Life is full interesting situations... like yesterday!

I've had some strange things happen in the shop over the years... & some of the more "interesting" expereinces have been with people trying to sell me instruments that I either knew or have strongly suspected were stolen.  Yesterday was one of those days... with a twist! 

Having been at the shop since 7:00am in morning to meet the tradies renovating the shop & dismantle some old shelving, I didn't mind being interrupted by one of the boys just after 9am saying "there's a guy here wants to sell a saxophone..." . It was a Yamaha YTS-62 Professional Model Tenor sax in excellent condition & as a Licensed 2nd Hand Dealer (as you have to be to buy or trade-in 2nd hand musical instruments) I was definitely interested... you just don't get many good 2nd hand saxes, especially Professional models. But something didn't feel right...

The guy selling it needed "cash" (or a cash cheque... which we just don't do) & said the sax "used to belong to my Dad... who passed away recently..." & that it was left to him in the Will... but he didn't seem to know anything about where his Dad had played or who with... which I thought was strange.  My suspicion sufficiently aroused, I checked futher & he said it was "about 6 years old..." but I had noticed that it had the latest Yamaha G1 neck on it as well as a new model of case... both of which have only available in the past 2 or 3 years.  It was only then I remembered that only last week I had been asked to order the exact same model sax for a customer of RAC who had one stolen... things were adding up... that was just too big a coincidence. I went to my office & called the RAC to check if they had a serial number of the stolen instrument & bingo... it WAS the same sax! Next? A quick call to the Wembley Police Station & then go back & try & keep our friend relaxed talking (not so easy!).

A long few minutes went by as I tried to act helpful & noncholant while I also pretend to call the Bank to "see if you can get it cashed..."  & the next thing you know  the Police turn up.... but with a whole TV Crew in tow!  They were from the show "The Force" & as luck would have it, they happened to be at Wembley Station when my call came through!  The Police set about doing what they do best with all cameras blazing & after an interview & taking quite a bit of footage they left with our dodgy saxophone seller & bundled him into the back of a paddy wagon!  Oh well... excitement over it's back to reality - I had to go back & finish off dismantling the shelving! I'll let you know if it makes to air!