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Posts: 2070
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
Ever had a guitar stolen?
In more than fifty years of guitar playing I’ve had two guitars stolen. The fact is both times it was my fault. I left a charvel star in a rehearsal studio that was shared by another band. It was a right handed one with a black and yellow checkerboard finish. I never warmed up to it but to my dismay I recently discovered it would be worth around 5k. The other loss was the famous Yamaha 171sf. Not nearly as valuable but I actually have no idea how it got away. I had it in my office at work and after retiring I moved my personal stuff home and decided to sell it, only to discover I don’t have it!
I havent no. but now im terrified i will! thanks man!
both were your fault?
This throws up some interesting moral and ethical questions about theft and the nature of humans. (all of which, Im not awake enough to discuss here today)
But I'd like to propose that the thefts were the fault of the thief!
Posts: 4846
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)
RE: Ever had a guitar stolen? (in reply to silddx)
quote:
ORIGINAL: silddx
quote:
I just had a business Idea:
Under saddle anti theft GPS tracker
Where would the battery go?
haha I was just revising the idea and you posted. they usually last 1 year and you could hide it somewhere, should be no problem these things are very small these days
or if you always leave the guitar in guitar case, then a case with a gps tracker. Just have to always leave it in there. The thief for sure won't remove the guitar from the case. Easier to steal with case
haha I was just revising the idea and you posted. they usually last 1 year and you could hide it somewhere, should be no problem these things are very small these days
Sounds more like "misplaced and neglected" guitars, rather than stolen. In that case yes I have some good stories. First my Dad's Hauser back in the early 80s or 1970s, his student Lawrence Johnson (known at the time as first guy to record Sor complete works) was riding his bike in DC and he saw some suspicious dude carrying around what looked like my dad's big weird "Leif" case. He rode up to the guy assuming he had just jacked it out of my Dad's car offered to buy the guitar right there. "How much you got?" he only had $20 cash..."Deal!!!" So the next lesson he shows up at American University with it and says to my dad "look at the guitar I just bought!!!" Back then it was easy to forget to lock the car if you were just like grabbing a coffee or whatever.
Second story is my Sanchis, after two cancelled flights and I could not sleep on the final plane to spain, in 2013 I was so exhausted I got to the hotel NH corner of Atocha Madrid, and checked in to hotel proceeded to get in the shower and asked my travel buddy "hey did I leave my guitar in the lobby? go Check". When I got out he had my Sanchis and was like "dude you have guitar voodoo". He said he went down and they said we did not have a guitar when we checked in. He looked out on the sidewalk and there it was, standing on end (easy to knock over) and half a million people walking around it in the middle of the busy sidewalk, un touched!!!
Same story happened to my GK Cordoba when I left it on the floor at the night club I played at, next to some couches. It was odd night as I did not end up playing because it was early July 4 and dead, so I never packed up my gear. So I was driving home and realized I forgot it and drove back to the place....the night club at midnight was hopping and they had moved the couches but NOT THE GUITAR!!! So there was hundreds of people dancing AROUND THE GUITAR that was just sitting in the middle of the dance floor space as if protected by an invisible force shield. I just cut through the crowed and grabbed it.
Lastly two guitars I had sold came back like boomerangs years later, gifted back to me for free, and I have them here in the studio.
When I travel, and go to areas I do not trust, or in a mobile home or whatever, I always have a cable with a lock. One time around the case, and to a bed, a central heating installation or other thing that are for hand and firm.
Posts: 3553
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Ever had a guitar stolen? (in reply to Ricardo)
Not a guitar theft story, but a guitar related theft nonetheless. There used to be a big musical instrument store occupying part of the ground floor of the Colegio de las Vizcaínas in Mexico City. It's an 18th Century Baroque building which covers a whole city block in the Centro Historico. The music store had a good used string instrument department.
Around sixty years ago I noticed a 1930s Santos Hernandez blanca for sale there. Though I was pretty sure I couldn't afford it, I approached the counter confidently. In those days in Mexico City, if you had enough money to buy a suit, you wore one. with a white shirt and tie, and you paid to have your shoes shined every day. The middle aged blonde attendant, clad in a plaid skirt, cardigan and sensible shoes, smiled and handed me the guitar.
I retired to the row of chairs along the wall facing the counter, and took out my tuning fork. It was ornamentally engraved and housed in an elegant tooled leather case.
I tuned up and played Mario Escudero's version of Ramon Montoya's Rondeña, copped off an LP. The guitar was so responsive and had such a beautiful flamenco tone that I played it better than I ever had before. While I was playing two nine- or ten-year old street urchins peered in through the big glass window behind my back. They came in, sat on chairs next to mine while I played, and muttered and mugged astonishment at my virtuosity.
I took the guitar back, and apologized for being unable to afford it. Then I noticed the attendant had tears in her eyes. She said she was from Ronda, and thanked me for playing. It was an emotional moment. I turned back to collect my tuning fork, which I had left lying on the chair.
The tuning fork, its case and the two young boys were gone.
I hastened to the door, looked up and down the sidewalk, but they had made their escape.
Arash/sliddx - it'd have to be a mechanism that charges based on movement, like with those watches. Not sure if that would work...
Ricardo - insane stories!
Richard - I thought you were going to say she told you to take the guitar free of charge because of your virtuosity and her being from Ronda. Alas, the twist was your tuning fork got swiped LOL
I have that lp of Escudero playing the Hauser, love it. He has a couple original falsetas that augment Montoya's original, and PDL stole those for his own early Rondeña, you probably know what I am taking about since you played it.
I realize there are famous guitars still "out there" somewhere. PDL favorite 1968 negra stolen "from the car" in 1979-80 while on tour with Mclaughlin, last seen on Meeting of the Spirits DVD, then for San Francisco he used a different guitar that he said "was not his favorite". Well, I love the replacement guitar personally. But that guitar is still out there somewhere.
Then Paul Gilbert's yellow PGM 1000T was stolen on the Mr. Big tour 2024, the same one he used in the Rick Beato interview. I can't believe these instruments won't turn up someday.
Paul's moded Marshal head used on his first album was stolen but turned up years later, the "friend" that used it was Russ Parish aka "Satchel", at 4:24:
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