Guide · Updated 10 October 2026
Stolen gear: what to do in the first 24 hours
Report it to the police in the city where it was stolen and get the serial numbers onto the report. Then tell the venue, the marketplaces, the pawn shops and your insurer.
Start the checklistWe're so sorry. Having your gear stolen is awful, and if you're here, it probably just happened. Take a breath and work through the steps below, one at a time: the first 24 hours matter most. Stolen gear is often resold fast and close to home, which is also how a lot of it gets found. With the right steps and a little luck, there's a real chance you'll get it back.
01 The checklist
Your first 24 hours, in order
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Two questions first
The first 24 hours
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Report it to the police in the city where it was stolen, even if you live somewhere else. Only that department can put it into the national stolen property file.
Many cities take theft and car break-in reports online when there's no known suspect, including Seattle, San Francisco, Austin and Los Angeles. Others don't: Philadelphia takes reports through 911, Nashville's online form has no theft-from-vehicle option, and New York's online form only takes thefts worth $1,000 or less. If the city has no online form for your case, call the non-emergency line.
Before you hang up or leave, ask for the report number and the officer's name. Marketplaces, pawn shops, your insurer and the airline will all ask for the report number.
- One line per item: make, model, color and year
- The serial number of each item, and where it is on the instrument
- What each item is worth
- Photos, receipts and anything else that shows it's yours
- Where and when it happened, how, and the case or bag it was in
The police can enter an item worth $500 or more into the FBI's national stolen property file (NCIC) only if it has a serial number or a number you marked on it yourself. Police search that file, and pawn shop records, by serial number.
Look anywhere the number may have been written down:
- The receipt or order confirmation, including old emails from the shop
- The maker's warranty registration, if you registered it
- Old photos, especially of the back of the headstock, the neck plate or the label inside
- Your insurance schedule or a home inventory
- The shop or person you bought it from
- An old listing, if you once tried to sell it
Post it on your own accounts, in your local music scene's groups and on your city's subreddit, and ask people to share it. Include the serial number, photos and the police report number, and ask people to call the police rather than confront anyone.
In June 2025 the band Raynes got their stolen trailer back in Albuquerque after someone who saw their video told them where it was, and they met the police there.
Make the alertSave a search for the make and model on Reverb, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and OfferUp, and turn on alerts where the site offers them. Search broadly, since a seller may not know the model or may misspell it.
Check every day, and include nearby towns.
How each marketplace worksCall or visit the pawn shops and used music stores near where it was stolen. Give them the serial number, the police report number and a photo, and describe anything distinctive so the staff recognize it.
Many states make pawn shops record each item's serial number and the seller's ID and pass the records to the police. In Tennessee, for example, they have 48 hours. Police search those records by serial number.
Make the message to shopsTell your insurer as soon as you can. Standard homeowners policies ask for prompt notice and a police report for a theft. That's your homeowners or renters policy, or a separate policy for your gear if you have one.
Have the report number ready, with a list of what was taken, what each item is worth, and proof that it's yours: receipts, serial numbers, photos and bank or card statements.
What insurers ask for
02 The alert
Make a stolen gear alert
Fill in what you know and copy the text. It also makes a shorter message for pawn shops and used gear stores.
What you know so far
Your alert
Attach three photos when you post it: the whole instrument, the serial number, and any marks.
STOLEN: [what was stolen] Serial number: [serial] Stolen [where], [when]. Police report: [department], report number [number]. If you see it for sale or someone offers it to you, please don't confront them. Call the police department above with the report number, or contact me: [how to reach you]. Please share.
03 Serial numbers
Where to find the serial number
Use your phone's flashlight for numbers inside the body.
- Fender and Squier
Electric guitars and basses: on the back of the headstock or on the neck plate. Acoustics: inside the sound hole. Amps: on the back of the cabinet or the chassis.
- Gibson
On the back of the headstock, pressed into the wood: eight digits, or nine on guitars made since July 2005. Hollow bodies and acoustics may also have a label inside.
- Epiphone
Usually on the back of the headstock. Some hollow bodies and acoustics have it only on a label inside the body.
- Martin
Stamped on the neck block, inside the body. Look through the sound hole toward the neck.
- Taylor
On the label inside the body, through the sound hole. Guitars from 1993 to 1998 have it stamped on the neck block inside.
- PRS
On the back of the headstock on most models. Older bolt-on guitars and basses have it on the neck plate.
- Ibanez
On the back of the headstock or on the neck plate. Acoustics have it on a label inside.
- Gretsch
On the back of the headstock on current models. Older hollow bodies have it on a label inside, through the f-hole.
- Yamaha acoustics
On the label inside the sound hole.
- Pedals
On a sticker on the bottom plate, or in the battery compartment. Pedalboard velcro can cover or tear off the sticker, so photograph it before you mount the pedal.
- Drums
On the badge of each drum. Every drum in a kit has its own number, so record them all.
- Saxophones
On the bell or the back of the body. On Selmer Paris horns from the 1920s to the 1940s, the number under the low D tone hole is a body number, not the serial.
- Violins, violas and cellos
Usually no serial number. The maker's label inside the f-hole isn't proof, since labels are often copies. Record the instrument itself instead.
If your gear has no serial number, photograph what makes it yours: the front, back and sides, the label, every ding, crack, repair, sticker and modification. Police can also enter a number you mark on it yourself, an owner-applied number, into the national stolen property file.
04 Where to post
Where to post your alert
No single registry covers all US music gear, so post in several places.
- Your own accounts
Post on Instagram, Facebook and X with photos, and ask people to share. Local players and shop staff are the people most likely to see it.
- Local groups
Post in your city's music scene groups on Facebook and on your city's subreddit.
- Stolen 911
A stolen property site with a musical instruments category, with new reports posted in October 2026. It says pawn shops, retailers and police check it.
- For strings and bows
Tarisio's Cozio stolen instrument register, Maestronet and Musicalchairs list stolen violins, violas, cellos and bows.
05 Marketplaces
Watch the marketplaces
Marketplaces give seller details to the police with a subpoena or warrant, not to you.
- Reverb
Search for the make and model and select Save Search at the top of the results. Saved searches feed your Reverb Feed, which Reverb sends as a daily digest. If you find your gear, use Report Listing to Reverb at the bottom of the listing, and give the police the link.
- eBay
Search, then save the search and turn on email alerts for it in My eBay. Police can search eBay listings and seller history through eBay's law enforcement team.
- Facebook Marketplace
Search, then save the search to get notifications. Use Report Item on a listing. Meta asks you to contact the police with screenshots of the listing, the seller's profile and any messages.
- Craigslist
You need a Craigslist account. Search, select save search at the top right of the results, then tick the alert box for it on your Searches tab. Search the cities nearby too.
- OfferUp
Search, then tap Set Search Alert on the results. OfferUp works with the police by warrant or subpoena and asks for the police case number and the officer's contact details.
- Mercari
Save your search to get updates on new listings. You can turn notifications on in your profile's settings.
06 If you find it
If you find it for sale
Don't contact the seller, don't confront anyone, and don't try to buy it back. The same goes for a tracker: police say to keep your distance and call them. An AirTag that's moving with someone else also warns them it's there.
- Screenshot the listing, every photo, the price, the location, the seller's profile and the link. Listings disappear once sold.
- Call the officer on your case, or the non-emergency line, with the report number, the link and your proof: the serial number, photos and receipts.
- Report the listing on the site.
- Look for the same seller, or the same photos, on the other marketplaces.
07 Recoveries
How stolen gear has come back
Police cleared about one in eight reported thefts in 2022. In each of these, the police, a tracker or someone who saw a post found the gear.
- Heart, 2025
A Fender Telecaster and a 1966 Gibson mandolin were taken from the arena in Atlantic City after load-in. Police used surveillance video and license plate readers to find the car, and recovered the guitar.
- Raynes, 2025
The band's trailer was stolen from a hotel parking lot in Albuquerque. They posted a video, someone who saw it told them where the trailer was, and they met the police there.
- Alex Ahn, 2025
AirTags in his stolen electric violins led to a Guitar Center in Marietta, Georgia, where a man was selling them. Staff kept him there until the police arrived and arrested him.
- Kasablanca, 2024
About $52,000 of DJ gear was stolen near Seattle. GPS trackers led the sheriff's office and the police to a motel, and they recovered it with a warrant in time for the show.
- Nine vintage guitars, 2021
Guitars worth about $225,000, taken from a storage unit in Marina del Rey, turned up for sale on Reverb. Investigators spotted them and Santa Cruz police recovered them with search warrants.
08 Insurance
What insurers ask for
Many homeowners and renters policies are based on a standard industry form, which covers your belongings anywhere in the world, with lower limits for some kinds of property. Most figures below are that form's. Your own policy may differ, so read its limits or ask your agent.
- Prompt notice of the loss, and a police report for a theft.
- A list of what was taken, with what each item is worth and receipts where you have them. You may be asked for a signed, sworn statement within 60 days of the insurer's request.
- Proof the gear is yours: serial numbers, photos, receipts, bank or card statements.
- Standard homeowners and renters policies typically cap musical instruments at around $2,000 unless you add a rider.
- Gear you use for paid work, even part-time, may count as business property. The standard form limits it to $2,500 at home and $1,500 away from home, and many policies set it lower.
- Gear in a self-storage unit is limited to 10% of your personal property cover or $1,000, whichever is more.
- Unless your policy has replacement cost coverage, it pays what the item was worth after wear and age, not the price of a new one.
- Car insurance usually pays for the damage to the car, not for gear taken from it.
09 Before it happens
Do this now, so you're ready
Everything in the first 24 hours goes faster when you already have a record of each piece of gear. State insurance departments recommend keeping it somewhere other than your home, such as the cloud.
- Write down every serial number, and photograph it.
- Photograph each instrument from the front, back and sides, with close-ups of its marks, wear and modifications.
- Keep the receipts, or the order emails.
- For gear with no serial number, mark your own number on it somewhere hidden, so the police can enter it.
- If you use a tracker, hide it inside the case or the instrument. Thieves have found and thrown AirTags away.
- Free tools can hold the record, such as the NAIC Home Inventory app and LeadsOnline's ReportIt.
Ramble keeps this record for you. Your Ramble collection holds each item's photos, value and serial number, and you can forward receipt emails to add gear to it. Ramble policies cover theft worldwide, including from vehicles, venues and storage units.
FAQ
Common questions
In many cities, yes, for thefts and car break-ins with no known suspect: Seattle, San Francisco, Austin and Los Angeles all take them online. Philadelphia doesn't take reports online, Nashville's form has no theft-from-vehicle option, New York's form only takes thefts of $1,000 or less, and San Francisco and Seattle don't take home burglaries online. Report it in the city where it was stolen.
Police can enter an item worth $500 or more into the FBI's national stolen property file (NCIC) only if it has a serial number or an owner-applied number. Pawn shop records are searched by serial number too. Without one, a police officer who comes across your gear has no way to match it to your report.
Report it anyway, with photos and a detailed description of its marks, repairs and modifications. Most violins, violas and cellos have no serial, and a maker's label isn't proof. To be ready next time, mark your own number somewhere hidden: police can enter an owner-applied number into NCIC.
No. Police say to keep your distance and call them with the location. An AirTag that's moving with someone else also alerts them and plays a sound, so the location can change quickly.
No. Reverb, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and OfferUp give seller records to the police with a subpoena or warrant, not to the person who reports a listing. Report the listing on the site and send the link to the officer on your case.
Usually, with limits. Many homeowners and renters policies cover your belongings anywhere in the world, but standard policies typically cap musical instruments at around $2,000 unless you add a rider. If you play for pay, the cap on that gear is often lower, as little as $200 to $1,500 away from home. The standard form limits gear in a storage unit to 10% of your personal property cover or $1,000. It also pays the depreciated value unless you have replacement cost coverage. Your own policy may differ.
No one publishes a recovery rate for instruments. Police cleared 12.4% of reported thefts in 2022, according to FBI data, and a cleared case means an arrest, not that the property came back. A report with serial numbers is what lets the police match your gear when it turns up.
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