rhysscott
07-07-2017, 05:12 PM
Hey all
I'm new to the forum, but just wanted to share this story with you all!
About 10 years ago I decided I wanted to get my hands on a Crowdster. We were living in London UK, and finally I purchased a Crowdster Plus from another forum member back in December 2010. It was absolutely gorgeous - used it in a rehearsal, and soon after that we went on holiday. While we were on holiday I received the news that our home had been broken into, and my 50th anniversary Tele and my less-than-a-month-old Crowdster had been stolen. As you can imagine, I was pretty gutted!
The police were excellent, and even caught one of the guys, having discovered that he had cut himself on the glass while breaking in - DNA criminology is amazing! Alas, the guitars were probably offloaded without any understanding of their value, in return for some drug money. I searched all the local pawn shops, contacted all the music shops to look out for the guitars, put internet flags on eBay, kijiji, gumtree etc.
For two years I kept up the searching for the guitars without any joy. In the meantime we moved to Vancouver Canada, where we were involved in starting a new church. After a couple of years I figured it was gone and that was the end of it...
About 3 months back, while I was sitting at our dining room table doing some prep, I suddenly thought: "I wonder if my Crowdster is on eBay?"
I did a quick search, and lo and behold - there it was - serial number in the pictures! I got in contact with the Metropolitan Police, who again were excellent. Having verified the guitar with the details they still had on file from the burglary, I was contacted by a policeman who happens to be a guitar player. He obtained the eBay seller details and retrieved the guitar!
Six years after it was stolen from us it arrived back with us in May. I contacted the insurance company to let them know it had been returned. Apart from damage to the case (it's pretty beaten up - looks like it has been through the mill!) the guitar is in great condition - just a couple of small nicks on the soundboard. I let the insurance company know these details and asked what my responsibilities were. I received a super email back thanking me for being honest, and saying that they were happy with the settlement for the guitar!
It's been played tons since! Absolutely love being re-united with this wonderful instrument!
I'm new to the forum, but just wanted to share this story with you all!
About 10 years ago I decided I wanted to get my hands on a Crowdster. We were living in London UK, and finally I purchased a Crowdster Plus from another forum member back in December 2010. It was absolutely gorgeous - used it in a rehearsal, and soon after that we went on holiday. While we were on holiday I received the news that our home had been broken into, and my 50th anniversary Tele and my less-than-a-month-old Crowdster had been stolen. As you can imagine, I was pretty gutted!
The police were excellent, and even caught one of the guys, having discovered that he had cut himself on the glass while breaking in - DNA criminology is amazing! Alas, the guitars were probably offloaded without any understanding of their value, in return for some drug money. I searched all the local pawn shops, contacted all the music shops to look out for the guitars, put internet flags on eBay, kijiji, gumtree etc.
For two years I kept up the searching for the guitars without any joy. In the meantime we moved to Vancouver Canada, where we were involved in starting a new church. After a couple of years I figured it was gone and that was the end of it...
About 3 months back, while I was sitting at our dining room table doing some prep, I suddenly thought: "I wonder if my Crowdster is on eBay?"
I did a quick search, and lo and behold - there it was - serial number in the pictures! I got in contact with the Metropolitan Police, who again were excellent. Having verified the guitar with the details they still had on file from the burglary, I was contacted by a policeman who happens to be a guitar player. He obtained the eBay seller details and retrieved the guitar!
Six years after it was stolen from us it arrived back with us in May. I contacted the insurance company to let them know it had been returned. Apart from damage to the case (it's pretty beaten up - looks like it has been through the mill!) the guitar is in great condition - just a couple of small nicks on the soundboard. I let the insurance company know these details and asked what my responsibilities were. I received a super email back thanking me for being honest, and saying that they were happy with the settlement for the guitar!
It's been played tons since! Absolutely love being re-united with this wonderful instrument!