Country star JOE ELY has been reunited with his one-of-a-kind custom-made guitar 27 years after it was stolen.

The All My Love hitmaker was presented with the long-lost axe during a gig at Slim's venue in San Francisco, California, on Tuesday (12Mar13) by Matt Wright, who had bought it at a pawn shop but decided to return it to its rightful owner.

Ely was dumbfounded by Wright's generosity and was shocked the instrument looked "exactly the same" as when he'd seen it last, "right down to the broken hinge on the case".

He tells Los Angeles Times blog Pop & Hiss, "We were all exhilarated, we were dancing around and passing the guitar back and forth. It was amazing. The guy came and brought the guitar yesterday, and presented it to me onstage last night.

"After he told the whole story onstage, we figured out where the guitar had been stolen, and it was only about three blocks from Slim's."