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February 2016
Posts: 1802
Location: When?? | I'm not sure if anyone has ever put info on here about this service site before. If so, here's a refresher. If not, then here it is to check out: The Stolen Guitar Registry. http://www.stolenguitarregistry.com Simply click on "search" and you can check by location, brand, or just view the entire list; and you don't have to sign up for anything unless you want to check specific serial numbers. I would think this project has served its purpose many times and should be praised by guitar loyalists everywhere... but beware... if you browse through the listings be prepared to leave the site feeling saddened and disgusted.
Edited by Love O Fair 2016-09-07 10:53 AM
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Posts: 1713
Location: Frozen Tundra of Minnesota | That is a really neat idea, if people actually check it out before buying!
There must be a Special place in Hell for people who steal guitars! |
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January 2009
Posts: 1249
Location: Texas | For the most part, instrument theft is only done for resale by the thief. A common revenue source is pawn shops. Although it will never happen, pawn shops need to be mandated, throughout the US, to list pawned items, along with the serial #, in a national registry that is public. I am not sure why this outcry hasn't been made. Right now, it is up to the victim or LE to visit the pawn shop and go through the tickets or inquire. It certainly would curtail one common revenue source for thieves. |
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February 2016
Posts: 1802
Location: When?? | Hopefully no one around here will ever need to list a guitar on the registry, but I think it's a good resource to have available for those who may someday benefit from it. Could also come in handy for some of those too-good-to-be-true Craigslist ads.
They tried to do the pawn shop registry thing in Santa Clara County (CA) back in the 80s. I was studying AJ there at the time and remember that the collective shop owners sued the county and won on grounds that they were being unfairly and unconstitutionally forced without cause into the position of acting as law enforcement (or some such thing), and their suit also challenged that local newspapers would be required to list serial numbers in certain classified ads... so that put a [political] end to that. I think the same essential result has also happened elsewhere. Lawyers.
IMO, what the world needs is a whole lot less thieves and a whole lot less people who are willing to buy something when they know it's stolen. What you (Jay) said about the ratio of theft for profit is true, but once something reaches the end user it usually stays with them at length and drops far off the radar from ever being detected or recovered. So even though it may take some time for the thieves to eventually get there, Nancy's suggestion of a special corner in hell sounds pretty good to me. |
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Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Not sure about the law exactly, but pawn shops do hold gear for a "waiting" period in order to provide an opportunity for law enforcement to run background checks. I bought a guitar and an amp on two different occasions and had to wait like a week or two before I could take delivery because they were still within this hold period. Uncertain how such requirements would be uniformly enforced, however. |
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January 2009
Posts: 1249
Location: Texas | Yes, I but the smart crooks will pawn their stuff in another "market" so that the local le or victims cannot locate it. I live in Amarillo, so Dallas and okc are safe distances to pawn w/o discovery, regardless of the holding safeguards. It's an age-old problem that, in my opinion, the pawn shops do not want to address... For the obvious reason |
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December 2008
Posts: 1453
Location: Texas | I believe the "hold" laws vary from state to state. I once bought a guitar from a guitar shop in Oregon that told me that, by law, they had to "hold it for police clearance" for 30 days before releasing it. Last time I checked, Texas had no such law, but it might vary from county to county. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | In Texas you are allowed to shoot the person who steals your horse, guitar, car, whatever. What's the problem? |
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Posts: 1249
Location: Texas | Can I have an Amen! |
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February 2016
Posts: 1802
Location: When?? | Heck yes.. Amen! Not everyone in California is touch-feely. Some of us still have good ol' fashioned anger and buckshot. I dunno, maybe it's a Texas envy thing since I recently traded in a car and the only thing I saved from it was my "Gig 'em Aggies" license plate frame (uh-oh.. did I just say that to someone from Austin?) |
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Location: Frozen Tundra of Minnesota | jay - 2016-09-10 10:51 PM
Can I have an Amen!
AMEN!  |
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September 2005
Posts: 3618
Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | I had an experience in California a long time ago, where a Steinberger bass of mine was stolen. The police found out it was pawned and told me where it was located.(LA) When I showed up at the pawn shop to claim MY stolen instrument, they tried to tell me I'd have to pay for it. It took me a lot of complaining and threats to bring them up on charges for possessing stolen goods, but I DID finally win the battle. |
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October 2005
Posts: 4044
Location: Utah | A friend here locally had her expensive custom electric violin stolen, along with a Fender tube amp, mics, and a few other things. Her boyfriend located the violin in a pawn shop and they called the police. The pawn shop had a photocopy of the drivers license of the seller, who turns out to have lived across the street from the victim. But the crooks had moved and the police tossed their hands in the air and gave up. This was a grand theft situation and the cops did nothing. The pawn shop had even complied with the law to list all items including serial numbers and give it to the police. The police apparently never look at that list for stolen property.
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| Did she get the violin back? |
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Posts: 152
| Beal - 2016-09-10 8:22 PM
In Texas you are allowed to shoot the person who steals your horse, guitar, car, whatever. What's the problem?
That's a little bit much for me. I wouldn't shoot anyone for stealing my car or horse. |
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October 2005
Posts: 4044
Location: Utah | BCam - 2016-09-16 9:29 AM
Did she get the violin back?
Yes, she got the violin and the amp both. I think the other little things were already gone. As I recall, this was something like 6 months or more after the theft and pawning. There was the appearance that the pawn shop sat on the items for a long time before putting them out on display, as if they knew they were hot. But her boyfriend was tenacious and kept making the rounds of all the pawnshops. The violin was custom made to fit her and was very expensive, like $10k+ expensive, so it was an emotional attachment as well as a financial issue. And it was her livelihood as a professional performer. |
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