Excuse me Cash Generator, but that is my guitar.

[Rizla]

Weird one this - Hohner headless guitar that belongs to the bass player in my band - I sold it to him a few years ago and he lent it to a friend of his who died suddenly a few weeks ago.  Now it's sitting in Cash Generator, £350 (which means they'll have paid £100 odd for it). Presumably one of the deceased's relatives sold it to them, or possibly he pawned himself before he carked it. Either way they can't tell us. Seems pointless to go to the police over this, it's not like we can prove its ownership (ironically, I bought it from the other CG down the road 15 years ago for £100.) It's definitely the same one, I know cos it's got an odd tone knob that I fitted. I also have the whammy bar for it. We've been in and informed them it's technically stolen but they say, well you can guess what these parasitic fuckers policy is on these things. Anyway, not sure what course of action to take. See if we can guilt trip them into giving it back for what they paid for it? The annoying thing for me is these parasites making money off a tragic set of circumstances. It's also a very cool guitar that I regret selling to bass boy in the first place, and had in fact agreed to buy back off him.

Any ideas? Or should I just leave it arsed/cigs?

[Buelligan]

Arsed/cigs I reckon.  I can't see how it could turn out non-poisonous if you poke it with a stick is why.

[Flouncer]

They don't half take the absolute piss in those places; they just pull some ridiculous price out of their arse and stick with it until someone really daft comes along. Yeah, that's really annoying, and I'd be tempted to kick off about it, but Buelligan is probably right... I dunno; it might be worth a bit of minor arm twisting and threatening to get the police involved.

[Utter Shit]

No harm in asking but I reckon your chances are probably zero if you can't prove it, the selling customer base for those places is all smackheads so they probably get people in there every day claiming the same thing you are.

[Icehaven]

Your only vague chance is contacting the chap's family to find out who sold it and seeing if they can go back to CG, but that probably won't do much good anyway and there's a pretty big risk of them being a bit annoyed with you approaching them at this difficult time etc. Is it technically stolen if whoever sold it genuinely thought it belonged to the deceased?

[Buelligan]

They don't half take the absolute piss in those places; they just pull some ridiculous price out of their arse and stick with it until someone really daft comes along. Yeah, that's really annoying, and I'd be tempted to kick off about it, but Buelligan is probably right... I dunno; it might be worth a bit of minor arm twisting and threatening to get the police involved.

Yeah, but what if you find his mam's sold it before probate to pay for the funeral and you end up upsetting her or something?  I don't know, all sounds a bit worrying and it's not as if the owner cares any more. 

[Shit Good Nose]

If you sold it then long story short, I'm sorry to say and be blunt, but - tough shit I'm afraid, and yeah arsed, cigs.

The second you sold it you gave up all rights of ownership, so regardless of a morally dodgy deal having taken place since, the shop is well within their rights to sell it for what they want.  Bass boy has more grounds for claim than you, but that's still nowt to do with the place selling it.

Absolute best you can hope for is for the shop to be agreeable to haggling.

[PlanktonSideburns]

i guess no rush to sort it out: no cunts buying headless bass guitars

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

A long shot, but do you have any photos of you and the guitar, with the tone dial clearly visible?
Given the tragic circumstances though, I'm inclined toward a verdict of cigs.

[BritishHobo]

If you sold it then long story short, I'm sorry to say and be blunt, but - tough shit I'm afraid, and yeah arsed, cigs.

The second you sold it you gave up all rights of ownership, so regardless of a morally dodgy deal having taken place since, the shop is well within their rights to sell it for what they want.  Bass boy has more grounds for claim than you, but that's still nowt to do with the place selling it.

Absolute best you can hope for is for the shop to be agreeable to haggling.

Yeah but isn't the point that the bandmate he sold it to didn't sell it on, he just lent it?

[Rizla]

Yeah but isn't the point that the bandmate he sold it to didn't sell it on, he just lent it?

Yeah, I'm basically acting on BB's behalf, cos he's a feckless stoner who won't get it together to reclaim his guitar, which I want him to sell back to me. Anyway I think I'll try and appeal to their better nature, they sort of know us in the shop as we both buy stuff from there on occasion, and I have in my skinter moments had to pawn stuff at their highly reasonable 32.5% buyback rate.

[Shit Good Nose]

Yeah but isn't the point that the bandmate he sold it to didn't sell it on, he just lent it?

Yes it it - but that's his (bass boy's) issue.  As far as CG are concerned Rizla's got no claim on it at all.  None.  Which is the point I was making and why Rizla won't be able to bargain anything with CG.

[Rizla]

You're right but it's complicated -  we've been playing together 25 years and a lot of the gear we've accumulated in that time is sort of communal, with the odd bit of horse trading to and fro. We're basically saying the guitar was the property of the band, which it pretty much is.

[Shit Good Nose]

As I said, the absolute best you can expect is haggling on the price, and you'll be lucky if they do that.  This is Cash Generator we're talking about, not an independent second hand instrument shop.

If bass boy goes in and explains the situation (OR you/he asks the family of the deceased to go in and explain), even then I'll be surprised if you get any more than a shrug of the shoulders and a weak smile.  If you expect any more, you've never dealt with CG...

[Rizla]

I'm not holding out much hope tbh, but I feel it's worth a try, given the relative uniqueness of the guitar. Anyway. Like I say I've bought a fair few bits of gear, guitars, amps, pedals etc from these hops over the years and you absolutely can haggle. You can pretty much always get 10% off for cash if you're prepared to stand your ground, I've found. Worked with a Fender bass, Ampeg amp, I think even the Hohner I got a discount on originally.

[hummingofevil]

I'm not holding out much hope tbh, but I feel it's worth a try, given the relative uniqueness of the guitar. Anyway. Like I say I've bought a fair few bits of gear, guitars, amps, pedals etc from these hops over the years and you absolutely can haggle. You can pretty much always get 10% off for cash if you're prepared to stand your ground, I've found. Worked with a Fender bass, Ampeg amp, I think even the Hohner I got a discount on originally.

Whenever I've bought stuff I always offer a lower price and almost always got a straight "yeah, fine" from them. Always assumed their mark ups are so high you can ask for 20% off and they still making plenty. Are the staff on commission / sales targets?