Screaming Stone
This site may be helpful for those that have been victimized:
Screaming Stone
From one page you can search all of craigslist by keyword, ebay musical instruments, and links to other possible outlets.
They also suggest that buyers check the stolen registry first before buying a used instrument.
I just had two non-mm basses stolen from my home while I was sleeping. Fortunately my mm's were in their cases in my gear closet, but the other 2 were not so lucky.
REPORT REPORT REPORT !!
Hi Everyone,
I am Screaming Stone. I've been posting stolen instrument notices on my site and numerous other musician boards since Sept '07. Thieves are finding it easier than ever to sell stolen instruments through CL, EBay... We can ask thieves to stop stealing our instruments, but who really thinks that'll work. The police don't have the time nor the resources to look. So this results in increasing number of instruments being stolen every year - over one million musicians get ripped off and less than 3% get their gear back. I found this out the hard way when someone broke into my car and stole one of my customs. Then three of my co-workers had their gear ripped off (one had his entire recording studio ripped off, a second had his practice space ripped off, a third had his guitar stolen from his car while parked at a GC). I got mad - screaming freaking mad - and decided to do something about it.
Musicians are both the victims and consumers. One musician gets ripped off, another buys bad karma stolen gear - often not even realizing its stolen. So musicians are the ones that can make a change.
I started posting stolen notices - and its working. We've recovered over $150,000 in stolen gear (I say we because I only spread the word, it's other musicians who see the posts that have found the gear.) Its been successful because we take an active approach - prior online stolen instrument databases just collected information and waited for someone to decide to search the database. I take a pro-active approach publicizing stolen instruments.
>Make sure people know about the stolen list (I do it for free and I don't have advertising on my site except for google ads when you use the search function - if I knew programming I'd have my own search...) Check the stolen list before you buy a used instrument.
>Join the friends list on myspace.com/screamingstone - you'll receive bulletins on recently stolen gear.
>Embed the PSA video I created (A Million Musicians Screaming) to help get this movement of musicians some publicity.
It may take years, but I hope one day thieves will leave our instruments alone knowing that its nearly impossible to sell stolen gear.
Newtley - Thanks for letting people know about the site.
Rock on,
Screaming Stone
The EB Forum Admin gave me the greenlight to cross-post stolen instrument notices on this forum. Here's where I have been posting the notices:
Myspace.com/screamingstone (bulletin and a blog)
Screaming Stone - Stolen Instrument List (the main site)
The Gear Page:
The Gear Page - Powered by vBulletin
Guitar Trade:
http://www.guitartrade.org/forum/index.php
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My stolen MM SR5 was recovered by the folks at the club it had been stolen from!!
