Students and staff at Carle Place High School rejoiced Tuesday over the return of their instruments following two separate burglaries this month.

Richard Stein was reunited with his beloved guitar after police say it was stolen nearly three weeks ago from the high school.

Stein says the guitar has a tremendous amount of emotion attached to it. He bought it as an homage to his older brother just a few months before he died.

"He had turned me on to a lot of great music when we were little," says Stein. "Hendrix being the primary musician I can think of, and this guitar is the same type of instrument Hendrix played very early in his career."

The Fender Stratocaster guitar was one of 12 instruments totaling more than $12,000 stolen from Carle Place High School. Two of them belonged to Stein, and police say five were owned by students. The others were school property.

As News 12 reported, police caught the two alleged thieves who were on the roof of the Rushmore Elementary School.

"They heard the footsteps on the roof. They waited for them to jump off the roof. When they did, they placed them under arrest," says Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder.

Police say Gem Hattat and Jarrett Boyarsky, both 27, were in the process of selling the instruments. Investigators say the men also broke into Island Power Sports in Massapequa but didn't leave with anything.

Police say they have recovered 10 of the 12 instruments. They say they are in the process of retrieving one of the last two from California.