old band lost my guitar. advice?

[Nev375]

All of that band are into pretty heavy drug use, yet only the drummer has a job to fund it.

Turn up and see him at work.

I like this idea.

Do it repeatedly until they stop letting you in. Then start with the phone calls. If the receptionist asks for a name, tell them you're his domestic partner.

If they stop patching you through to him or if he stops answering, ask to talk with his boss. Plead for him to get an advance on his check cause the drug dealer is starting to make threats now.



Also, don't ever join a band or associate with real drug users ever. Their addiction speaks way louder to them than their conscience.

 

[Batmensch]

I can't believe nobody's gotten their a** whooped yet. If someone had my property and I knew where they lived I'd call the cops first, if that didn't work I'd be over there with a bat, a gun, and 3 or 4 very large friends.

I do hope you're joking. That would be the stupidest thing you could do. Immensely stupid.

 

[Mystic Michael]

Ill be home this weekend, and I'm going to try talking to them one more time. My ex is their merch girl, and as far as she knows he still has it and is just being an a$$hole and isnt giving it back cause I threatened to sue. If all else fails tgough, its police report then pawn shops.

Im over it now, and got another guitar, but it still sucks, and I could definitely use the money right now, seeing as how my amp crapped out on me

You guys are right though, if I ever loan out gear again it'll be a one night thing when I'm going to be present.

Never mind. If you haven't acted by now, there's no reason to believe that you ever will. If you're not prepared to spring into action, to aggressively claim that which was stolen from you, then frankly all your advice-seeking has been in vain, and all the good advice you've received here has been for naught, and has amounted to nothing but a waste of time.

MM

 

[lowfreq33]

I do hope you're joking. That would be the stupidest thing you could do. Immensely stupid.

As opposed to just rolling over and letting someone steal from me? No, you go over there and get your stuff back. Maybe it's not the best idea anyone ever had, but it works. Thieves are generally cowards, and easily intimidated when they see someone's not playing around. Me, I'm not trusting enough to lend things like that in the first place, but I'll bet this is the last time the OP dies that either.

 

[Roy Vogt]

Should any of your gear show up at a pawn shop, CL, etc. you will have zero chance at recovery if there is no police report on file. Actually, you will have a chance, but that chance is limited to being the high bidder & buying your own stuff back.

That would be the reason to file the police report. It gives a paper trail for your gear. They will very likely do nothing to get it back but if you let them (the band) know you've done that they may be inexperienced and/or scared enough to try to get your stuff back and back to you. Sounds like a bad deal all the way around. I had a good friend who had an addiction problem a few years back and I was extremely careful not to let him near any of my gear or have access to my house while he was using. It's been 5 years and I still hold him at arms length about this stuff.

 

[Nev375]

As opposed to just rolling over and letting someone steal from me? No, you go over there and get your stuff back. Maybe it's not the best idea anyone ever had, but it works. Thieves are generally cowards, and easily intimidated when they see someone's not playing around. Me, I'm not trusting enough to lend things like that in the first place, but I'll bet this is the last time the OP dies that either.

The thing about cowards, if they are pissing people off because of thieving habits, they are probably smart enough to have a gun for protection and potentially desperate enough to use it if scared.

The thing about guns is, when triggers are pulled, lives are forever changed. And almost never for the better. If you bring one to the party, It just doubles the odds of tragedy.

So you can look at it as rolling over if you want to, but others would see it as smart enough to learn an expensive lesson not risk your life over a mistake you made yourself by allowing access to your possessions.

Pride ain't worth dying for and neither is a bass.

 

[MarkMgibson]

You're not going to go to the police (or you would have done it by now), and even if you do, they won't act because you've left it way too long (police don't care about petty theft, and they're too lazy to be bothered anyway). You won't confront them directly (or you would have done it already), and anything else is a waste of time. Just move on and (hopefully), you've learned a valuable lesson.

 

[Vincent P]

never lend anything to drug addicts and alcoholics (or look alikes).

First rule, and never forget this.

Unless you have witnesses who will attest that you lent this indavidual your equipment, or have anything in writing, you will have a tough time of it in court, and the police may not place this as a priority on their crimes to solve...

Note: in going to court you will also need to prove that you were the owner of the equimpment, so you must have documentation i.e. sales slip, or the validity of whether or not the bass was yours to begin with could be disputed.

Good luck...

 

[JamesGoodall]

Fun twist, the guy who i believe lost (stole/sold) my guitar and my friend's bass also 'lost/misplaced' the amp he was borrowing at the time (looking back on it, the only thing he had that was actually his was a sonic maximizer, alesis effects unit, decimator and monster power conditioner).

So I've talked with the owner of the amp head, who actually knows where he lives, so I can actually do something about it now, and me him and the owner of the bass are going to file a joint suit as soon as me and the bass guy get back in town from school the monday after next.

I know it seems like I haven't been doing anything, but that's because there was next to nothing that could be done. All I had was what they claimed was a robbery, and a grudge against a former bandmate. Now I have two other people who loaned gear to the same guy/left it in the same place and it just magically disappeared.

Hopefully this all gets resolved soon. I've had to starve myself this semester to buy a guitar off a friend to replace mine.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Going by your advisors a lawsuit is a big waste of time. Surely there is enough of a case for the cops to search though his pad.

 

[VinKreepo]

Fun twist, the guy who i believe lost (stole/sold) my guitar and my friend's bass also 'lost/misplaced' the amp he was borrowing at the time (looking back on it, the only thing he had that was actually his was a sonic maximizer, alesis effects unit, decimator and monster power conditioner).

So I've talked with the owner of the amp head, who actually knows where he lives, so I can actually do something about it now, and me him and the owner of the bass are going to file a joint suit as soon as me and the bass guy get back in town from school the monday after next.

I know it seems like I haven't been doing anything, but that's because there was next to nothing that could be done. All I had was what they claimed was a robbery, and a grudge against a former bandmate. Now I have two other people who loaned gear to the same guy/left it in the same place and it just magically disappeared.

Hopefully this all gets resolved soon. I've had to starve myself this semester to buy a guitar off a friend to replace mine.

Sweet baby Jesus! I've read through this entire thread and...

You just don't get it!

This is not about principle here. You seem to think that even if you don't win, the mere fact you acted upon your threat means you are an honest guy who is to be respected.

Not hardly, and here's why...

Your "threat" was pointless to begin with because rather than threatening him with an adverse action that would solve your problem (missing gear), you threatened him with a threat that is designed to scare him. Having you ever gotten a debt collection call? At first it's scary because you are clueless as to what they can do, but if you honestly cannot repay the debt at that given time, you know you don't have much lose and just ignore the matter. That is what he is doing.

However, the one thing that anyone enjoys (especially poor druggies) is freedom. So if you take away his freedom, you take away everything he knows. This is why you should have filed a report from the beginning and showed up to his door with a cop BEFORE he moved. I'm assuming he probably has drugs in the house and having a cop ask to take a look around would have scared the living daylights out of him. That's what he needs -- the fear of losing the only thing he has left... his freedom to be a slave to drugs.

As ironic as that sounds, it is the mindset of a mind clouded with the intoxicating chemicals found in any drug.

In your mind, he is a person with a brain that can rationalize the consequences of his actions and understand that Small Claims Court is hassle, but his mind says you are scared and won't do anything... and if you do, chances are that you'll do something trivial like try to make a case in SCC.

All in all, I wonder if YOU are the one who is scared of the cops...

 

[lowfreq33]

Here's what will happen when you go to small claims court...

The court will send him a summons. He won't show up. You might receive a default judgement. The court will mail him a notice of that judgement. He'll ignore it.

Guess what you can do about that? Yep, file with the court. They'll send a subpoena, he'll ignore it. Repeat. You'll pay court costs every time you do this. Eventually you'll be into the court costs for more than the value of the gear.

Small claims court only works if the person you're suing has wages that can be garnished or owns property against which a lien can be assessed. Based on your description I'm guessing this guy has neither. In other words, nothing to lose. Your best bet is still to file a police report. At the very least it may cause him extra problems when he inevitably gets picked up on a dope charge.

 

[One Drop]

There'll be three of you wasting your time without a police report, but have it your way.

You say there was nothing you could have done but you are ignoring the one useful suggestion almost everyone has made except for the gunslingers and tough guys.

 

[Downunderwonder]

There'll be three of you wasting your time without a police report, but have it your way.

You say there was nothing you could have done but you are ignoring the one useful suggestion almost everyone has made except for the gunslingers and tough guys.

That's a hell of a summing up.

 

[lowfreq33]

There'll be three of you wasting your time without a police report, but have it your way.

You say there was nothing you could have done but you are ignoring the one useful suggestion almost everyone has made except for the gunslingers and tough guys.

Actually, even the "gunslingers and tough guys" said the police report is the first thing to do.

The OP is a passive person. This won't be the last time he'll be taken advantage of.

 

[jordy_on_bass]

I sold a bass to a friend and gave it to him before he gave me payment - he pawned it before paying me. Luckily, I still got paid.

I lent a head unit to a guy in the headline act of a gig I was playing - he literally unplugged it and threw it at me.

I bought a guitar rig for my guitarists, they had it at their house for 6 months before I went and picked it up because they hadn't paid me. The foot switch is faulty and it was covered in crumbs of weed.

I don't let anybody use anything anymore. Not worth the potential financial loss.

 

[Downunderwonder]

I've lent a bit of gear and never had a bad result but I haven't always said yes.

 

[JamesGoodall]

The OP is a passive person. This won't be the last time he'll be taken advantage of.

I am a very passive person, yes. But I won't be taken advantage of again. Not in this context. The reason I haven't done anything about it is because, though I would like to get my guitar back, it just isn't a big deal to me anymore. I'm only back at my parents house for maybe a day every month. I'd much rather spend time with my family than spend the time talking to the police about what I'll openly admit to being a futile cause.

I'll have a lot of free time this winter break which is while I'm actually planning on filing a police report and filing a claim with the other two. I don't expect that to turn up my guitar, but it will in a sense close the matter to me. If anything else, I'll just chalk it up to a learning experience and move on.

On a side note, the guy who 'lost' our gear is eighteen, living at home with his dad. I know how small claims works. If I lose the matter's closed. If I win, I almost certainly won't get my money regardless, but it just closes the matter into something I can put behind me and move on from.

Edit: I could not have called the police before he moved because I didn't know my guitar was gone until after he had moved.

 

[Stumbo]

Since you and two other people are missing equipment, I suggest all of you go to the police together and file a report instead of filing a court case.

This way you'll show a pattern. This guy is most likely stealing from others as well. That way the total value of all the equipment will be much higher.

Maybe the police will set up a sting and also possibly search his house and the practice studio.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Yes, pattern makes a search warrant worthwhile, add a potential drugs find and the cops have far more interest than single missing guitar which was probably aready pawned.