Anyone ever recover stolen items? How?

nsmar4211 · #1 03-14-2009, 11:18 AM

My guitarist and singer recently had their guitars and a pedal board (plus all the assorted cables and such that were in it) stolen. As we're putting together fliers, heading to the pawn shops and music stores, and making phone calls to every musician we know for a heads up, I was wondering how successful anyone's been in retrieving stolen items? How did you find the items? What did you use to find them?

Jim Campbell · #2 03-14-2009, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nsmar4211

My guitarist and singer recently had their guitars and a pedal board (plus all the assorted cables and such that were in it) stolen. As we're putting together fliers, heading to the pawn shops and music stores, and making phone calls to every musician we know for a heads up, I was wondering how successful anyone's been in retrieving stolen items? How did you find the items? What did you use to find them?

lots of pix of you and every inch of the gear together,recorded serial numbers,writing or engraving a code in more than one hidden place.........one guy i knew put a small message on a business card and taped it inside his amp so a tech would see it if it ever got serviced.......cops dont usually investigate thefts here but from time to time they stumble on a crack house with a bunch of hot items..thats usually when you get stuff back......pix and receipts can be loaded onto a disc and kept somewhere safe..if you cant prove its yours the cops auction it off and keep the money.........unfortunately i dont believe the recovery rate is very high

rfclef · #3 03-14-2009, 01:05 PM

My dad's church had several guitars, computers, CD players, cameras, mics and more taken. They reported to the police and they (or the police?) notified all area pawn shops. They got everything back except for the microphones. ANd they were going to buy new mics anyhow.

fdeck · #4 03-14-2009, 01:37 PM

When my house in South Bend was broken into, I gave my list of serial numbers to the police. One local pawn shop sent the police their own list of serial numbers on incoming items every day. The numbers matched on my microwave, and I got it back.

nsmar4211 · #5 03-14-2009, 03:17 PM

The cop that came to take the information was pretty cool, so we're hoping he'll actually follow through. He went and talked to several neighbors to see if they heard anything, but nothing yet.
Luckily I'm a photography nut and have tons of pictures of them playing the guitars and pedal board, so no question of ownership. Matter of fact, because my camera is high res, you can actually read the serial numbers off the guitars in some of the pictures. The cop actually took copies of the pictures onto his flash drive and uploaded them into his computer.... I was kinda impressed when they told me that.

Seems pawn shops are the venue of choice.... so having pictures and serials is a good thing. On my main bass I've got an address label inside the battery compartment, but now I'm thinking I should put them somewhere else. Not many places on a bass to hide a label though. After this I'm definetly triple marking everything I own. I found out that P-touch labels are not sticking on my amps and such..... what have you guys used to label black equipment? (short of white spraypaint)

MadMan118 · #6 03-14-2009, 03:42 PM

A while ago a H.S where I used to live got a bunch of their stuff stolen. The goons tried to sell a tuba at the GC.....

Jim Campbell · #7 03-14-2009, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nsmar4211

The cop that came to take the information was pretty cool, so we're hoping he'll actually follow through. He went and talked to several neighbors to see if they heard anything, but nothing yet.
Luckily I'm a photography nut and have tons of pictures of them playing the guitars and pedal board, so no question of ownership. Matter of fact, because my camera is high res, you can actually read the serial numbers off the guitars in some of the pictures. The cop actually took copies of the pictures onto his flash drive and uploaded them into his computer.... I was kinda impressed when they told me that.

Seems pawn shops are the venue of choice.... so having pictures and serials is a good thing. On my main bass I've got an address label inside the battery compartment, but now I'm thinking I should put them somewhere else. Not many places on a bass to hide a label though. After this I'm definetly triple marking everything I own. I found out that P-touch labels are not sticking on my amps and such..... what have you guys used to label black equipment? (short of white spraypaint)

touring bands have stencils and spray the band name in big letters...for basses a thin paper under the pick guard or cavity with your info......i wonder if the dog tag engravers at the mall could do the headstock,say between the tuner gears......

MIJ-VI · #8 03-17-2009, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nsmar4211

My guitarist and singer recently had their guitars and a pedal board (plus all the assorted cables and such that were in it) stolen. As we're putting together fliers, heading to the pawn shops and music stores, and making phone calls to every musician we know for a heads up, I was wondering how successful anyone's been in retrieving stolen items? How did you find the items? What did you use to find them?

The Stolen Music Instrument Recovery Project - Musicians Helping Musicians

The Stolen Music Instrument Recovery Project

Bruce Lindfield · #9 03-17-2009, 01:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nsmar4211

My guitarist and singer recently had their guitars and a pedal board (plus all the assorted cables and such that were in it) stolen. As we're putting together fliers, heading to the pawn shops and music stores, and making phone calls to every musician we know for a heads up, I was wondering how successful anyone's been in retrieving stolen items? How did you find the items? What did you use to find them?

Buy them back from eBay!!

My name is Mudd · #10 03-17-2009, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

...one guy i knew put a small message on a business card and taped it inside his amp so a tech would see it if it ever got serviced...

+1 on this - I've worked with/on high-end bicycles for almost 20 years, and the hidden-business-card trick is a common and cheap way of ID'ing a bike of questionable ownership...