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At first I saw this listing then I saw FB post below. Owner already knows about reverb listing of PCK.

https://reverb.com/item/99759017-gronit ... old-brass?


Copying form FB:

URGENT!!! Brass Friends, please read and heed. Be on the lookout for someone trying to hock two pro level tubas. Please share with all low brass friends.

Stolen Tubas St. Paul/Minneapolis!

Hey gang, as is expected I am freaking out. I'm currently in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area and BOTH of my tubas were stolen from my trunk in the night.

Gronitz PCK: 6/4 CC tuba in lacquer. It is aging with worn gold lacquer and some dents. Small logo on the bell with a 37365 serial on the inner side of the 2nd valve casing. It has a titanium Baer mouthpiece that I keep plugged into it and a green and brown Messina Covers case with my name embroidered in the small pouch "Travis John Snyder" It has custom sewn brown leather slide catches and a slightly twisted handle extension for the 3rd slide. Purple finger buttons as well.

Also on that case is my slightly rusted Baltimore Brass tuba rest.

Meinl Weston 2250: F tuba, absolutely gorgeous, honestly other than needing a shine and a dent in the bottom bow right side you'd think it was factory. Serial number 13305 on the lead pipe. There are no alterations to stock, factory gig bag, there is a Baer symphony plugged into it and a Baer solo in the case's top pouch. There is also a hand sewn custom oil bag bearing my good buddy's name "Seth Clancey" There is one velcro slide catch on the 1st slide and custom Wilk green finger buttons.

I have filed a police report, but St. Paul police said up to 5 business days to get it processed and receive a report number.

Please please please, if you're from the area, know anything, or have any thoughts or suggestions, let me know. Thank you all for your time. Below is an album of photos from them both including serial numbers and locations.

Thanks again,

Travis

travis.snyder2001@gmail.com

Photos, Contact info, and task tracking:
https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/f ... Wawu3oT48w

I was also in contact with him. The 2250’s bag is visible in the reverb photos as well so that person has both horns.

That's definitely that stolen Gronitz, looks exactly like the one the guy posted that was stolen.
Scumbag didnt even wait a week

The price also went from $600 to $2000 and now $7000. Maybe already changed hands? Same pictures though.

I'm not sure how I can be helpful, but I'm here in Minneapolis. Let me know if I can be of service

I'd perhaps offer a purchase from him, and have a couple of my friends hiding on me.

prodigal wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2026 3:57 pm I'd perhaps offer a purchase from him, and have a couple of my friends hiding on me.

Took me a second to catch the intentional preposition usage there.

If I stole it from him and returned it to Travis, would that still be theft?

Jokes aside, what a nightmare. Sounds like SPPD is basically useless for this. I really hope this gets resolved quickly.

I say we send Brett over to beat him up.
It's in Scandia, Brett, NE of you along the river. Take RonR along for some extra muscle.
Tim

bort2.0 wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2026 4:06 pm

prodigal wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2026 3:57 pm I'd perhaps offer a purchase from him, and have a couple of my friends hiding on me.

Took me a second to catch the intentional preposition usage there.

If I stole it from him and returned it to Travis, would that still be theft?

Jokes aside, what a nightmare. Sounds like SPPD is basically useless for this. I really hope this gets resolved quickly.

Unfortunately very useless. When my horn was stolen I couldn't get anyone to give a Shirt about it. It was almost like theft was so common on campus they stopped even trying to recover instruments. Needless to say I never saw it again. Im glad that at least in this case its seems like its sorta been located at least potentially.

Do you know where it was stolen from? I mean, this is just the worst, I hate stuff like this.

I just hope it gets back to him soon. Pretty obvious the current person possessing the tubas just wants money. The only good news in this is that they should also know that if they bust them up and damage them, then it's worth nothing (or at least much less).

prodigal wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2026 3:57 pm I'd perhaps offer a purchase from him, and have a couple of my friends hiding on me.

I have a friend I take with me sometimes, he's eco friendly so they don't leave any litter at the scene.

If someone actually does buy your horns (not knowing they were stolen) they are still fully recoverable by you. So even if the scumbag thief does sell them you are still entitled to the full return of your instruments. The poor buyer however, is the one who will be out and they will have to try to recover their funds from the seller aka scumbag thief. Hopefully, your instruments can be recovered before an innocent buyer purchases them for what they think is a “steal” of a price. The fact that the case is highly identifiable (and with your name on it no less) really helps.

***while I would always urge caution - if you can locate them and set up a buy at a neutral location - this is the way a lot of folks get their stuff back (we’ve seen this a lot in high end bikes amongst my bicycle club) because in many jurisdictions these days the cops (for a myriad list of reasons) - are just not very helpful. Definitely, go with back up (both obvious and not obvious). If the crook is dumb enough to meet at a police station parking lot -all the better. If they agree to - inform the desk Sargent on duty - of what is about to go down and hopefully they have a camera set up for online parking lot buy and sells that they can observe you and close the deal. Develop a paper trail of proof of ownership to have on you for the cops so the crook can’t just claim they're theirs and say "prove otherwise” with possession being 9 points of the law. With all the activists these days crooks are well versed on what to say.

Not meeting at a police station, but say a parking lot - if you or a family member/pal have a concealed carry permit - definitely do so. You don’t want to go down that road if at all possible of pulling a weapon (and never pull one if you don’t have the wherewithal to actually use it) - but sometimes crooks show up with the intent to steal your purchase money (not that you intend to buy your tubas, but they don’t know that) and keep the stolen merchandise (tubas) as well. Sometimes people have bought for instance their $12,000 bicycles back for a few hundred bucks and they just did that as the easiest course of action. Perhaps the same can be done for your horns.

Best of Luck! It really sucks to have something stolen from you that you have worked so hard to have. We really need to up the punishment in this country for theft. The Romans had the right idea - chop off their heads and stick them on a metal pike on the outskirts of the town for all to see and learn from.

My "friends" are featured in a rather famous Eastwood flick....

prodigal wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2026 8:23 am My "friends" are featured in a rather famous Eastwood flick....

Clyde?

"Go ahead, make my day."

Ya know - we just need to buy our tuba haulers at Suburban Auto Group and rest easy having a tuba in the trunk knowing that the included Trunk Monkey will handle any miscreants.

Just saw on FB that these tubas have been recovered and are back with the owner. Great news!

arpthark wrote: Mon Aug 24, 2026 8:40 am Just saw on FB that these tubas have been recovered and are back with the owner. Great news!

Good news!!!! (Why is this so rare, anymore?)

prodigal wrote: Mon Aug 24, 2026 9:42 am

arpthark wrote: Mon Aug 24, 2026 8:40 am Just saw on FB that these tubas have been recovered and are back with the owner. Great news!

Good news!!!! (Why is this so rare, anymore?)

That's great news! And yes im very suprised to be honest. I've seen folks get thier instruments back maybe twice