Pawn shops in these parts are required to fill out cards stating the brand name, model, and serial number of all goods they buy (when available). These are then sent to the police department, where they sit in a huge filing cabinet until things are quiet enough for the police to send some unlucky officer over to the filing cabinet, to take out the cards one by one and check them against a registry database with similar info on known stolen goods. Usually it's weeks after an item is pawned before the cops can check it against their database, and by that time it's gone from the pawn shop.

So it should be pretty safe to buy a guitar from a pawn shop, if you're worried about having to return it if it is found to be stolen. On the other hand, if you're worried about having someone else's guitar that was stolen from them, you might want to find a more traditional outlet.

Alex
O..O
=o=