Here’s a great post from our friends over at www.thebassplace.com that we thought you might like.
How many musicians do you know who have had their gear stolen? Or maybe a better question would be; how many musicians do you know who have not had their gear stolen? Unfortunately it is far too common. So what do you do when someone walks off with your prized possessions? There are things to do in advance and things you can do after the fact.
First, you must insure your gear. It’s not very expensive compared to replacing it – about $12.00 a month for 10K in coverage. MusicPro Insurance is one of the many companies that will insure your equipment. Make sure that you cover everything you travel with. I once had my pedalboard stolen – eight Pedals at $150 a pop, plus a power supply and a bunch of high quality patch cables and the pedal board itself added up to over $1,500 worth of gear! Your homeowner’s, renter’s or auto insurance will likely not cover your gear if it’s stolen outside of your home. Your musical equipment insurance will cover instruments, amps, cases, cords, mics, stands, effects, tablets, computers and anything else that you use for gigs.
When you fill out your equipment inventory for your insurance policy, make sure that you photograph all of your gear and take down serial numbers. This will help with making a claim as well as filing a police report and finding your gear if it does get stolen. Take pictures of the serial number, headstock, body, etc., and any identifying marks. It’s a great idea to save your inventory list and pictures to a password protected cloud storage account, like Google Drive or Dropbox, to ensure that if you have a computer crash, or stolen, you’ll still have access to all of your info.
In the event that you do get ripped off at some point, file a police report and make an insurance claim. Filling out a police report is stressful but necessary. You will also want to contact local music stores and pawn shops to let them know that they might be receiving stolen gear. Many musicians often find their gear hanging on a wall of a shop years after it was stolen. Pawn shops and music stores are If you’ve filed a police report and the serial numbers and/of photos match, the shop is required to return the gear to the local police department, who will then return it to you with a bit of paperwork
You may also find your gear on eBay or Craigslist. Put the word out on Facebook, Reddit, TalkBass, and any other social media sites/forums where musicians can help keep an eye out for it.
Anymore most police departments don’t even come out to take a burglary or theft police report in person, or at least not in the USA. The only exceptions to this are the theft of firearms, destructive devices, explosives, expensive jewelry and certain chemicals. Most theft and burglary reports are done 100% online now. Tip number 1: Keep a list of your gear, with photos of the gear, lists of serial numbers and photos of the serial numbers. Tip 2: Print out loadout forms for when you go to a gig. List the gear you have, and put a box next to it. If you always carry a certain loadout of cables and cords, list it for its entire contents and list it as one item. Less boxes to check. Same with your pedal board. Put some blank lines for extra stuff you might add for a specific show that might NOT be on your list. Have a notes section for borrowed and rented gear. I was an electrician by day, specializing in industrial electrical work. Theater, live entertainment & live music are all industries. Trade shows were another nice electrical gig. I have had my tools stolen, and I always forgot some of them on the police reports. I just got some tools back after 30+ years and two handguns back after 25 years. Stolen guns stay stolen forever in the USA. I have know old widows who got their late husbands’ guns back 57 years later. Guitars don’t work that way. If insurance covered it… It’s kind of gone forever, even if you find it. You might be able to buy it back at the police auction, if they seize it as stolen property.