Would you risk buying a guitar whose serial had been scraped off?

RandallFlagg

matt.drink73 said:

RandallFlagg said:

Nicking a MIM Strat, bit desperate isn't it? Surely a MIA or CS would be better bounty

Or an 11k PRS

I was going to post that but I thought it might still be too early...

sticker

Would you risk buying a guitar whose serial had been scraped off?

No , a criminal record is not worth it .

Handling stolen goods is serious business and if you suspect that something might be hooky and go ahead and buy it and it's later found to be stolen then you could face a custodial sentence .

There is no legitimate reason for removing serial numbers ... if you do it because you think it looks better , you are wrong as the photos above prove - it looks shit .

it's the willingness of people to buy "hooky looking " guitars that lead to £11k PRS thefts  (there has to be a market for them) .

proggy

Thieves will nick anything. If some little toe-rag saw that guitar left unattended somewhere they'd make off with it, whether it's a MIM Strat or a pre CBS one, they probably wouldn't know the value.

octatonic

proggy said:

Thieves will nick anything. If some little toe-rag saw that guitar left unattended somewhere they'd make off with it, whether it's a MIM Strat or a pre CBS one, they probably wouldn't know the value.

Sadly this is true.
It is a short term £20-30 gain for most thieves.
They sell them on for a pittance- actual professional instrument thieves are rare.

sticker

proggy said:

Thieves will nick anything. If some little toe-rag saw that guitar left unattended somewhere they'd make off with it, whether it's a MIM Strat or a pre CBS one, they probably wouldn't know the value.

Oh I know !

the point i was trying to make is that if us "guitarists" insisted on serial numbers where they should be , and have a bit more integrity about something that is a "bargain becasue it came in a dubious trade" then it would help to close down the market for stolen goods.

If there was no market for stolen guitars fewer guitars would be stolen .

Funkfingers

close2u said:

under the pickguard ...

in the neck pocket ...

on the neck ...

The barcode stickers are for quality assurance purposes. They are not the serial number.

close2u

I couldn't square away why the serial was gone but not the MiM part ... anyone looking to properly tamper and deceive would want it to appear MiA I would have thought ... but of course, I had naively forgotten the obvious that some people are stupid.

close2u

The ad has been removed. Just vanished. I don't know if the seller visits here and saw this thread?

57Deluxe

what does it sound like? It didn't bother Clapton that his Brownie didn't match...

jeztone2

No.

having lost a £3K PRS 2 years ago. I’m quite happy to have Sharia Law enforced on guitar thieves. I’m happy to do the chopping myself. 

thermionic

I don’t like hearing that people are pressing for Shania Law. Frankly that don’t impress me much.

hobbio

IvisonGuitars

Well....someone just paid £21k for this....

https://www.atbguitars.com/store/product/1953-gibson-les-paul-standard-goldtop-ohsc-1953lpgt/

Interesting description of how it happened...

fretfinder

miserneil said:

Well....someone just paid £21k for this....

https://www.atbguitars.com/store/product/1953-gibson-les-paul-standard-goldtop-ohsc-1953lpgt/

Interesting description of how it happened...

Must have been the most ham-fisted tech of all time, if in trying to simply remove a label he caused a deep gouge like that! 

IvisonGuitars

fretfinder said:

miserneil said:

Well....someone just paid £21k for this....

https://www.atbguitars.com/store/product/1953-gibson-les-paul-standard-goldtop-ohsc-1953lpgt/

Interesting description of how it happened...

Must have been the most ham-fisted tech of all time, if in trying to simply remove a label he caused a deep gouge like that! 

Yup! Guitar Centre must have some amazingly unlucky YTS guy working there...gouging out the four digit serial but managing to leave a space then gouge out the digit for the year...but leaving the rest untouched...what bad luck!

SteveRobinson

Strange that the deep scrapes are only exactly where the serial number was!

adamm82

Rollin_Hand said:

Ahem...I did this to my own Ibanez, I didn't really like the usual "Made in China" decal or whatever it is.
I just need some light wood stain to cover the patch.

http://i63.tinypic.com/ab03v4.jpg

Does anyone think that removing that "Made in China" will bother people if I want to sell the guitar on?

Wouldn't nail varnish remover work to get rid of it? It did on a squier neck I had once that I was using for a strat project.

impmann

miserneil said:

Well....someone just paid £21k for this....

https://www.atbguitars.com/store/product/1953-gibson-les-paul-standard-goldtop-ohsc-1953lpgt/

Interesting description of how it happened...

For 'interesting' read 'bullshit'

ICBM

impmann said:

miserneil said:

Well....someone just paid £21k for this....

https://www.atbguitars.com/store/product/1953-gibson-les-paul-standard-goldtop-ohsc-1953lpgt/

Interesting description of how it happened...

For 'interesting' read 'bullshit'

I'd take a bet that's very old theft damage, and the other shop then put their decal over it to hide the fact that it had clearly been defaced, given that you wouldn't normally put a decal over the number.

close2u

miserneil said:

Well....someone just paid £21k for this....

https://www.atbguitars.com/store/product/1953-gibson-les-paul-standard-goldtop-ohsc-1953lpgt/

Interesting description of how it happened...

That's not far off what the MiM Strat seller in my OP was asking!
Ha ha.