The custom-made guitar of Grammy nominee Ledward Ka'apana was stolen from a Kapahulu eatery on his 60th birthday Monday.

The missing instrument is a bird's-eye maple custom Ibanez guitar, with a spruce face where the instrument's hole is, Ka'apana said.

The two-time Grammy Award nominee and multi Na Hoku Hanohano Award winner was grabbing a snack at Likelike Drive Inn at 3 p.m. Monday after visiting the ailing Peter Moon, the veteran Island composer and entertainer who is in a nursing facility nearby.

"Peter Jr. (the musician's son) asked me to play for his dad, so we went up to see him," Ka'apana said.

The instrument was taken from Ka'apana's white Toyota Matrix parked in the Likelike lot.

"We filed a police report and talked to security at Likelike, and it would be nice to get it back," he said. "But at least we're all safe."

Still, he said, he's owned the guitar since 1978, and it is attached to many memories.

"It can be replaced, but if they (the thief or thieves) have no use for it, I would like to have it back. It really has a lot of history; it's one of my treasured ones, since I've played it so often with so many people."

The guitar can be returned to Likelike Drive Inn, no questions asked, he said.

Ka'apana is a singer-musician who has a varied and colorful musical career as a member of I Kona, Hui 'Ohana and as a soloist. Over the past three decades, he has performed with many Island notables, including Genoa Keawe, Joe Keawe, Barney Isaacs and members of the Gabby Pahinui 'ohana.

His solo albums, "Ki ho'alu: Hawaiian Slack Key" and "Grandmaster Slack Key Guitar" have been nominated for best Hawaiian music album in the Grammy Awards.