Mucho Stolen Instruments - Nashville, TN

[TravisE]

Mods please move this where you see fit. If you'd "sticky" it, that'd be swell.

Someone I work with had his home broken into and most of his gear swiped. Below is the list and contact info. Thanks for looking.

If you have any info on the following items please Contact Beau at 615-945-3081 and/or contact the metro Nashville police department.
The police report number is 10-770986. I AM OFFERING A CASH REWARD$$$$$

1972 Gibson Les Paul Custom S#631173 Black with gold hardware, heavy checking, replaced grover tuners.

1980 Gibson Les Paul Custom Silverburst S#83430617 Near Mint condition with only a few light scraches very rare original gold hardware,

1958 Gibson Les Paul Special S#N/A (sanded off when finish was stripped off of neck), double cutaway body cherry red finish on body, oil finish on neck, replaced input jack plate replaced grover tuners,

1965 Gibson SG Junior S#310313 polaris white finish, repro kluson tuners, light overspray.

1984 Mesa Mark II B + Coliseum 300 series head S#78233836

Ampeg V-4 guitar amp head S#112826,

These items were stolen from my house in East Nashville during the day between the hours of 9am and 6pm on saturday 9/17/10.

[studiojig]

As a fellow nashvillian let me be the first to commiserate with you (and/or your friend). Mojo sent... that's terrible. I assume you've alerted all the music stores, pawn shops, and so forth? Did he have any insurance on this stuff?

[TravisE]

His homeowner's insurance should cover a lot of it since it was stolen from his home. He's in the process of alerting all of the local pawn shops, etc.

[hammersig]

Another Nashville resident here, sorry about your friends' loss. I'll be watching craigslist and any other music stores in the area

[Bruce Bennett]

I'll keep my eyes open in Chattanooga.

I've already copied the list and emailed it to my area Music stores.

[jguitarnash]

I'll keep an eye out too. I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried to sell them to a pawnshop/Craigslist/GC/Nashville Used music etc.

[TravisE]

Thanks guys! The help is mucho appreciated and I'll pass along the good wishes.

[Blakemore Effects]

Dude, that sucks hard. I'll keep an eye out as well. Best of luck to your friend. No one deserves to have their gear stolen...

[Bob Maximus]

Just saw this Travis. I'll keep an eye out also. Friggin East Nashville.

[dadgad]

Sorry to hear about that, man. Eyes peeled!

[porterfield]

Same here in Nashville. Keep a check on the pawn shops... If I know east Nashville, and more was stolen than just gear, it was probably a cracknacker. I watch CL like a hawk. I will certainly keep my eyes peeled. Best of luck.

[Shane Sanders]

Tell him to be careful how and when he approaches the pawn shops that are in East Nashville (have him contact me privately to learn which one is particularly bad). In my experience of losing $15K worth of gear, this particular chain is not at all concerned with helping deter thieves from pawning there. If he gives them a list of things that are stolen, this will do one of two things at the pawnshop: they'll turn the thieves away having not gathered any solid identifying information about them (and thus the gear ends up somewhere else where you'll never see it again) or they'll possibly take it in pawn and not record the serial numbers into their database (which is the ONLY way the police will even go looking for your stuff there--the police are relying on honest pawn shop data). If they don't know it's stolen, they might go ahead and record the serial number correctly--maybe. If they know it is stolen, they have no motivation to record the transaction properly at all but they have a strong financial motivation to profit from your loss. They can then shuffle the stolen merchandise to a distant locale since they are a national chain. It's all very shady.

Think about it: What pawn shop doesn't know what a Les Paul is really worth? Who in their right mind doesn't realize that anyone who is nervously pawning a Les Paul for $200 doesn't own that guitar? The whole system is stacked against the victim of the theft. The high dollar stuff will never make it out to the floor. It'll be sold privately and quietly through a network of like-minded individuals.

Nashville, like most cities, has a Pawn Shop Division of the police department. They won't even bother a pawn shop unless the serial numbers show up in both the pawn shop database and the police's stolen item database. They are completely dependent on the database. They won't even go down there to investigate even if you have an eye witness to the pawning of your stuff in a particular shop--as was my experience. They are going to wait for the pawn shop to enter numbers into a box on a computer, then crosscheck with the police report information. It's a slow, ridiculous process.

[TravisE]

An update:

The guitars (SG Jr., LP Specials, & 2 LP Cusoms) were returned to him. In a matter of 2 weeks, the guitars passed through no less than 6 people....originating from a "trunk" sale in a parking lot. Two of them were eventually sold for $500 to a guy that I know who was a bit disapointed to find out that they were hot. The other two were sold to a friend of his. The other things (amps, etc) are still MIA.

[Shane Sanders]

I just talked to Beau. No need to pass my rant on to him. It's so cool that these guitars were recovered. Hopefully, he'll get the rest of his stuff back.

[dcmak5]

I'd bet the amps were pawned, or at another "trunk sale" are these things common? and could they get busted?
there is a TON of that kind of stuff in east nashville.
it's a shame when your neighbors hearing you play guitar could result in them breaking into your home...