White Stripes star buys Edinburgh busker a guitar after 'drunk' woman smashes his in the street

Jack White from White Stripes has bought Edinburgh musician Matt Grant a new guitar after hearing about a passerby snatching the busker’s instrument from him and smashing it in the street.

Matt, 26, who regularly plays in Princes Street, was left stunned after a “drunk” woman approached him and stole his £400 guitar before hitting it against the pavement and breaking it in several places on Tuesday.

He set up a fundraiser to raise £300 pounds to go towards a replacement, but was “totally bowled over” by the support shown after his gofundme page made £4,196 by Wednesday evening.

Matt Grant with his new Fender Stratocaster bought for him by Jack White from White Stripes, and a photo of Matt's guitar after it was broken by a passerby in the street. Pictures: Matt Grant and photo of Jack White is by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

As if that wasn’t already enough to ease the pain after seeing his instrument smashed in front of his face, frontman and guitarist Jack White from White Stripes has bought the Edinburgh musician a £3,600 Fender Stratocaster guitar after reading about what had happened.

“It’s absolutely changed my life,” Matt said, still sounding amazed by the whole experience, which only lasted about 72 hours from the theft to the Fender Strat.

“When I hear it out loud said back to me I still just can’t believe it.

"The whole thing has felt like a fever dream, from the woman grabbing my guitar off me to sitting in Guitar Guitar in Edinburgh and getting a call from Jack White’s manager saying he wants to buy me whatever guitar I want.

"Thank you just doesn’t quite cut it.”

Speaking to the Edinburgh Evening News, Matt described his contact with the American rock star’s manager as an extraordinary experience.

"I was sat in Guitar Guitar testing guitars myself with a view to using some of the gofundme money to buy a new one.

"What I didn’t know was, Jack White’s manager had been calling around all the music shops in Edinburgh trying to get hold of someone to let me know that Jack wanted to buy me a guitar.

"Weirdly, during the time I was sat in the shop, that's when the manager called Guitar Guitar.

"The staff recognised me from a previous article written about when my guitar was smashed in the street and they just said, ‘Matt, there’s a phone call for you.’

"The next minute this man is saying ‘hi I am Jack White’s manager, we have seen what happened to you, and he wants to buy you a new guitar’.”

After being told there was no limit on budget, and going back and forth on deciding which one he wanted most, Matt finally decided on a Fender Stratocaster, a make he described as his “dream guitar.”

"I didn’t speak to Jack directly, but I just can’t express how much I want to thank him.

"It’s pretty amazing. I mean his song Seven Nation Army is, I would say, the first song everyone wants to learn on the guitar when they first start.

"From one of the worst things to happen to one of the best. Once again, I just want to thank everyone who has helped me in the last few days.”

Matt said the woman who allegedly stole his guitar was drunk and had been swearing and shouting in his face.

He described the incident as “the worst thing that could have happened” to a musician.

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