Having been at the shop since 7:00am this morning dismantling some more 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 his 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... 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!) & the next thing you know we have a whole TV Crew here from the popular TV show "The Force" & the police set about doing what they do best with all cameras blazing! After an interview & taking some footage & they left with our "apparently" dodgy saxophone seller bundled into the back of their paddy wagon. Oh well... excitement over it's back to reality - I'd better finish off dismantling those shelves I guess! I'll let you know if it makes to air!