Curious Anti-theft Marking?

[drew]

This is a long-shot post but I traded into this 1975 D40C a couple of weeks ago and just noticed today that it seems to have a serial number etched on one of the tuners possibly for anti-theft or something?

Anyway I know sometimes people go looking for their long-lost guitars and thought I’d post this in case anybody was missing it. I’d be happy to help reunite it to whoever marked it. I just read a story today about Steve Vai getting one of his old custom made guitars back and I love a happy ending.

If this is/was yours or you have any information about it I’d love to hear about it.

 

[geoguy]

If there are three blacked-out digits, it could be a previous owner's social security number.

A SSN was sometimes engraved on objects (musical instruments, bicycles, etc.) as a theft-recovery technique, back in the day.

 

[fronobulax]

SSN for sure. Pattern is xxx-yy-zzzz and that fits what's engraved. In the 1970's engraving the owner's SSN on a high value item was promoted as an anti-theft measure. Police departments often had engraving tools that could be borrowed to do just that.

 

[GAD]

Dammit! Frono got here before I could say wait for Frono to talk about SSN engraving!

 

[West R Lee]

I don't think I'd be plastering my SSN all over the place.

West

 

[fronobulax]

I don't think I'd be plastering my SSN all over the place.

West

Not since the mid-1980's, yes, but it wasn't understood as a danger when it was done. In addition to gear I marked, I have boxes of old health insurance claims and related info that has my SSN because insurance companies used SSN for the policy holder's ID number. My student ID number from college was my SSN so all my transcripts and report cards are in a box to be shredded. There are one or two other places that used SSN as an ID, back in the day.

 

[geoguy]

It used to be shown on bank statements, too . . .

 

[davismanLV]

It doesn't matter anyway. People use SS# for ID. I went to a doctor one time and didn't put it in. They said, "You forgot to put your social." and I said there's no reason you need that! She said fine, then brought paperwork from the printer and said, "Verify all the info is correct." and she already had it in there so she got it from somewhere. It's stupid.....

 

[awagner]

A prior owner of my F612 engraved his SS# and initials on the back of the headstock, and sharpied his name and SS# on the orange felt lining of the case (thankfully most of it is on the inside of the storage compartment). And his last name is about a dozen letters!

 

[5thumbs]

In the '70s the army used our SSN numbers with a prefix as our Service Number.

My dog tags were stolen with my car in 1978, so in theory they could still be floating around somewhere, although I suspect (and hope) they are long gone. I still have my old duffle bag in the garage rafters; if I ever trash it I'll have to remember to paint over the stenciled number before disposal.

As Geoguy and Frono have said, back then it was common practice.

 

[GAD]

When I went to school our SSN was our ID so all of our output (big reports on 132 column greenbar paper) were emblazoned with our SSNs for everyone to see. Honestly, it’s the only reason I have my SSN memorized.

 

[drew]

I figured it was a SSN which is why I blocked out the prefix but I misread something from the SS Administration that made me think maybe it wasn’t. After further research I’m sure it is a SSN. I hadn’t seen that done before though. I know when I was in the AF our SSN was all over everything, dog tags, ID card, medical records, all types of paperwork…they had us write our initial and last four on our laundry. Different world today. Thanks all for the help! If I were to sell something like this I’d change out that tuner.

 

[Guildedagain]

engraving the owner's SSN on a high value item was promoted as an anti-theft measure.

I actually sharpied it into the back cover of a really rare xpensive Les Paul Flametop, and a few owners down the road some dude was showing the guitar off asking people on the internet what the number was because I forgot to erase it when I sold it, oops. But crazy to see it in a pic on the internet with someone, thankfully in Europe, asking what is this number?

I don't think I'd be plastering my SSN all over the place.

Yeah, doesn't seem like a really good idea now.

 

[Roland]

I had some old double barrel shotguns in the sixties that were so old they didn't have serial numbers so I engraved my SS# on the receiver under the barrel of both. I mean, like people are saying, at one time it was the identifying number. They are probably still floating around somewhere.

 

[plaidseason]

My dad was a cop (for 30 years) and he used to engrave our names on our bikes, in case they were stolen. The irony being that our bikes were usually taken from the unclaimed property in the police department basement.

 

[beecee]

My dad was a cop (for 30 years) and he used to engrave our names on our bikes, in case they were stolen. The irony being that our bikes were usually taken from the unclaimed property in the police department basement.

Membership has it's rewards!!

 

[beecee]

This is a long-shot post but I traded into this 1975 D40C a couple of weeks ago and just noticed today that it seems to have a serial number etched on one of the tuners possibly for anti-theft or something?

Anyway I know sometimes people go looking for their long-lost guitars and thought I’d post this in case anybody was missing it. I’d be happy to help reunite it to whoever marked it. I just read a story today about Steve Vai getting one of his old custom made guitars back and I love a happy ending.

If this is/was yours or you have any information about it I’d love to hear about it.

I wonder if you could "find" the person by googling his SS#.

But then again, if you called me I might be tempted to say...yeah...that's my guitar...yeah it was stolen....yeah...give it back. May be more trouble than you imagine.

No good deed goes unpunished I always say.

 

[fronobulax]

I wonder if you could "find" the person by googling his SS#.

If you can find me on the 'net by searching on my SSN then there is certainly a data breach involved.

However after I am gone you should be able to get a name and a SSN by looking at the Social Security Death Index.

I did get a name and some location info for an SSN that was previously discussed on LTG as it also marked a guitar. The owner appeared to be dead.

Ethically, if I had a piece of gear with someone else's SSN I would make some minimal effort to protect the SSN, just in case. I'm not sure what that would actually do besides help me sleep at night.

 

[Rayk]

Never heard of that back in the day I was taught never put your SS number out there guard it with your life ! But we all know now days it bagged potato chips.

 

[F-412Spec]

There's a SSN on the heel cap of my mid-60s Guild F-312. I've always wondered if it belonged to the seller (I've had it about 18-30 years). It's probably a little hard to read these days (had a neck reset).