Partial [REDACTED] Serial Numbers?

[windshieldbug]

I’ve always assumed that it was a horn that they’re reselling, and didn’t want to bother (or check) to see if it was stolen...

[bort]

Over-reacting, or over-redacting?

(^Reminds me of something Klaus might have aaid)

[Dan Schultz]

One possible scenario is that a horn had indeed been stolen and paid for by an insurance company. The instrument was then sold by said insurance company. Purely legit but still could be subject to scrutiny by parties who were not involved in the 'legit' proceedings.

Commonly... the only reason why someone should ask for or indicate a serial number is to apply an approximate date to the manufacture of said instrument. There's no real need to divulge the entire serial number.

I prefer to use the 'XX' as a 'none of your business' indicator. What's the big deal?

[The Big Ben]

You guys are easily annoyed.

[windshieldbug]

... and I easily made too many assumptions!

[Three Valves]

You guys are easily annoyed.

Don’t fight it.

Nurture it!!

[bort]

Tubas, particularly used tubas, have so many identifying marks, that serial numbers really aren't even necessary. They are helpful, and easier... but if a tuba gets stolen, identifying it by dents, wear markings, modifications, etc. is going to be much easier.

How many missing children have ever been spotted/identified by their SSN?

[bisontuba]

attn: people who are selling instruments

If you do not wish to publish the serial numbers of your possessions, do not use XX's. Make up fake numbers.

bloke "Social Security number 354-39-0049"

Hey. That's my SS #..

[tofu]

Tubas, particularly used tubas, have so many identifying marks, that serial numbers really aren't even necessary. They are helpful, and easier... but if a tuba gets stolen, identifying it by dents, wear markings, modifications, etc. is going to be much easier.

How many missing children have ever been spotted/identified by their SSN?

In the case of bicycles if you don't have the serial # registered the cops not only won't look for it - if they do recover it in a bust of a fencing operation they won't give it back to you. There was a huge fencing operation of high end bicycles that got busted when I was the president of my bike club. They had actually hit two friends of mine at one of the early invitationals when they stole two pairs of $2500 wheel sets off the back bike rack on their Bimmer. The thieves had been showing up at the various club invitationals for the summer. Ours was toward the end of the summer so we were prepared. With a couple thousand people coming to the ride these guys would cruise the parking lots while people were getting their registration packets @ 6 am and preoccupied and their guard would be down. They had a bike rack on the top and one on the back with one bike in it. They dressed like bikers and looked like bikers. They were looking for high end European bikes costing $7,500 and up. So we set up a sting with the local cops and put two of my own Colnago's on the back of a BMW and waited. Sure enough they cruised by - stopped - got out with a bolt cutter and cut the locks - loaded the bikes and started to take off. The cops stopped them and my folks had it all on video. These guys were taking bikes immediately to FedX and shipping them overnight to Poland where it would be easy to sell them on the continent as there is a huge demand and nobody from the US would show up looking for their bike -especially since something like a high end Colnago would be more common there and not stand out as much as here in the US. The cops estimated that they had already stolen and shipped over a million dollars worth of bikes that summer and had been at it for over 2 years. They eventually got stiff prison sentences.

Serial #'s are important. Most people don't do a good job of keeping purchase records. Just because you walk into a PD station and say the stolen tuba they have is yours - you aren't getting it back without purchase records and serial #'s. To be naive and not protect yourself is nuts. There are very smart thieves. And some of them specialize in stuff that you might not think of. Don't think for a moment that some have not figured out that some tubas are expensive, tuba players can be a trusting lot, most wouldn't think to ask if it is stolen or for provenance. Sticking ones head in the ground is no way to go through life IMHO. Especially when it is so easy not to reveal full serial #. Why put yourself at any more risk than you have to?

[tofu]

I also lived in New York City for about three years and never got killed or mugged or set on fire. I was never even scared by someone. Amazing. One would think, by reading TubeNet, that if you live in a big, dirty, evil city that you would simply explode after six months from the sheer weight of indignity and abuse heaped upon the human psyche...

Different stokes. Different life experiences. I choose to be unafraid of boogeymen. Peace out, man!

Come to Chicago. 72 shootings just last weekend alone. 13 of those fatal. And it is happening even on the gold coast and in the loop during the day. Just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It's not paranoia - it's just not going out of your way to make yourself a victim. I don't see any benefit to revealing the whole serial #. So why do it? It's like the guy who walks across a parking lot in the middle of a thunderstorm defying the odds of getting hit by lightning & wagging his finger at the gods thinking "what are the chances". Of course some do get hit - even the ones who do survive have nasty issues the rest of their lives - it's like when the electrical system on a car gets fried. Honestly, what bothers me about this discussion isn't that you an informed adult decide to do this for yourself - it is the idea that is getting put across to younger not so worldly members that it's a good idea with no possible negative consequences.

[Three Valves]

Lookit, I don’t care what numbers and nonsense you keep in or out of your posts.

But when you take pictures, leave your stupid, stinking socks on!!

[Radar]

What would be the purpose of posting your entire serial #? If you are selling an instrument a partial serial number gives the buyer the option of looking up the age of the instrument without giving away the entire number. There are all kinds of scams out there, and people are figuring new ways of getting over on others all the time. I personally would rather be safe than sorry and would choose not to disclose a complete serial number on a public forum. If you're comfortable posting serial numbers, by all means do so, for me I think it's an unnecessary risk. Perhaps I'm being overly cautious, or suspicious but it's my decision to make.

[Three Valves]

I personally would rather be safe than sorry and would choose not to disclose a complete serial number on a public forum.

Ah HAH!! Another paranoid, tin foil hat wearing psycho!!

[hup_d_dup]

Again, I challenge someone to provide factual evidence of this having ever been done.

A while back this appeared on TubeNet:

Please do NOT use the term "OBO" in an ad unless you actually mean "OBO". We recently had a CraigsLister sued for this and he lost, as he should have. The term "OBO" in an advertisement has a legal definition in some places, and in those places you much honor such terms if they appear in written or electronic form.

Wow. Sounded paranoid to me, so I challenged him to provide factual evidence of this having ever been done:

Mr. Elephant, please tell us the state in which this decision occurred, and any other pertinent information. I fell free in requesting this since you have written a long post advocating a policy change in TubeNet so it must be an important issue for you.

No answer.

Hup

[Ken Herrick]

I can just not feel at all comfortable about this thread. How two of the most respected people in this forum can get into this sort of puerile battle is beyond me.

COME ON GENTS. Get over it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I keep hearing hungry hogs wanting corn.

The cornfield is where this belongs.

[alfredr]

They're just doing this for our entertainment?

[hup_d_dup]

We all have our own style of paranoia.

Some people are afraid of posting serial numbers.

Some people are afraid of making OBO sales.

Some people (like me) are afraid to use a real name rather than a screen name on scary TubeNet.

Hup

[The Big Ben]

"The strawberries! That's where I had them!"

[hup_d_dup]

... geometric logic ...

[pete edwards]

i grind off the numbers on all my instruments. it makes them easier to identify. "that's a tuba, that's a trombone...etc"