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tallboybass wrote:
It's going to work out OK, my insurance adjuster is very understanding.

Well if you are Ok with working it out with the insurance, that's fine too. For the record, I don't think it's a matter of being a pawn shop or whatever. Retail stores that sell used items are responsible for keeping records and making sure the items are not stolen. Selling stolen property is illegal, doesn't matter if it's a pawn shop or a mom & pop retail store or a big music store chain or even a private seller.

Like I said, there may be variations in the laws from state to state but bottom line, the police should follow up and find out how the bass ended up where it did. The path can lead back to the idiots who stole your gear. They should get busted. Otherwise they may well pull this stunt again to someone else. Their next victim may not be so lucky to find his gear again or have insurance to cover the loss.

ADSR wrote:.....the police should follow up and find out how the bass ended up where it did. The path can lead back to the idiots who stole your gear. They should get busted......

I totally agree, however the police just aren't too interested. I'm using a thin connection with the county sheriff to try to get SOMETHING done.

Quick update....County Sheriff has put a detective on it and I think something will happen. I'll let you know.

Looks like I'm getting the Kramer, Music Man and Hofner back!!!! Woo hoo!!!!!

WOW!!!

Congratulations, man, that's great news! So what happened, fill us in!

This detective with the Sheriff's office is really ON the case! He tracked them down to some "flea market" which led to the other basses.

tallboybass wrote:This detective with the Sheriff's office is really ON the case! He tracked them down to some "flea market" which led to the other basses.

Excellent! You are getting your gear back and maybe with some of that detective work the perps will be goin' down!
great news, congrats!

Awesome, awesome news. Congrats.

Regarding those other stolen basses recovered, check if there are
- A Lefty Alembic, a Lefty Pre-CBS P-Bass, a Lefty 5 Strings Sadowski... they are mine!... they were stolen from my dreams...

Seriously, congratulations, we are all super happy for you!

I love a happy ending.

Thank you all!

Still no sign of my Yamaha BB400 and Squier Strat (as well as MANY other things)...but I'm NOT complaining. It's unusual to get ANYTHING back as far as I know. Can't wait to see what condition the Hofner and MM are in!

The detective wasn't optimistic at all about finding out who did it however.

Another quick update:

Got the three basses back....not TOO bad condition-wise (they all need a little work) except the Hofner. While they had it, some genius decided to try to string it righty and took a pocket-knife or something to the NUT and carved out the D and G string slots! Broke two strings! This thing WAS setup perfectly, and now we're looking at having a new nut made, getting a new set of $40+ strings and beginning the aging process on the new flatwounds.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Alan

Were the thieves caught Alan?

No Andrew, and the detective didn't give me any hope that they would be.

It seems strange that you could recover some basses but not find a trail back to the thieves.

Yes it does.

I had 5 basses stolen from me in the mid 90's, I hit local pawn shops but never found them.

tallboybass wrote:Thank you all!

Still no sign of my Yamaha BB400 and Squier Strat (as well as MANY other things)...but I'm NOT complaining. It's unusual to get ANYTHING back as far as I know. Can't wait to see what condition the Hofner and MM are in!

The detective wasn't optimistic at all about finding out who did it however.

If they were taken from your house, do you have insurance?
If you do i would say that the Hofner isnt yours because yours was an original CT hofner

Glad to hear you got most of them back! What else did the basses get? I hate reading stories like this but love hearing about the reunions.

My folks are retired NYPD cops and they say they've both heard of stud like this happening before. According to them the criminals will almost never keep the item and they almost always steal it to sell.

I hope justice is served and you're reunited with the rest of the family.

-George

It's been about 5 years since this happened...I do miss the Yamaha but I came out just fine on the insurance. It got replaced with a Fender HotRod Precision not too long ago.

I'll be using the 20 year old Warmoth Jazz tonight. It still has the $69.95 orange price tag on the headstock, that will stay on there as long as I own it!

Thanks to everyone for all the concern!
Alan

PS - I got an alarm system installed not long after this happened.