A lot of the guitars posted on Ebay have pix of the serial #'s, either on the headstock or in the body. I don't know what that adds, but I see them every day. Just as other posts said, DON'T BUY A GUITAR FROM A THIEF,or the next 1 stolen might be yours. I had my storage unit cleaned out thru the roof, all they left was my cabinets. I had receipts & serial #'s & never got 1 thing back. Too bad booby traps are illegal. Thanks

I agree that booby traps should be ok, but with short term memory loss, I'd kill myself.

With serial numbers to report to the police you may not get one thing back, but without them you will surely get nothing back.

This all sounds fine until your instrument finds its way to a pawn shop in Kansas or Missouri. You can point it out, have an original receipt, and a copy of the police report when it was stolen. You won't get it back. The proprietor of the establishment has an interest in your stolen guitar. Until he is reimbursed, the guitar remains the possession of the pawn shop. He of course can't sell it for a period of time. Makes it easy to be a thief.

shimmilou, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about - stop posting rubbish and try not to act like a hard man with your childish abbreviations YDAMFCS (see, I can do it too)

I haven't missed any point - you are not going to get arrested for innocently owning your own guitar in the ridiculous circumstances described in this thread - period; end of story; case closed etc. ad nauseum...In fact, I'll put my money where my mouth and take any case where this is happening completely pro-bono! If it is stolen, then it is possible to be arrested for receiving stolen goods - that is an offense in and of itself - but only a complete idiot would suggest that this is probable if you are innocent of the crime.

You have very clearly missed the point - as have a few people who have gone down a "if someone accuses you of giving them a black eye they'll arrest you even if the other person is lying" tangent, which is completely off topic (I haven't looked back at the thread - but I'm laying money on that rubbish being started by you) - but that's a whole different kettle of fish from claiming a guitar you see for sale online is stolen.

It's dangerous to set a precedent with inaccurate information based upon an axe to grind about the authorities - try to be a bit more mature about your posts - and as I think the OP put it - if you can prove it, bring it to the table. I'll happily retract my comments if you can demonstrate a case where someone has said "that's my guitar" and someone completely innocent has been arrested (hell don't even need them to be charged, I'll take an arrest!) on the say so of someone who has no claim to the instrument. If you want to shoot for classic injustices where someone has lied about being robbed, raped, mugged, assaulted etc to stitch someone up - start a new thread - I'll be behind you all the way - otherwise stay on topic please.

@jphaley888 - that's an excellent point raised about pawn shops - sounds a bit unfair to me though. I thought pawn shops had to be fully satisfied of title before agree to pawn you the item? Has that changed? or is this Unique to KS and MO?

If it gets you all hot trying to find out what will really happen, why don't you be the guinea pig? This is why you never want to be arrested. If you go on trial, 6 or 12 people who are middle-aged and whose daily activities consist of going to work, coming home, and watching tv get to seal your fate. That's who the prosecutor and defender want on their jury panel, because those people have limited life experience and are easily duped. You can believe the world is all sunshine and rainbows if you want to, and someday you'll get a rude awakening. Keep your nose clean and stay as far off the grid as you dare go, and you might stand a chance.

Ok, I'm the one who started this thread and heres why I did so...

I've been buying and selling on Ebay for over a decade with no issues at all. I also have bought and sold different kinds of goods at our local auctions for almost a decade. Once again no problems. MUsical instruments? Martins, Nationals and other stuff has come and gone with never a hitch and I've never lost a nights sleep.

OTOH I see what looks like a lot of paranoia on the forums, not concerning robbery but having to do with other people getting ahold of serial numbers and that doesn't make sense to me. WTF is someone other than myself going to do with the serial number of my Strat? Duplicate it?

When it comes to stolen instruments, just like everyone else, I've heard a zillion stories about bands, musicians and studios being ripped off but I have never, everbeen offered a hot guitar and I've never known of anyone having a stolen guitar returned because the number appeared someplace. Thats what brought up the questions:

1) "Why should I worry about who sees my serial numbers?"
and
2) "If I have the serial number to your guitar, could I claim it was mine?"

Truthfully? I was a bit taken aback when a couple of guys claiming to be Cops showed up threatening the world with their righteous retribution but thats on them. Their claims make no sense, the veiled threats are inappropriate and I'm not easily bullied anyway.

OTOH, it would have been interesting to have heard some examples that might support peoples fears concerning the theft of serial numbers but I'm happy to know that any dangers are actually minimal.

Pawn Shops...

Pawn Shops buy and sell a lot of musical instruments and of course, I regularly slide through the ones near here looking for guitars and amps but I've always been surprised by the dearth of nice guitars and amps on hand, because my location is saturated with guitars, bands, luthiers, dealers and equipment.

Then, a couple of years ago, I met someone who had worked part time as a manager in that particular shop and he told me that the owners also own a Pawn Shop in Vegas (!) and that every couple of weeks, items are loaded into a van and driven to the shop in Vegas where they're sold or traded away.

Quite frankly, I've heard this "Two Shop" story before, while living on the East Coast and it just serves to reinforce my feeling that once your stuff is gone, it's probably gone forever and that a good insurance company, some good neighbors and a barky dog are probably our best protections.

Oh.. And "candycoke", you need to get back on your Meds dude. Seriously... You do.

mymindsok,

only reason to worry that I can see is for certain scams (let's not list the scams here as a textbook for aspiring criminals). Anything else about getting arrested and stuck in the slammer is just nonsense and belongs in a thread titled "I need to get out more".

If the justice system across the pond is so infallible, explain the entire Amanda Knox fiasco to me again. Wait a second, no please don't because I'm sure you have an opinion about that too. Who are you, Ed Roman? I haven't met such an abrasive opinionated little stool like you since I last went to his site.

All I knows is that I am not going to be spreading my serial numbers around on a public forum ... especially those 4 digit serial numbers.

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My other guitar is a Strat.

@candycoke09

I love how you and the other dude keep going off on huge tangents that have nothing to do with this thread - I'm going to assume you are addressing me. I'd reply more fully - but I've got a funny feeling it's about your nap time (I can only assume you're in kindergarten - because I haven't been called names by anyone since I was about 5). I'm sure Ed Roman considers it a great loss that you don't visit his website anymore - goodness only know what depths of name calling you stooped to with someone as forthright in correcting idiots as he is!! I won't bother addressing any of your other comments - if you can prove anything I have said is wrong then please do so - but keep it on topic (e.g. Amanda Knox is not on topic, neither are dinosaurs, the tooth fairy or a few other things you might be thinking of) and let's try to remain civil - you and Shimmilou have both managed to resort instantly to insults and name calling - I find that quite sad. If the premise of these forums is that people ought to let any rubbish pass off as "advice" then it's a bit dangerous (this, unlike the legal positions and legal process I have posted, actually is just my opinion) and that's fine - but I'll leave it up to a moderator to tell me that we are supposed to let people hijack threads with utter speculation, incorrect information, ill informed opinion, insults and flamebaits...
hope that helps

Wasn't directed at you, the Amanda Knox case is being used as an example of false arrest which is on topic considering the original question posted, and advice to keep you or your possession's identity safe is not rubbish if it keeps your mind at ease. Peace.

It was really never on topic to raise false arrest - that was brought up by the 2 guys who say they are cops - the original question had sod all to do with arrest; or false imprisonment; or juries being composed of middle aged people; or Amanda Knox (who is clearly as guilty as sin). And their has been precious little advice here on keeping possessions or property safe - just a lot of scaremongering about being arrested and put away because of that false arrest, false claims etc. None of which is even close to being accurate - I still maintain that 90% of what has been posted in the thread is rubbish - you will not get arrested and thrown in jail for innocently buying a guitar you believe the seller to have good title to and I restate my position from before - if anyone can point to a case where this is happening or has happened recently - I will take and defend the case completely free of charge. Advising people to take steps to prevent something that is completely out of the realms of probability of happening is like advising a 90 year old woman to take birth control.

Your reply also begs the question - if you weren't calling me abrasive and a stool - who were you talking about?

Peace

Curiosity, Malcs. If the police inform me that I have a stolen guitar, it goes back to the original owner, he is happy, I'm out whatever I paid. C'est la vie. However, if the insurance company has paid the owner for his loss, replaced the guitar, whatever, and the case is closed, do I have a case for keeping it? Why should I lose what I paid, he gets a payout and his guitar back? Or do I lose out on the guitar, he gets it back, but his insurance company comes after him for reimbursement? Thanks for all your great insight - very illuminating!

I posted this on another thread a while back.

I think I can shed a little light on the disclosure of serial numbers in public venues such as eBay and other web places (i.e. Craigslist). First off I never worry about it and on my website I show many guitars with their serial numbers. BUT, I was told this story by a guy in New York that was very concerning. Here is what happened. He ran his guitar on Criagslist in NYC and did not sell it. Some days later the cops came to his house and claimed he had stole the guitar.

Some con saw the guitar on Craislist, filed a police report that his guitar was stolen from his apartment and that he saw the thief has advertised it on Craigslist. He also identifying the guitar, serial number, and had a fake, old bill of sale. The police took the guitar from the real owner, and him as well, to the police station. Now it was his word against this con's word. Good thing was, the owner found the paperwork that came with the guitar when he bought it and showed this guy was lying. I guess these kind of things are not totally uncommon in bigger city areas. Here where I live that would never happen because I know all the police in this small town and keep really good paperwork on everything I have and have sold.

So use common sense. If you live in a area where you do not need to worry about it—don't. But if I lived in LA or NY or some bigger area I would be careful about posting my serial number on Craigslist at least. This kind of thing has happened to someone I know.

BTW i never read every post on this thread. Will do so later but it seemed a few things were getting out of hand!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com