old band lost my guitar. advice?

[MatticusMania]

I HAVE THE GUITAR!

[Rockin Mike]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

It will be considered a civil matter and the police won't even touch it.

Theft is not a civil matter.
The police will make a report and then not even touch it.

If it's sold used at a guitar center or pawn shop (in the USA, don't know about elsewhere) they must check with the police to see if the serial number is reported stolen.

Good reason for us all to write down serial numbers and keep them in a safe place.

Better yet take video of all your gear and keep that at a friend's house.

[worxforme]

$400? write it off in your mind as a college credit:

Who to Trust-101

[kjpollo]

The local PD is still a good option.

Is anybody else in this thread a lawyer? I am! I can tell you that if you file a complaint with the police, they should investigate it- its their job! This is a larceny!
And the fact that the OP had keys like several other members is NOT an iron-clad defense for the other members.
The good thing about this matter is that he knows the names of the people with access to the rehearsal space and he can give all the names to the PD so the PD can interview all of them. He can also tell the PD which members were drug users, though he better have GOOD evidence on that- like actually seeing them snorting, injecting, whatever, OR being able to state under oath that other members TOLD him they were using whatever they were using OR finding physical evidence they left behind.
His own suspicions arent "evidence" when taken separately.

Small Claims is a possibility. Getting the judgment isnt all that hard, the tough part is trying to collect on it. That angle might not be worth your effort depending on the cost to file a Small Claims action wherever you live and depending on the backlog of cases. If you file a case in January and it doesnt get heard until December, it might not matter to you by then. But if your locality gets to the cases quickly, thats a different matter. Since you're out a few hundred bucks, you have to make a value judgment on your own considering the cost of a small claims case AND the length of time before the case can be heard.

Good luck wiuth whatever you do!

[worxforme]

^My point exactly.

Some things are not worth the mental, emotional and actual time.

I had the same thing happen when I was in my twenties and I chalked it up to experience.

You can better invest your time and make your money back and at the same time not put yourself through the mental and emotional anguish.

[dmusic148]

You know, I want SO badly to agree with the 'find him, get your stuff and and kick his ass if you have to' crowd, but sadly Brad is 100% correct. Nothing good would come of it.

[Rockin Mike]

A nice thing about lightweight gear is that it's easy to bring everything home and leave nothing at the rehearsal space.

Also helps at gigs in that it improves setup/teardown time and reduces the chance you will leave something behind.

[gumtownbassman]

If you lent the guitar and the guy won't return it, technically it's not theft but a civil matter, if it were insured they wouldn't pay out on it unless the theft involved breaking and entry or grab & snatch.
The legal avenue is going to waste more of your own time and effort, go round to his place and either demand the guitar or something of equal value.

[MarkMgibson]

Why are we still talking about this? The police couldn't give a stuff about a $400 guitar, especially after this amount of time (most uniformed cops are just too lazy). Small claims court is a joke, so just put it down as a lesson learned and move on. $400 isn't a lot a money in the grand scheme of things. I know my particular "junky lesson" was a hell of a lot more expensive. I bet there's many forum members who've been burnt a lot worse.

[chatterbox272]

And this thread is exactly why, of all the musicians and friends I have, there are exactly 3 I would ever lend gear to. And only one of those where I wouldn't be borrowing an (approximately) equal piece of his gear.
I would say my situation with that one friend is an exception to the rule, we both live at home and approximately 500m from each other; we both spend enough time around each other and their families that we may as well count as brothers; and I know that even if we have a falling out his family will be reasonable (I've been in that situation before with him) and it will be sorted out. The others are pretty much my rule when it comes to gear. If I've known you for a long enough time, I know you're a trustworthy person who looks after their gear, and you have a very good reason for wanting to borrow my gear (for extended periods this is, a set or two when I'm there playing too I'm fairly lenient because I don't have particularly good gear) then I'll probably say yes. But with that I'm (rightly, I think) going to want to borrow an equivalent piece of your gear. For example, if my guitarist in my band wanted to borrow a bass for some of his personal home recording projects, I'd say "Okay, but can I borrow your Epi Les Paul while you have my bass". All of a sudden, there isn't anywhere near the risk because I have his gear too, so if he sells my bass then I can do the same to his guitar.

Also, I don't have to worry because I have a personal rule not to associate with drug users (only ever broke that rule once, for a close friend who was just getting into them and I managed to convince him it wasn't worth it) but if you're going to associate with drug users don't let them near anything with any value to you. Be it monetary value or sentimental.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by chatterbox272

but if you're going to associate with drug users don't let them near anything with any value to you. Be it monetary value or sentimental.

So true. I'll sell your little sister for an eighth of the sticky-icky.

[hdracer]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

sticky-icky.

sticky-icky???

Is that something new that hasn't made it to the mid-west yet??
Or is it just re packaged and re branded skunk?

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by hdracer

sticky-icky???

Is that something new that hasn't made it to the mid-west yet??
Or is it just re packaged and re branded skunk?

Skunk went out with the 90s, the Chronic 2000 album brought us the sticky-icky-icky.
I assume they add "icky"s for varying levels of potency.

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by hdracer

sticky-icky???
Or is it just re packaged and re branded skunk?

Yep.

[hdracer]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Skunk went out with the 90s, the Chronic 2000 album brought us the sticky-icky-icky.
I assume they add "icky"s for varying levels of potency.

Oh Okay...

[jive1]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

So true. I'll sell your little sister for an eighth of the sticky-icky.

Crap, I'll pimp you out for some schwag resin.

[JamesGoodall]

You guys are gonna love this.

About a week ago my old band made an announcement that the bassist (the thief) was leaving for personal reasons. The guitarist just messaged me to tell me that he was going to jail soon for stealing everyone's gear, so the list stands like this:

My guitar-$400+/-
Our friend's bass-$500+/-
Their friends amp-$600+/-
Another friend's bass-$500+/-

$2000 dollars worth of gear that he stole, and I now know it was definitely for drug money and he was on something much more than just (a lot of) marijuana and hydrocodones. Thinking back to when he said he tried meth, and going off experience with family I'm going with meth.

The bright side in this, he's going to jail, the band now accepts that he's been stealing our gear, and I'm hoping the band will agree to appear as witnesses.

So I'm assuming the police report has already been filed, but we're still going to try for small claims and hopefully have at least three of us, if not all four, filing a joint claim with the band as our witnesses.

[bolophonic]

Why would you assume that there was a police report filed for your missing instrument if you didn't call the police?

[MarkMgibson]

Why would you be appearing as witnesses? - no offence, but you are clueless about the legal system. If he's "going to jail" (which remains to be seen), it's because of other charges which have stuff all to do with you. You can't just front up at his hearing and "appear as a witness". A witness to what? Charges that have nothing to do with you (and don't be surprised if he gets probation; he probably will).

Your gear's gone, I hope you learned a lesson from it. Just forget about it and move on.

[VinKreepo]

Now... where's that facepalm pic... hmmm *click click*

FOUND IT! : D