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Stolen Gear - The Travelling Band


HowieBass
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Just in case anybody hears of or gets offered anything from this £30,000 haul...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-30414007

... the items stolen were a Yamaha drum kit, Roland and Novation keyboards, Fender amplifiers, and three guitars - a black Fender Telecaster, an orange sunburst Washburn Augusta and a black Epiphone Les Paul.

Various guitar stands, cables, effects pedals and percussion instruments were also taken.

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[quote name='Diablo' timestamp='1418247845' post='2628513']
You guess they only wanted the van, not the gear. But who would leave £30k's worth of gear in a £2k van? I wonder if they were insured to have all that gear in there? I hope so for their sake.
[/quote]

This an awful situation, but Clearly I'm not the only one wondering why anyone would leave the tools of their trade, which they can't afford to replace, in a van overnight? I do feel for these guys, but, as has been suggested, it's either an opportunist theft of the van, and the gear is a happy byproduct for the thieves, or - it's a targeted theft of the bands gear, by thieves who know what they are doing and may well have recced them outside a venue, unloading.

Let's hope they are properly insured, but I wouldn't bet the mortgage on it.

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Gangs of well organised criminals are targeting venues where out of town bands play, following the van is the name of the game.
They appear to have access to auto locksmiths tools, to open the door and plug in a laptop and start the vehicle.
The gear never shows up which leaves me to conclude they are either selling it in Ireland or shipping to one of the few countries that use 230-240v such as Bulgaria.
The amount of gear going someone would find it again, I have heard of 4 van raids on touring band vans in Leeds alone.
With access to the right tooling, the security built in to vans is useless if they can use a pick to open the door and laptop to start the van up and drive it away.
Investing in a old school style third party alarm that is not disabled by the vans own security and a good steering wheel cover lock is now looking like a mandatory option to at least hold them up whilst you get the bats out.
If they can get the van away, they have all the time in the world to cut the other locks off.

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[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1418295688' post='2628840']...shipping to one of the few countries that use 230-240v such as Bulgaria...[/quote]

The whole of Europe (and more besides...) have mains entirely compatible with UK voltages. There is no discernible difference (for instruments of this kind, at least...) between 210, 220, 230 or 240 v, and all are 50 Hz. Just sayin'...

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They have posted a detailed list of all the gear that was nicked on their facebook page -

https://www.facebook.com/thetravellingband/photos/pcb.10154915610195080/10154915598270080/?type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/thetravellingband/photos/pcb.10154915610195080/10154915598265080/?type=1&permPage=1

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What a real pity.

You can get brake/clutch locking kits on ebay that basically involve keeping the two pedals locked together. When you put the clutch in to change gear, the brake gets applied. Combined with a circular padlock it'd be tricky to disengage.

I'd also recommend those handbrake locks, although as with the StopLok steering wheel locks they use easily-defeatable tubular pin tumbler locks - just look on YouTube for a guy opening one in about 3 seconds. Better than nothing I suppose.

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[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1418295688' post='2628840']
The gear never shows up which leaves me to conclude they are either selling it in Ireland or shipping to one of the few countries that use 230-240v such as Bulgaria.
[/quote]
No doubt an accurate conclusion :D :D

Edited by leroydiamond
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Whenever i read these types of threads i always get annoyed at the responses. There are always people saying they shouldn`t leave their gear on the van. The first thought that comes into my head is, why the hell shouldn`t they leave their gear in the van.It is their gear and it should be there in the morning regardless. Then i have a reality check and know you people are right and they shouldn`t as this is what happens. Just such a sad situation really. Hope the thieves somehow get some bad luck.

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[quote name='Geddys nose' timestamp='1418416816' post='2630143']
[url="http://nwb.co/blog/post/74589/shep/stolen-van-and-gear---update"]http://nwb.co/blog/p...d-gear---update[/url]

Happy Ending ��
[/quote]That is great news. Rarely see a happy ending in these situations

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