Two Stolen Tubas - Salt Lake City

[minnesotamike]

Hi,

Two of my tubas were stolen in Salt Lake City, UT yesterday.

The first is a Gerhard Baier Model 2011A (like the MW Howard Johnson), Silver with a Black Gig Bag
The second is a Yamaha YBB201, Brass with a hard case.

If you come across these please send me a message or post here. This has been posted with Mighty Utah Tuba Section (MUTS), Salt Lake Community College, and Steve Call at BYU.

Thanks.

Mike Goodman

[minnesotamike]

The Gerhard Baier tuba has been recovered thanks to an alert player in a band. I'm still seeking the Yamaha but am extremely happy to have the more valuable horn back.

[arminhachmer]

Excellent. One down, one to go. Tell us a bit more. Did the police get involved? Was there a break in to your car, home, band storage room? What happened?

[minnesotamike]

It was a break-in at my home by a friend of a friend. He took numerous items, so yes the police are involved.

Recovery, and his eventual confession and pending arrest, are the result of a good Samaritan. The person who bought the Silver Baier found my band folder and called a member of the band to report the license number of the thief. Eventually, his conscience got the better of him and he called the police to find out how to turn in the tuba. Without his assistance and honesty, the tuba would be long gone and nailing the thief would never have happened.

I think he realized that the horn is fairly unusual, so he would have had a difficult time taking it to gigs without someone recognizing. The Utah tuba community is fairly small. Between Steve Call at BYU, my conductor, Craig Ferrin at the SLCC, and my son at the University of Utah Marching Band, someone would see the tuba if it wasn't shipped off to California.

I'm very fortunate. For those that are curious, I did provide a reward to the person who turned in the tuba. I couldn't afford to make him whole, which I regret, but without his intervention nothing would have been solved.

So some good news from Salt Lake City.

[Pappajohn52]

I'm glad you got one tuba back. Keep you eyes on ebay in case it goes up for sale there. My son's college band director had a Yamaha euphonium stolen a few years ago. I knew the horn and found it for sale on ebay. The police got involved. They recovered it and the pawn shop that had it for sale was able to track down the guy that sold it to them.

[arminhachmer]

[quote="minnesotamike"]It was a break-in at my home by a friend of a friend. He took numerous items, so yes the police are involved.

Wow. Thank You for sharing the story. Hope Nr. 2 shows up soon, perhaps when the 'perp.' is 'interviewed' by police.

Just the idea that your 'baby' is stolen makes me shiver. A friend who is a string bass player no longer stays in motels en route as a snow bird since he had his bass stolen from the car one time. Never recovered. He now just takes short snoozes at rest stops with the bass in the passenger seat. Hope i am as fit and tough as he is at 95 if i ever get there.
Armin

[RyanSchultz]

Bump for Mike. I'm sorry for your loss; best of luck.

[ScottM]

You might check with your homeowners insurance carrier as they might reimburse the reward you paid and that might allow you to make the person who turned it in closer to whole. I am really glad you got the horn back.
ScottM