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Oh Craigslist

I emailed a seller about an older model Squier Standard Jazz bass in walnut. I noticed the SN had been removed so I asked him what was up with that.

This was his response,

"Hi, thanks for the email - I had honestly forgotten all about that serial number thing - I play this guy (and bass in general) infrequently enough that it totally didn’t even come to mind when posting the ad.

The bass came to me exactly as it’s pictured in the ad, and my best guess would be that the previous owner did that for reasons that he himself probably couldn’t explain very coherently. I bought the bass from a curmudgeonly older guy a few years ago, the kind of guy that basically made it pulling teeth just to get him to send me his address to come pick the bass up and hand him money for it.

Once he was satisfied that I wasn’t some sort of cyborg sent by the deep state to take his guns away and perform unholy genetic experiments on children in the basement of Domino’s Pizza, we proceeded pretty normally, but he definitely did a lot of “Sovereign Citizen” type insinuating and he had that certain sort of vibe about him that screams “of COURSE I *sanitize* my jazz bass of traceable markings and identifiers, let alone serial numbers, you think I was born yesterday? I do it the same way no matter what, just like I do with a new Glock, or just like I did with my new Nissan Pathfinder.”

This is all speculation but my money is on something like that being the case above any other possibility. The previous owner was definitely that type.
"

This hilarious and bizarre email combined with the fact that the pictures of the bass looked like they were taken in an abandoned RV just made me nope out. 🙃
 
I emailed a seller about an older model Squier Standard Jazz bass in walnut. I noticed the SN had been removed so I asked him what was up with that.

This was his response,

"Hi, thanks for the email - I had honestly forgotten all about that serial number thing - I play this guy (and bass in general) infrequently enough that it totally didn’t even come to mind when posting the ad.

The bass came to me exactly as it’s pictured in the ad, and my best guess would be that the previous owner did that for reasons that he himself probably couldn’t explain very coherently. I bought the bass from a curmudgeonly older guy a few years ago, the kind of guy that basically made it pulling teeth just to get him to send me his address to come pick the bass up and hand him money for it.

Once he was satisfied that I wasn’t some sort of cyborg sent by the deep state to take his guns away and perform unholy genetic experiments on children in the basement of Domino’s Pizza, we proceeded pretty normally, but he definitely did a lot of “Sovereign Citizen” type insinuating and he had that certain sort of vibe about him that screams “of COURSE I *sanitize* my jazz bass of traceable markings and identifiers, let alone serial numbers, you think I was born yesterday? I do it the same way no matter what, just like I do with a new Glock, or just like I did with my new Nissan Pathfinder.”

This is all speculation but my money is on something like that being the case above any other possibility. The previous owner was definitely that type.
"

This hilarious and bizarre email combined with the fact that the pictures of the bass looked like they were taken in an abandoned RV just made me nope out. 🙃
But at least you were entertained, right? I’ve met a few in the vicinity of that curmudgeon type(as described) during CL transactions.
 
The serial # on those are silk screened ON TOP of the clear coat! Aggressive cleaning will remove it.

Very true. In this instance though the writing just above the SN was still intact so it looked sort of deliberate.

I honestly didn’t care about the SN much. I wanted to get a feel for the seller. I was more weirded out by the photos of the bass in a dimly lit and dilapidated RV.

Maybe those were the pics the seller had from the original owner. But the funny email combined with the photos was just too much. It was giving me 80’s horror film vibes.

I wish I would have saved some of the pics but the ad is gone now.
 
I'm torn. My goto for a removed or messed up serial number is stolen bass. Also, pretty huge well planned story to explain; I'm not the original owner of the bass, that's the way I got it. Could be a legit odd person just trying to sell a bass on CL, but you never know. I went down a rabbit hole of of one of those CL deals where the buyer is too busy pick up the item you're selling so they want to overnight you a cashier's check and send their "personal courier" to pick up the item. - Not to derail the thread, but some of you may want to know this one; They send you a check, buy it's not overnight, and it's not a cashier's check. In my case it was from a roofing and siding company in Florida. The check is for over 3 times the asking price of your item. Texting the buyer, you find that it's completely reasonable that the check is for too much money and you should cash the check, take the money for you item and when the "personal courier" shows up, give him the extra funds and the item. - No worries, I bailed. After receiving the check I shredded it and blocked the buyer's cell phone#...
Point is, it's CL and while it still has legitimate people selling items they own, there is a healthy and, as far as I can tell, growing amount of scammy BS as well...
 
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I emailed a seller about an older model Squier Standard Jazz bass in walnut. I noticed the SN had been removed so I asked him what was up with that.

This was his response,

"Hi, thanks for the email - I had honestly forgotten all about that serial number thing - I play this guy (and bass in general) infrequently enough that it totally didn’t even come to mind when posting the ad.

The bass came to me exactly as it’s pictured in the ad, and my best guess would be that the previous owner did that for reasons that he himself probably couldn’t explain very coherently. I bought the bass from a curmudgeonly older guy a few years ago, the kind of guy that basically made it pulling teeth just to get him to send me his address to come pick the bass up and hand him money for it.

Once he was satisfied that I wasn’t some sort of cyborg sent by the deep state to take his guns away and perform unholy genetic experiments on children in the basement of Domino’s Pizza, we proceeded pretty normally, but he definitely did a lot of “Sovereign Citizen” type insinuating and he had that certain sort of vibe about him that screams “of COURSE I *sanitize* my jazz bass of traceable markings and identifiers, let alone serial numbers, you think I was born yesterday? I do it the same way no matter what, just like I do with a new Glock, or just like I did with my new Nissan Pathfinder.”

This is all speculation but my money is on something like that being the case above any other possibility. The previous owner was definitely that type.
"

This hilarious and bizarre email combined with the fact that the pictures of the bass looked like they were taken in an abandoned RV just made me nope out. 🙃
You should have said you would pay him in money with the serial numbers removed…..