Stolen Steel

Buck Reid · From: Nashville,TN

Just a friendly reminder to keep your eyes open for a Charcoal Gray,D-10 Marrs(ser#0003), that was lifted about 2 yrs ago. It's one that i built at Duane Marrs shop,so you can imagine the sentimental value. I keep thinking it will turn up somewhere and with the eyes and ears on the forum......well,any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks......Buck

Kenny Davis · From: Great State of Oklahoma

I was wondering if it ever turned up. I'll keep my eye's & ears peeled.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Seeing as how there probably aren't that many Marrs guitars around, I would think this could be found. Hopefully we can all remember this and can get it returned to it's rightful owner.

D@mn I hate hearing about someone getting ripped off. Jocks my pies, to say the least.

Mike Cass · Posted 30 Sep 2001 1:14 am

Well, Bucky, as you may or may not know, my Emmons, stolen 5-6 years ago, finally turned up 1 1/2 yrs ago.Funny thng was, it showed up at Duane Marrs' shop !!!!
Perhaps you'll have similar luck

. I'll keep an eye peeled....

Tony Palmer · From: St Augustine,FL

Hi Mike....so what is the protocol when you find a stolen item? Can you just march in and reclaim it? Is the current owner (assuming he's innocent, of course) out hs money he paid for it? Do you get the police involved?

[This message was edited by Tony Palmer on 30 September 2001 at 06:19 AM.]

George McLellan · From: Duluth, MN USA

Tony, I don't see any differance with a stolen steel as a stolen car. I'm still searching for my stolen 5x4 MSA S10 serial #1C2196, and that was back 1-2-84. I have all the paper work and will produce it if it ever turns up.

I did contact the Nashville police dept. and they obviously didn't have the time or concideration to respond to me about it.

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SUAS U' PHIOB
Geo

Walter Jones · From: Athens, Ohio USA

Buck, don't ever give up. This summer I received a call from an officer in the Property Division at the Nashville Police Dept. A Ruger stainless revolver was stolen from my van in Nashville 8 years ago.
While my van was parked on the street it was broken into and various things stolen. The police were called and a report was taken over the phone, no officer even came to the scene. A year after that I received a form from the NPD asking if I had found the revolver, now I wanted to say "If you guys haven't found it how did you expect me to"? I didn't , I just filled out the forms provided and stated that it had not been recovered. Since I live in Ohio I always figured that was the last I would ever hear about it.
When I received the call this summer I was informed that the revolver had been recovered and that I had 30 days to claim it. I was instructed to contact the Property Officer at my Police Dept and work through them. Now this made it easy as I am a retired firefighter and know all the officers so things went very quickly from there. A couple of calls between PDs and the revolver was on the way via FedX and I picked it up at our PD. It came with all the paperwork on where it had been recovered , etc. I had to pay the FeDx COD ground charges which was $20. That is the only way it could be shipped and it had to come to another Police agency. It could not be shipped directly to me.
You could have knocked me over with a feather, I never thought anything like that would happen. I guess we can thank computers for what happened in the end as it was flagged when everything was confiscated at the address.
I know that a steel guitar probably would not immediately get the attention of a police officer but all items were checked and the paper trail paid off. My hat is off the the Nashville Police Dept, maybe if a simular thing happens with your steel the officer will be a steel player or at least like country music. Good Luck.

Doug Beaumier · From: Northampton, MA

Tony, I once asked a lawyer about how this works with cars. The item may instantly be claimed by the rightful owner, and the person who last had it is left holding the bag... but that person has a claim against the person he bought it from, and so on, as far back as can be traced to the thief. I would say definitely get the police involved if this situation arises.

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www.dougbsteel.com

Mike Jones · From: Goodlettsville,TN,USA

I'm still looking for my black push/pull Emmons with 8 X 4 serial #1467. It was lifted from my car back in 1975 while I was at the Demons Den on Broadway, here in Nashville. I had just came from the Opry that night after working with Charlie Louvin and stopped for a few minutes. When I got back to my car the guitar was gone. Sure do miss that one.
Mike

Johan Jansen · From: Europe

Perhaps this forum could be of a great use, when there can be designed a place onhere where we all can write down our brand steel with serial numbers and remarks. If we keep this update, we can always trace stolen guitars, and dealers and musicstores can check this site to see if it's a "legal"instrument.
I know, it sounds ridiculous and a lot of work, but if anyone could design a database for this, that everyone can update himself, it could be a treasure for info from now and in the future. Should be done with every musical instrument. When it is sold our bought: "registration"!
JJ

George McLellan · From: Duluth, MN USA

JJ: that's an excellant idea. I certainly hope it can be done re: registration, this would make it world wide, dealers all over the world would be able to check the list by make/model etc. Possibly cut down on the thiefs' chances of selling and unsuspecting buyers from getting stung.

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SUAS U' PHIOB
Geo

CrowBear Schmitt · From: Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France

Yes fo' sho' this Forum is the only place for keepin track of stolen Steels !
perhaps a Stolen sektion here on the Forum would be useful.
(that's up to b0b, not me )
maybe Anne Fabian at Carter could help w: this w: the Online Steelers.com ?
Steel thinkin' out loud ...

[This message was edited by CrowBear Schmitt on 04 October 2001 at 03:02 PM.]

Mike Cass · Posted 30 Sep 2001 1:01 pm

Tony, I went to the records division of the Metro P.D. & they gave me a copy of the police report. I also had several pictures of the guitar.
I presented these to Mr Marrs & he couldnt wait for me to take it !!!!!
One of his employees at the time had mentioned to him when the guitar came in, that he thought it was mine, but apparently Duane dismissed that.
I probably would never have gotten it back had I not been there the day the guitar was there..........you never know.......

MARK GILES · From: HAMILTON, TEXAS

Bucky, There is a guitar in Crawford's basement you could borrow until you find yours. However, you would still need to put strings on it.

Bill Tauson · From: Chino Valley, Az.

If the law enforcement agency takes a report, they can enter the serial number and description into a national data base. If another law enforcement agency checks the serial number, it should identify it as stolen. There's a couple of problems though.

1. First, many, not all, but many, pawns shops or similar business's are not as honest as we'd hope for.

2. Music shops don't have access to the system.

3. People move since the theft and can't be found.

One of the best ways to track you is your driver's license. Hopefully, you'll update your info if you move, (ok, some people don't want to be found). You'll have to decide whether putting your license number somewhere on the guitar is good option for you.

Besides that, do your own checking! If it ends up at a law enforcement agency, you should be able to get it back after showing that it's yours, (i.e. photos, receipts,etc). In my area, if it ends up at a pawn shop, the law enforcement agency can hold it and you have to pay the amount of the pawn. It may be different elsewhere.

Hope that answers a few questions for ya!

PS. I really hate theives!!!!!!

Mark Herrick · From: Bakersfield, CA

Just a note.

I made the same suggestion several years ago on the forum that I thought it would be a good idea to have a "Stolen Instruments" section where people could list missing items and check to see if something they were about to buy might be on the list...

Got absolutely no response.

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Sounds like a very useful public service. What do you say, b0b?

John Gretzinger · From: Canoga Park, CA

I'm not sure how the BBS is set up, but I would think this kind of application needs to have a searchable database that can be indexed by serial number or maker as a minimum. An alternate is a sortable table setup (similar to an Excel spreadsheet).

Maybe this discussion could restart in Computers.

jdg

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MSA D-10 w/Nashville 400
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

Johan and Mark had excellent suggestions and I too, would vote for such a category here on the Forum. My stolen Bakelite Rick has never shown up and I sure would like to have it back. How about it b0b? Please!!!

Darvin Willhoite · From: Roxton, Tx. USA

Two of my 6 stringers were stolen from my Church last year, and about a month after I discovered they were gone, I accidentally found one of them for sale on Ebay. I got the sellers info from Ebay and called the case officer who called the seller and gave him the sad news. The seller happened to know where the other one was also, so I got them both back. The dude that took them sold them at a flea market, that buyer sold them to others, then one of the last buyers listed the one he bought on Ebay. I got them both back. It was a wake up call. I record serial numbers on everything I have, and I'm much more careful where I leave my equipment. I would probably not have gotten them back if I hadn't had the serial number on the one that was on Ebay.

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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

I too lost a beautiful 1982 Emmons PP in a burglary back in 1988. I still have the paperwork.. HOWEVER

Some of the stolen gear was recovered by police in a pawn shop, but they informed me that SINCE I RECEIVED AN INSURANCE SETTLEMENT, the official "owner" of the equipment was the insurance company. I could offer to buy the stuff back from the company if I wished. Since it was just some crappy old PA gear I no longer needed, I declined to do so.

So, in Texas anyway, if you got insurance money from the theft, you don't own it until you get it back from the insurer.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

I think Johan should add it to his web site. He's as good at this stuff as I am. I'd be happy to provide a link to it.

Johan Jansen · From: Europe

Hi Bob, I would love to do it, but can't find the time, knowledge and room on my server to do this. Idea:
The steelers of the world-list , now provided by Carter, maybe could add a field in the web-Dbase, to surch on Brand of steel, and maybe a sub-field with serialnumber. If we all could fill in the info about our steelbrand)s), type and serialnumber, maybe it would be a solution. But this has to be done before it gets stolen......
JJ

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STEELDAYS 2002
my web-site
my bands CODand TSC

Jay Kardong · From: Seattle, Washington

I love this idea. I've never had any guitar stolen, but I'd sure love to have a service like this if one was.

I am a SQL developer and work with databases and design every day. For a test project recently I actually wrote a web page that searched a SQL database to find steel guitar models and a picture. Basically you’d search on a steel model like “Sho-Bud, LDG”, and it would bring back a description and a picture of a LDG guitar. So I have some experience with a project like this.

I would be willing to offer my time to help if someone found a SQL server and web server to use.

Jay

[This message was edited by Jay Kardong on 04 October 2001 at 02:04 PM.]

manny escobar · From: portsmouth,r.i. usa

This is an unbelievable story. In 1978 I started building my first steel guitar. IN 1983(5years later, upon completion), it was one of my proudest moments. However , on Jan. 17, 1987 it was stolen from my car in the Rahide paking lot in N. Dartmouth, Mass. For almost 15 yrs. I searched in vain for the steel. (even on the internet with a large reward). On Oct. 11, 2001 my guitar was found by a local musician named Gary Duquette. Gary is the guitar player along with bass player Butch Mcrea, in the duo known as "Two Bad Ants". Before they were known as "wildfire". The guitar has some damage and parts missing,but will be repaired in the future. When I first saw my guitar, I was so thankful that I cried when it was delivered. Gary refused any areward money.

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