Has anyone ever had their stuff stolen

[DanBass]

Wow.

Your good deed will be rewarded, of that I am sure.

His deed? I can hear the whistle of the safe falling on him from above.

Originally Posted by The Davil

I actually had a bass stolen by a TalkBass member. It was only a Squier P, so it isn't the bass being gone that bothers me, rather my loss of faith in human beings that still bugs me four years later.

The Reader's Digest condensed version:
Somebody (I'll call him J) wrote a post saying that he had gotten his girlfriend pregnant and, being the fine upstanding person that he was, had to sell his gear to fund the new baby. So now he missed playing and asked if anyone had a bass and amp that he could borrow until he got back on his feet. I thought "poor guy, I've got this Squier that I don't use much". I sent it to him, paying UPS shipping myself, and told him he could do whatever he wanted to with it, mod and setup-wise, as long as it was playable when he sent it back.

I got the UPS notification that it had been delivered. Didn't get anything from him saying thank you or that he had even gotten it. I PM'd and texted him several times, finally getting a response about a week later saying "yeah, I got it but haven't been able to play it yet".

Time went by and I'd sent him a couple of messages asking how the bass was. No reply. I googled his TB username and found his Twitter feed and noticed that it said that he was moving from New Mexico to Florida. Just for giggles, I checked out Craigslist and lo and behold, there's an ad for a Squier that looked just like mine from the exact town/area that J lived in. I sent him several messages asking if he was selling my bass.

I never got any responses from him, and still haven't. I look him up every once in a while on twitter, etc., and think about trying to contact him again about the bass, but I figure it's likely gone forever.

Like I said at the beginning, this one's not about the bass, which is easily replaced, but the lack of common decency in some folks. It still bothers me when I think about it almost four years later.

Thanks for starting this thread - it actually feels better to get this off my chest...

Cheers!

[Bassmunnky]

Yes

76 natural Jazz with white blocks...my first real bass...

Stolen in Bay Shore Long Island, Howells Road...around '82.

Even know the guys name... Cops knew who he was...couldn't find him. Had his 80lb girlfriend crawl in the window and open the house.

I'm still pissed.

[jim777]

We had almost everything stolen from our rehearsal space in June of '91. I wasn't playing bass at the time, but lost an Ibanez Jem floral, and an Ibanez Universe with the swirl pattern finish (first one Sam Ash got) which was also a present from my Dad who died of cancer in Dec. of '90. Lost a Roland Alpha Juno 2 and a Crumar orchestrator as well. They left the amps and the PA, and most of the drums behind. It absolutely killed me and still does to have lost that Universe, which was literally the last present I got from my Dad, when he knew he was dying. I've gone through tons of equipment since I learned my first chord in the early 70's, but losing that one is still a red hot sore.

[shredhead68]

Two years ago. Bought a Fender P from some church player guy on Craigslist. Took it to a guy I know for a pro setup that same evening. Stolen that very same day from the guy I was paying to set it up. I owned it less than 24 hours. Luckily for me, the guy felt so bad about it he replaced it for me. Thieves are the friggin WORST !

[Red Four]

I feel for all you guys. What a lousy feeling is must be, in every case from a single cable to pre-CBS Fenders and old Rics.

It won't prevent a theft, but anyone who's reading this thread and not doing it already should have a good home inventory that's stored off-site, to help with both recovery and insurance. I have a digital home-inventory folder that includes photos of all my instruments, including closeups of serial numbers, along with a spreadsheet with all of them listed out with serial #s, in a safe deposit box. As a previous poster mentioned, you can also store that kind of thing on any of the free cloud storage services. Every little bit helps.

And if you're not insured, it's worth it. Renter's insurance is especially cheap; I have more than $100K coverage for about $120/year.

Sometimes I even think about wrapping a long bicycle-lock cable around all of my bass cases, through the handles, as an extra measure of security, but then I think I'd be screwed if there was ever a fire! I don't have any instruments that come anywhere near the value of the most valuable ones mentioned in this thread, but I'd still hate to lose anything this way. Good luck to all of you in getting back everything that's ever been taken.

[BlueTalon]

Originally Posted by 2meterbassman

We KNEW, who stole it, but we couldn't prove it at the court, because he said, we could have sold it and want to cheat.

He left the court with a grin.

Another 2 years later, when I worked in a discotheque, a guest showed misbehaviour, touched girls in a sexual way etc. and was bounced out, by me.
It was that guy, and he started to push against me and to beat me.

And then he made the most terrible experience of his whole life, my fists.

Am I proud of it? No - but it was hard, good and fair. He lost.

Greetz

I'd be proud. Damned proud.

[BlueTalon]

Originally Posted by Troph

It definitely pays to keep the serial numbers of all your instruments written somewhere safe (e.g., in "the cloud").

Talkbass has enough members that it might actually be worthwhile to have a system for reporting lost instruments with serial numbers or unique markings...

We have a wide enough audience that we have decent odds of encountering the lost items when they turn up on the secondary market...

You just gave me an idea. TalkBass has a lot of functions for members under "My TalkBass". In the profile, there is already a place to mention what gear we currently have, what we're GASsing for, etc. That's all part of our public profile, what we're willing to share with others.

I don't think it would take much to add another section, one that's private, where we can list all our gear by make, model, s/n, color, description, etc. An important feature of something like this would be the permanent record of the times and dates of data entry for each item. That could help establish ownership timelines in cases where that is necessary.

Perhaps make it a perk of a supporting membership.

Not only would it be a convenient place to store this information, but if something does happen and equipment turns up missing, it would just be a few clicks to get the information out to our "wide enough audience" immediately.

[bootsox]

I had an Ibanez ABG stolen. They got the short end of the stick stealing that one, they're garbage

[joebar]

Originally Posted by BlueTalon

You just gave me an idea. TalkBass has a lot of functions for members under "My TalkBass". In the profile, there is already a place to mention what gear we currently have, what we're GASsing for, etc. That's all part of our public profile, what we're willing to share with others.

I don't think it would take much to add another section, one that's private, where we can list all our gear by make, model, s/n, color, description, etc. An important feature of something like this would be the permanent record of the times and dates of data entry for each item. That could help establish ownership timelines in cases where that is necessary.

Perhaps make it a perk of a supporting membership.

Not only would it be a convenient place to store this information, but if something does happen and equipment turns up missing, it would just be a few clicks to get the information out to our "wide enough audience" immediately.

+1
this is a great idea

[jlane72t]

Originally Posted by bootsox

I had an Ibanez ABG stolen. They got the short end of the stick stealing that one, they're garbage

LOL

[lyla1953]

Only about six months ago...Bought a Ashdown ABM 410 cab off ebay. UPS handled the shipment right to my door a few days later - which I tracked that day online at work. When I arrived at home that afternoon only a hour or so after the time stated on the delivery notice, it was gone. UPS left it in a spot that could not be seen from the road. That thing was heavy and big and someone must have had help to hump it around. I'm thinking they were also following the UPS truck. Ebay and UPS reimbursed the cost of the lost cab and shipping.

[JimmyM]

Stuff I've had stolen:

Some power amp with a name I can't remember
73 Fender Twin Reverb (that one HURT!!!)
Yamaha powered head
SM-57
Various tuners and pedals

Thieves are scum and I'd like to take a baseball bat to every single one of them.

[lyla1953]

Originally Posted by BlueTalon

You just gave me an idea. TalkBass has a lot of functions for members under "My TalkBass". In the profile, there is already a place to mention what gear we currently have, what we're GASsing for, etc. That's all part of our public profile, what we're willing to share with others.

I don't think it would take much to add another section, one that's private, where we can list all our gear by make, model, s/n, color, description, etc. An important feature of something like this would be the permanent record of the times and dates of data entry for each item. That could help establish ownership timelines in cases where that is necessary.

Perhaps make it a perk of a supporting membership.

Not only would it be a convenient place to store this information, but if something does happen and equipment turns up missing, it would just be a few clicks to get the information out to our "wide enough audience" immediately.

The Alembic Club has something like this..

[fusoid]

Summer 2010 I was in LA recording for a few months... came home September to find stolen, my:

'08 American Standard Jazz, in vintage LA Bass Exchange gig bag; Eden Navigator Pre and Macrotech 2402, in a custom 8 space shock-mount road case; a 68' Fender Bassman head; 1 of 2 KRK V8 powered monitors. Additionally, 4 stroke weed wacker, chain saw, portable Maytag AC unit, DeWalt 5-tool set of 18volt power tools in bag, a few boxes of small decorative items...The weed wacker and the AC unit showed up at a pawn shop, the rest just disappeared... probably traded directly to a dealer for drugs... 5 or 6 K$ worth of gear for some crystal and some pills...

Unfortunately, the theft appears to have involved a family member. This has limited my ability to pursue recourse due to collateral damage within the family. Three years on and no repentance, just denial and obfuscation. My only choice, let it chew away at my insides until I explode, or find a way to move on and get some peace... but I was pissed, that was a great Jazz bass, and a cool $200 gig bag...

[JACink]

Originally Posted by jgroh

I said it before in a previous thread, but wouldnt it be cool if there were a chip or small GPS device we could install in our bass in case something like this happens. Just like the Find My iPhone app.

There are a couple of companies that offer small GPS tracking devices, and sell some designed for instruments, unfortunately I cannot remember the brand names, I have tried to google, but with no luck.

My business laptop has a similar chip inside, that even if the computer is dismantled, the IT department can still track the hard disk (which I think is overkill, as the HD is also encrypted, but anyway...)

If I come accross the brands I will post them.

[DanBass]

Originally Posted by BlueTalon

You just gave me an idea. TalkBass has a lot of functions for members under "My TalkBass". In the profile, there is already a place to mention what gear we currently have, what we're GASsing for, etc. That's all part of our public profile, what we're willing to share with others.

I don't think it would take much to add another section, one that's private, where we can list all our gear by make, model, s/n, color, description, etc. An important feature of something like this would be the permanent record of the times and dates of data entry for each item. That could help establish ownership timelines in cases where that is necessary.

Perhaps make it a perk of a supporting membership.

Not only would it be a convenient place to store this information, but if something does happen and equipment turns up missing, it would just be a few clicks to get the information out to our "wide enough audience" immediately.

+1

[zhollywood]

Originally Posted by BlueTalon

You just gave me an idea. TalkBass has a lot of functions for members under "My TalkBass". In the profile, there is already a place to mention what gear we currently have, what we're GASsing for, etc. That's all part of our public profile, what we're willing to share with others.

I don't think it would take much to add another section, one that's private, where we can list all our gear by make, model, s/n, color, description, etc. An important feature of something like this would be the permanent record of the times and dates of data entry for each item. That could help establish ownership timelines in cases where that is necessary.

Perhaps make it a perk of a supporting membership.

Not only would it be a convenient place to store this information, but if something does happen and equipment turns up missing, it would just be a few clicks to get the information out to our "wide enough audience" immediately.

+1