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MY STOLEN STINGRAY

#62
AndyPanda said:
There may be a statute of limitations on prosecuting the thief ... but I don't think there is a statute of limitations on ownership of an item that was reported stolen. People are still getting back paintings that were stolen during WWII ... I'd pursue trying to get it back.

Disclaimer: I know nothing about the law on this ...
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Under US law, sure, but Japanese law? I have no idea.

If it were me deploying my (now very rusty) college Japanese, I’d show the picture, explain about the theft, and offer full fair market value. Paying double would cost a tiny fraction of legal fees to win in court, and the current holder might just give it away. He has no shortage of Stingrays.
 
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#63
From the current owner's viewpoint, the bass has probably changed hands 4-5 times. Somebody has a picture of a receipt from '77 and you're going to say, "My bad, here's the bass?" This is why people don't list serial numbers or obscure them in pics. And I'm not saying that the OP is scamming, but this does happen. They generally don't have a police report, so if it happens to you ask for the report.
 
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#66
MultiScaleMale said:
From the current owner's viewpoint, the bass has probably changed hands 4-5 times. Somebody has a picture of a receipt from '77 and you're going to say, "My bad, here's the bass?" This is why people don't list serial numbers or obscure them in pics. And I'm not saying that the OP is scamming, but this does happen. They generally don't have a police report, so if it happens to you ask for the report.
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I believe if you read my original post I said I had no intention of pursuing legal acton. And yes, thanks for the allusion, I filed a police report and I have the police report. To this imaginary 4th or 5th owner you conjure up who would shrug it off - if it were me, and I found out I had a stolen instrument, I wouldn't want to play it again. Me personally, I'd offer it to the original owner for what I paid for it.
Just like the guy telling me it's just a material thing, just replace it. If you're not aware, instruments are extremely personal things to working musicians. I had that bass for 12 - 13 years, playing it almost daily, gigging with it on average at the very least 3 or 4 times a month. So it becomes more than just a material object. It's a connection through the soul. And when it's taken from you, it's akin to losing a loved one. So that's why a stolen instrument would be dirty to me. And just in my mind, any right-thinking musician would feel the same way. For non-working musicians, who casually noodle on an instrument in the basement, I'm sure this is total gibberish. But believe me, it's not unreasonable to feel a deep loss for a loved instrument even thirty years later.
If I had any other intention at all, it would be to expose the thief or possibly a dealer who would handle stolen instruments.
 
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#67
Freight Train said:
I believe if you read my original post I said I had no intention of pursuing legal acton. And yes, thanks for the allusion, I filed a police report and I have the police report. To this imaginary 4th or 5th owner you conjure up who would shrug it off - if it were me, and I found out I had a stolen instrument, I wouldn't want to play it again. Me personally, I'd offer it to the original owner for what I paid for it.
Just like the guy telling me it's just a material thing, just replace it. If you're not aware, instruments are extremely personal things to working musicians. I had that bass for 12 - 13 years, playing it almost daily, gigging with it on average at the very least 3 or 4 times a month. So it becomes more than just a material object. It's a connection through the soul. And when it's taken from you, it's akin to losing a loved one. So that's why a stolen instrument would be dirty to me. And just in my mind, any right-thinking musician would feel the same way. For non-working musicians, who casually noodle on an instrument in the basement, I'm sure this is total gibberish. But believe me, it's not unreasonable to feel a deep loss for a loved instrument even thirty years later.
If I had any other intention at all, it would be to expose the thief or possibly a dealer who would handle stolen instruments.
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Good luck man, we're on different wavelengths in life. I'll see you around. No I won't.
 
#69
bcbassman said:
I hope you can find your bass and BTW as far as i know there is no statute of limitations on stolen property.
If you can prove it was and therefore still is yours - you still own it and can claim it.

Good luck.
The anvil case will prob. be long gone since they double the weight of the bass, but who knows?
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Most states have a “statute of ultimate repose” that bars anything past a certain point, which can be decades, but can be less.

But the bass is in Japan, so who knows?
 
#70
Freight Train said:
I believe if you read my original post I said I had no intention of pursuing legal acton. And yes, thanks for the allusion, I filed a police report and I have the police report. To this imaginary 4th or 5th owner you conjure up who would shrug it off - if it were me, and I found out I had a stolen instrument, I wouldn't want to play it again. Me personally, I'd offer it to the original owner for what I paid for it.
Just like the guy telling me it's just a material thing, just replace it. If you're not aware, instruments are extremely personal things to working musicians. I had that bass for 12 - 13 years, playing it almost daily, gigging with it on average at the very least 3 or 4 times a month. So it becomes more than just a material object. It's a connection through the soul. And when it's taken from you, it's akin to losing a loved one. So that's why a stolen instrument would be dirty to me. And just in my mind, any right-thinking musician would feel the same way. For non-working musicians, who casually noodle on an instrument in the basement, I'm sure this is total gibberish. But believe me, it's not unreasonable to feel a deep loss for a loved instrument even thirty years later.
If I had any other intention at all, it would be to expose the thief or possibly a dealer who would handle stolen instruments.
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Just curious, what bass did you replace it with? Did you get another Stingray?
 
#71
bcbassman said:
I hope you can find your bass and BTW as far as i know there is no statute of limitations on stolen property.
If you can prove it was and therefore still is yours - you still own it and can claim it.

Good luck.
The anvil case will prob. be long gone since they double the weight of the bass, but who knows?
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I had kicked that Anvil monstrosity to the curb long before. Unfortunately it was in the original hsc of my '68 Tele when it was stolen. Insult to injury, LOL!
 
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#72
Just curious, what bass did you replace it with? Did you get another Stingray?[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately no. I had my '68 Tele, and I also had my passive G&L L-1000 that a groupie bought for me in 1980. So it wasn't like I was left high-and-dry without an instrument for gigs. But no exaggeration, it was an exceptional bass. One of "those". I loaned it once to a friend whose custom-built Alembic was in the shop, and almost didn't get it back from him. He never liked the sound or feel of the Alembic again (yeah I know, apples and oranges, but from his own mouth) after having the Stingray for several gigs.
 
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#75
Wow, what an emotional rollercoaster that derailed halfway through but landed on the tracks! That's some dukes of hazard level shiz right there. Congrats on finding the bass! I hope that brings you at least some closure. I hope you can contact the owner to see how she's doing.
 
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#76
Rakuten is the Japanese version of Amazon. They also have a blog section. The link above is a Musicman Fans blog and he talks about a guy named Takejiisan’s collection of Basses. I have found another blog also showing his collection but have not found anything else on the owner other than his name.
 
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#77
Freight Train said:
If you don't unstained that, we absolutely are. Good luck to you.
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Music is a gift from God. Absolutely! Therefore I can see the spiritual connection to the thing that you made music with whether or not you use your gift to praise Him, the spiritual connection is there.
What an amazing find. I hope you get your bass back man. It would be great to have a good news story in these dark times.
 
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#78
Joeykun said:
Rakuten is the Japanese version of Amazon. They also have a blog section. The link above is a Musicman Fans blog and he talks about a guy named Takejiisan’s collection of Basses. I have found another blog also showing his collection but have not found anything else on the owner other than his name.
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You guys are so incredible I am blind, and doing the kind of research you guys have done would be nigh-on impossible for me. At the very least very painful. I appreciate it so much. I'm not trying to take the bass from whoever owns it now. If I get it back that would be an incredible blessing. I would of course like to know who stole it, and what steps it went through from there.
 
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#79
As I just mentioned to Joeykun, I am blind and doing the kind of research you guys have done would be extremely difficult for me. I can't even read all of the responses here. So please, if you do come across something very pertinent - a direct link somehow - message me directly.
 
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