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Double Bass Stolen Upright Bass!

N

np77

May 30, 2008
2
0
#1
Hi My name is Nathan Peck. My double bass was stolen around 12:50 am on Friday May 30th from in front of my apartment in Jackson Heights Queens, NY. It's a 1917 Pfretzchner, sticker inside has the name Bill Merchant. It's in a dark blue Soundware bag. Can you cats keep an eye out for me?
Thanks,
Nathan Peck
cell
412-414-7774
 
#4
It's a Shame really. Those are nice basses as I have seen a few and owned one with a Morelli label as well.

First, call all the Shops including Bollbach, Arnold, Biase as well. Check all the regular music stores in NY as well as all the clubs that have live music.

If you can, tell us exactly how it happened in case there is a lesson for others to follow or learn from.

Best of luck with your recovery..
 
#8
I fell by NOVO last night cause my buddy Eric was playing and happened to run into Nathan, happy to report that all his papering of the neighborhood produced results. Somebody knew somebody who knew somebody etc. and he was able to get his bass back.

Dan Loomis was playing with the trio and was sounding really great, Nate sat in on a couple of tunes and just killed on a solo on STELLA in 7....
 
#9
Ed Fuqua said:
I fell by NOVO last night cause my buddy Eric was playing and happened to run into Nathan, happy to report that all his papering of the neighborhood produced results. Somebody knew somebody who knew somebody etc. and he was able to get his bass back.
Click to expand...
It's nice to hear of the good guys winning for once.

Dan Loomis was playing with the trio and was sounding really great, Nate sat in on a couple of tunes and just killed on a solo on STELLA in 7....
Click to expand...
I looked thru all my Real Books and never found a tune called Stella in 7.
?
 
#11
Ed Fuqua said:
I fell by NOVO last night cause my buddy Eric was playing and happened to run into Nathan, happy to report that all his papering of the neighborhood produced results. Somebody knew somebody who knew somebody etc. and he was able to get his bass back.
Click to expand...

Just curious. Do you know what the story was? Who ended up with the bass, etc.?
 
#12
I don't know where it all played out... thought it was described here but I can't find it. As I recall, it was stolen from a car in Harlem by a homeless guy, who then sold it for a song (or a fix). The buyer recognized it from Nathan's posters, bought it and returned it. I think there's more to it than that but that's the short version.
 
#13
Naw, Jamie, that was somebody else's bass.

It's a cautionary tale; I'll let Nate handle the "how it happened" part. Basically the person who picked it up had convinced themselves that it was being "thrown out" (in the minute it took Nate to carry his amp and **** into the lobby of his building), Nate was pretty shrewd in posting flyers about his MISSING bass and not his STOLEN bass, so when the cat saw the flyers he wasn't hesitant about establishing contact.
 
#15
Ed Fuqua said:
Naw, Jamie, that was somebody else's bass.

It's a cautionary tale; I'll let Nate handle the "how it happened" part. Basically the person who picked it up had convinced themselves that it was being "thrown out" (in the minute it took Nate to carry his amp and **** into the lobby of his building), Nate was pretty shrewd in posting flyers about his MISSING bass and not his STOLEN bass, so when the cat saw the flyers he wasn't hesitant about establishing contact.
Click to expand...

Oh. My bad. Sorry to confuse the issue.
 
#16
Ed Fuqua said:
Basically the person who picked it up had convinced themselves that it was being "thrown out" (in the minute it took Nate to carry his amp and **** into the lobby of his building), Nate was pretty shrewd in posting flyers about his MISSING bass and not his STOLEN bass, so when the cat saw the flyers he wasn't hesitant about establishing contact.
Click to expand...

Amazing! The guy who took it is the guy who returned it? Seems then that either he really did believe it was being discarded or he developed a conscience, or both. Whew! Sure glad he got it back. That's what really counts.
 
#18
Big city has little if anything to do with it. A few years back a client of mine lost a near-mint condition pre-war Kay from the back of her camperized pickup truck, while staying at a friend's house in a small interior B.C. town. Never found a trace of where it went. And just yesterday I had a call from a guy (got my number from a friend of his for whom I've done work) saying his bass had been stolen:
http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story-41953-2-.htm#41953
Amp too, says the news story. I doubt it'd find its way to me here in Vancouver, as it was taken in Salmon Arm and it's not all that expensive a bass... more likely to live in some trailer or basement for some years, then eventually find its way to a dump if it gets broken, or maybe a fireplace, or if lucky perhaps get back into circulation through a yard sale or pawn shop.

A lot of folks assume that big cities are wicked compared to the kinder small towns. Nah. My dog got run over the first day we lived in a small interior town, by some orchardist's kid out joyriding his dad's pickup truck and aiming for dogs along the shoulder. In the 7 years I lived in that town I saw more per-capita instances of petty-to-medium type crimes than I've ever seen in my many years since, back in Vancouver. Mostly teenagers bored out of their minds, nothing much to do but cause trouble. My hunch is that crime can be more intense, as in gang-related stuff, in the big city, but then again, gang-related activities in smaller Canadian cities have been on the rise in recent years, while petty crime is falling in cities big and small... so who knows the logic of this stuff? The solution lies for the most part in strong communities with really diverse, interesting education for all kids, and of course supportive parenting. Takes a while to build, but with concerted effort at the roots, a generation or two could see dramatic reductions in all forms of crime, bass theft included.
 
#19
A very scary phenom is thieves who specialize in preying on touring bands. I know of countless stories of bands having their entire trailer worth of gear stolen, or their entire tour vehicle, hotels watched and broken into, etc. It's ridiclulous.

I guess some bands are an easy target. Thousands of dollars worth of gear all in one spot. It's really sad considering how meager a living (if that) most working musicans make, and how hard we work, scrimp, and save to afford our beloved instruments in the effort to make better music, only to have it gone in under a minute. :mad:

Keep your eyes on your stuff at all times, gentleman.
 
#20
Probably worth mentioning along the same lines... avoid buying 'priced too cheap to be true' instruments through pawn shops and online listings. If it's too good a deal, it's TOO good a deal, and likely some poor musician got ripped off to make that low price possible. While there are certainly exceptions (inherited instruments sold just to get rid of them as not being played, someone really desperate for a few bucks and has to sacrifice at far below value for a quick sale, etc.), it's better to just stay clear. A lot of obviously stolen gear goes through craigslist and pawn shops, and police are mostly helpless to keep up with it.

Years ago fellow player in a community orchestra had his prized oboe and English horn stolen in a double case from his car, having left them on the floor in front of the back seat for about 5 minutes to 'just step into a store.' Combined value about $10,000. He haunted pawn shops for weeks, finally finding them both in one of those. The English horn had been modified, with two of the holes reamed larger and one new hole drilled. Apparently the pawn shop owner was a bit of a clarinetist, and thought it was an ill-made clarinet, so he went ahead and modified it to make it work... which of course it did not. Cost of restoration of this rare old horn: $3,000. Cost to buy the horns out of pawn: $50. Cost of picking up the case and taking it with him into the shop for 5 minutes, avoiding all this mess? Priceless. Thieves are opportunists. Leave something shiny sitting there and they'll grab it and run. Make it even a little bit difficult and most will just walk down the road to the next easy target.
 

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