The Steel Guitar Forum

There is a red pro-1 sho-bud on ebay right now. It looks exactly like the one I had stolen on tour in san fransisco about two to three months ago. The seller is in san-fran. Even though hes got good feedback, it sounds shady. he's saying that he was going to try out for george jones??? he doesnt elaborate. Then he says there are 3 knee levers and NO pedals! He says he likes his straight up??? This guy is full of it. Any suggestions on what to do. I dont know how to post the ebay link on here. If you look under pedal steel guitar on ebay its on the 3rd page.

Was there a detective assigned to the case? If so, I would call him and tell him what you've found. Also, if you have your serial number, why not ask the seller what the serial number to the guitar is? If they match I would sure get the police on it. Keep in mind, though, that he may have bought the guitar from whoever stole it from you.

I know 100% that this is mine. I can identify it for sure by the little red pen marks on the frets that you can barley see. Ahhhh!!

The item number is 140161174271

I would NOT ask him for the serial number. It will tip him off to the fact that you're on to him and he'll spook and you might lose the trail. Instead, I think I'd contact eBay immediately. I'm sure they have a fraud dept to handle these criminals. Or, as suggested above, go through the detective assigned to your case, if there is one. But, y'know, those guys are busy and you might be small potatoes to them, so eBay might be your better bet for faster action.

You need to contact the police. If you have a contact, call him now. eBay will direct you to the police and will work with them.

Im not going to email him at all. Im trying to get ahold of ebay. Then i geuss the san fran police department. there was like 20,000 $ of other things stolen and those officers didnt give a rats ass! im trying to fing the report number.

I would not call on e-bay just now... what will they do? Black list the seller? What good is it to you?
If you filed a report with the police or your insurance call them and tell them where they can pick it up.

... J-D.

I think a call to the FEDS for advice is in order , as this transcends local and state borders.

I would not contact EBAY or the seller...

Back door..

I rarely post on here but in this case I find it hard not to. When this happened to me here is what I did. I contacted the police where my guitar was stolen and gave them the URL and item number of the auction.
They in turn contacted ebay and got information on the seller requesting that eBay not make contact with him. They then contacted the local police in the city that the guitar was being sold from.
The local police then paid a visit to the seller and recovered my guitar (along with a lot of other peoples things) and returned it to me after taking evidience pics etc etc.
Leave it to the local authorities to contact the Feds at their discretion. Luckily for me the seller lived in a small town and the local police were not too busy with day to day duities.
Good Luck!!!

Alex,I just looked at it on Ebay...No case?wazzup with that?something dosen't look right,I'd call the cops.

You have received some really good advice here, and I hope you get your guitar back. Its a pity that your country and our country don't adopt the Saudi Arabia method of dealing with those who steal. There would be a lot of people around minus their hands.

I hope everything works out for you and you get your guitar back, Alex.

Once it's safely in your hands, maybe you should contact OJ Simpson and his "associates" to apply a little "muscle" on the e-bay seller!

I'll echo what G. Stout said above. I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago. I called the local police with the auction number and he looked it up while he was on the phone with me. He contacted ebay and got the sellers information, called him and he promptly ended the auction and turned the guitar over to the police. He had bought it at a flea market to re-sell, not knowing it was stolen. It all turned out well for me, not too well for the seller, they guy he bought it from was long gone.

Alex,Google siteunscene a photo of him comes up along with other stuff.Stu

I noticed your guitar on ebay the other day and I thought it was totally fishy, who sells a pedal steel with no pedals?
I hate thieves, I hope they catch buddy who stole it and lock him up for a long time. Best of luck to you getting your guitar back.

Why no pedals? Weren't they stolen too?

So many things aren't right about the ad.

He says shipping to Canada is $25!
I doubt if he could ship it to San Jose for $25.

Alex, take everyones advice and call the police. They weren't very interested in the original theft because they had no leads and little hope of getting any. Now they have a solid lead and will probably pursue it.

If the guy on Ebay bought it from someone else, he is out of luck. It's still your guitar. He bought stolen property, and could even be prosecuted for fencing. But it is cusomary to offer them a reward. It's likely he paid very little for it, and won't loose much.

the police said they cant do anything. Theres not enough money involved (25,000$) +, and no serial number. however, there was over 25,000$ worth of stolen gear in the uhaul. They said there is not enough evidence to get a search warrant. This is driving me crazy!!

I feel like my only option is to contact the seller? Or, is that a bad idea? I think ebay might cancel the auction. if that happens then this guy dissapears.

Alex, wow. I'm searching for my gear and haven't found anything. The Guyatone steel is the only thing that I could identify, without a doubt, because of all the mods done to it.

yeah james, its a bummer that the police wont do a thing. whoever this guy bought the sho-bud from (if he did buy it) probably has all of our stuff.

If the police won't handle it, then your next option is to TALK with the right person at eBay. Don't just email them (cuz I think they might just cancel the auction and the guy will get off scot-free). I'm sure they have some process for dealing with this situation that certainly happens many times a day on eBay. Don't just contact the seller or he'll definitely spook and you'll lose any chance of recovery or justice.

I called my insurance company to ask for advice and they said they'd give me a call back. I figure they deal with this situation frequently.

Im wondering who the right person from ebay is. or how to get ahold of them?

I found my friends stolen uke for sale on Ebay. The Oalkland cops went to the seller and got it from the guy. Cop said it was his favorite day as a cop.