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IMPORTANT REMINDER !!!

#22
Dkerwood said:
TRUST ME, you don't want to be in a situation where you need a serial # and don't have it. Cuz then you'll find your axe in a pawn shop six years later and be unable to prove that it's yours. Nothing worse than seeing your baby sitting, OVERPRICED, in a pawn shop window and not being able to do anything about it... :(
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I don't get it! Let's say someone has stolen my bass and I see it in a pawn shop six years later, and I have the serial # writen on a piece of paper. How does that prove that it was stolen from me? On the other hand etching under the pickguard, bridge or neck sounds like a better idea.
 
#23
Labi said:
I don't get it! Let's say someone has stolen my bass and I see it in a pawn shop six years later, and I have the serial # writen on a piece of paper. How does that prove that it was stolen from me? On the other hand etching under the pickguard, bridge or neck sounds like a better idea.
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More important is the fact that the POLICE have it on file from six years ago. I had a guitar and amp stolen from my church in December. Having learned my lesson from before, I made sure to give the cops the serial number when I reported the theft. Bumming around town a couple days ago, I found it in a pawn shop. I call the cops, I tell them that the serials match, and now they're working on getting it back for me.

On my first stolen axe, I made the police report from a pay phone because my car was stolen with my gear INSIDE. Thus, I didn't report the serial numbers, and never did (I couldn't lay my hands on my records at the time). I found the numbers again about three years after the fact, but I figured if my guitar had been gone for that long, I wasn't getting it back. Three years after THAT, I found my Stratocaster in a pawnshop. Whadaya know? I recognize every dent in her, because I put them all there. It had been used by someone else, but I knew that wood. I knew that neck. Most importantly, I knew the serial numbers. So I call the police and they say "The pawn shop owner will just say that you walked in, wrote down the serial numbers, and are trying to steal his guitar." Sigh.

Anyway, that's why it's important to have them on hand. I'm going to get my SG back. My Stratocaster is lost (even though it's still sitting in that pawn shop a year later).
 
#28
Yeah, having some identifying mark hidden somewhere in the bass is one effective trick. A friend found his stolen amp in a pawnshop. When he and a cop showed up to inform the owner that he was selling stolen goods, the owner pulled that same "he came in and copied the serial numbers" trick. Then my friend remembered something and said "Open the amp - there's a baseball card of so-and-so lodged under the transformer". True enough, once the amp was opened (in front of the cop), there was that trading card of some obscure player underneath the transformer. The thing is it doesn't have to be a trading card. Any unique identifying thing can be done - a "Kilroy was here" etching, etc. which no one would do (except the rightful owner) would suffice. Of course, revealing this mark must be done in front of the cop to be on the safe side.
 
#30
I actually have an excel spreadhseet with all of my electronics, instruments (mine, daughters, wife's etc), etc with model, serial number, original cost etc....have not updated it in a while...keep one copy on the computer and another copy (on disk) in my safe deposit box. I also have a list at my insurance agent of my instruments and collectibles since I have a "named article" policy to cover these items.....

I also have a list of CDs an DVDs as well (though this could use some updating) along with pictures of our furniture, electronics, instruments etc in my safe deposit box.....will be invaluable in case of a loss!!!

thanks for the update reminder!
 
#33
tomfouts said:
so just like a list on a paper in your room somewhere? Or is it some internet thing?:confused:

:( :rollno: yes, i know im a n00b:hiding: :bawl:
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There are lots of ways. I get out my video camera periodically and walk around my studio, panning and zooming over all my gear, shooting it from different angles and talking about it, saying the serial numbers and talking about features that don't necessarily show up on the tape. Then I hide the tape in a safe place.
 

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