection with the theft.

The guitar is easily identifiable by the matching koa face plate on the head with its black ebony tuning buttons, Takatsugi said. It has a koa body and a spruce top. The guitar is in a forest-green bag that has a patch depicting the cartoon character Underdog centered on the front of the case.

Anyone with information about the theft can contact police at 529-3115.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.