I just want to go on record as saying that I freaking HATE thieves. On Thursday night, my drummer - a working musician with a family - had ALL of his gear stolen from his van as it sat in his driveway. They took his drums, hardware, cymbals...even his damn stick bag! Hopefully, his homeowner's insurance will help him, but it looks like they may not cover it and he'll have to find the money to replace gear he's been collecting for 15 years (cymbals, specifically). He is a tremendous drummer and one of the nicest guys you would ever hope to meet. Freaking thieves. I hope they trip and impale themselves on a drum stand.
THAT SUCKS !!!! Is his stuff labled in any way? Did he etch his name and ID numbers on it to get it back? DD
No, he didn't. With cymbals, that's a really tricky thing because even minor changes in the surface (etching, for example) can impact the sound. He probably should have with his drums, but he's been playing like this since the mid-90's and it just never came up. He had an alarm on his van, but it didn't go off - sigh. I'm actually helping him to find new gear, etc. and the band and some other musicians are setting up a fund to help out he and his wife. Hopefully, the insurance will come through, but it still won't be enough to cover the losses. Funny thing about drums - used over the years, they are practically worthless in resale. Even cymbals, despite sounding AMAZING to the player, have very little resale value. Hardware is almost worthless. But, to REPLACE everything lost represents a few thousand dollars. Ugh.
woah, woah, woah!! Let's not go out and offend all the thief-supporters out there. Because one time I said I hated rapists, and then all the pro-rapists got all offended and we need to be considerate of their feelings.
Jeff, I have a rider on my homeowner's insurance that covers my gear no matter where it is, so it can be done. Also, always have the serial numbers of your gear written down in a safe place. Could a person see his gear inside the van when they looked through the window? If so, that is the kiss of death right there. If not, then it was someone who knows him or had been scoping him out.
What neighborhood Jeff? My brother-in-law got his stereo stolen and my dad's car busted into for some change, all while parked in my parent's driveway in Timbergrove Manor. Besides anything stolen there was the broken windows to replace. No matter where you are at, it is plain risky to leave anything in a car anymore overnight, even if parked in your driveway.
Very true, I don't even like to leave my Ipod in my car when I go to the grocery store. Car thieves are very quick.
I had a saxophone stolen from the band hall at my college about 6 years ago. It was covered under home owners insurance. They payed for the horn and everything in the case at list price minus the deductible. I actually made out really well on that deal and was able to upgrade my horn. I'm glad they stole that piece of crap I was playing on before. But the time between when the horn was stolen and when I got my new one sucked. I had to play on borrowed gear which was a pain in the butt.
Last Wednesday I went out and drank with one of my friends. I rarely drink anymore. Nowadays, I drink once a month and have two beers at the most. That night we started drinking a little after lunch. There is a period between 8:30pm and 2:00am that I can’t remember. I woke up in the ladies restroom of a strip club, which is someplace that I don’t go to. I’m not the strip bar type. What woke me up was that a chick was riffling through my pockets. I was face down on the floor and was so messed up I couldn’t move, but I knew I was being robbed. Whoever the chick was stole $450 and took my credit card. Believe it or not that wasn’t the bad part. The bad part was calling my wife at 4:30 in the morning and having her cancel the credit card.
He has been talking to his mortgage company because his insurance guy has bailed on him. He didn't know about individual riders for his policy until now. I have something similar, but mine doesn't even require serial numbers. I just have a blanket amount that covers music gear, photographic equipment and computer stuff. I have photos, but all they generally want are receipts. I don't know if they could see anything in the window. He's been doing this for years and never had an issue until now.
He lives in south Houston, not necessarily in the best neighborhood, but not a bad area either. I agree that it is risky to leave anything. I think we all know that. He certainly knows that, but, as I said, he'd never had any problems until Thursday.
Yeah, that totally sucks. BUT... YOU LEFT YOUR SHIZZ IN YOUR DAMN CAR!!! and if he's been doing it for years, then he's been damn lucky.
I know this may sound stupid, but if they are so cheap used, why not look at resale shops, or ebay? Plus, he could look around pawn shops to see if he might find his gear. Unless it was a rival with a vendetta, it was probably kids, who'll get what they can for the stuff.
I had a band that practiced in a dance studio in Deer Park. We'd have the place all to ourselves when they were done for the day and stored some gear like drums and amps in a closet. Well, one weekend they had some kind of battle of the bands there for crappy high school bands. We come to practice one night and a bunch of stuff is missing. They had taken a really nice set of DW drums and a bass amp/head and cab. We eventually find out about the BOB and figure some kid in one of the bands must have stolen it. Somehow we found out about a kid who we think might have it. We found out where he lived and went to confront him and his parents. We get there, he denies it but the parents make him call one of his bandmates who confesses under pressure on the phone. We follow the parents over to the kids house and find the stuff in the garage. The parents of both kids told us that they were killing the band, selling the amps and instruments and were not going to allow the boys to be friends anymore.
