Excellent Plan/invention For Guitar Security??

[kev]

Hey guys just been thinking about the large degree of break ins to studios or houses and the like (especially over the last few weeks round here!). I was talking to a mate the other day, who has his bike fitted with a transmittor so the cops can track its whereabouts at any time should it go missing... it cost him £50.

Now i was talking with a few guys around these parts who own seriously expensive stuff and ive got a few pieces of gear i'd like more secure too, so i thought why not fit a transmittor into your most prized possesions?
Of course, a radio transmittor is likely to cause interference or something weird, so if it was active only when the jack lead was out, it would be better. Thieves are not gonna have a clue if its in with the guitar electronics or even in the main back plate cavity, and this way, the crook gets caught, you get your actual guitar back.

What do you guys think of this idea? Any blatent flaws?

 

[cobhc]

No obvious flaws as of yet dude, but i've only just got out of bed, so fuck knows......

 

[Jackal_Strain]

Hmm... sounds like a great idea! I'm about to order myself a 2000$ custom guitar and I'd probably cry like a little girl if someone stole it.

 

[Kenneth R.]

you could shield the transmitter, and put it in the electronics cavity or its own cavity, so that the thief would be none the wiser that it was even there

 

[SPLASTiK]

My roommate's Jeep got rifled through last night... He didn't have anything in there really except a boot knife which they took.

 

[Mr. Brokenamp]

But if you shield the xmitter then the signal won't get out of the cavity. Have it so it only turns on when the guitar is unplugged.

 

[gumplunger]

You could always put the transmitter in the guitar case. I mean if they're going to pawn it off or something, what are the odds that the case isn't going to go with it?

edit: And even if the two did get separated, if you found the case, you'd be that much closer to finding out what happened to the guitar. Also, battery life would be an issue, so you'd have to let it emit the signal only once in a while, not constantly - just guessing on that last point.

 

[kev]

Is there anyone around these parts that knows how cheaply this could be done? or how for that matter

 

[006]

Uhh, why not do what we do at the studio I work at...we have a cage type thing built around the front door, like a big ass steel gate. Then we have a big steel bullet-proof door, and then another steel door right behind that, so three total obstacles for thieves to get past in the first place. The first cage door thing is equipped with a really hardcore deadbolt, just rediculous looking. Then the first actual door has a keypad intry as well as a keyed lock, you have to press the correct code and press the "enter" button at the same time as turning the key or else it won't open. Then the third door has just a regular dead-bolt and a locking handle. All of our windows are cemeted solid and boarded up, this was done before the inside walls were put up and treated.

The guitar room and the control room are both guarded by some nice ass doors. The guitar room has a keypad entry like the front door, all of my guitars, amps and my bosses collection of a few very old and rare guitars as well as some vintage Marshall and Fender amps. The control room, office, and guitar room are all watched by rediculous motion-detectors as well as sound sensors. Think of it as the Mission Impossible room with the sound sensor crap, it's really neat. To top it all off, we have digital video surveillance 24/7 that goes to a rackmounted Glyph unit with four 500GB optical drives. Also guarded by a...basically it's a safe, lol. The sad part: those drives are nicer than the ones we use for audio, .

With all of this, including the insurance policy my boss has to cover everything including the carpet in the studio, haha, I don't see the need for any more security crap. Granted, most of the stuff we have at the studio of ours (amps and some of the guitars) are completely non-replaceable, being vintage, sentimental value, or whatever the case. So the insurance could surely reimburse use financially for our lost posessions, but you can't replace a 40 year old acoustic guitar that you remember seeing your grandfather play ever since you were 5 years old.

Yes, I realize not everyone can afford to have a fortress or a rediculous sound sensor'ed alarm system, so I think this little transmitter would be a great idea for guitars or amps specifically. But the problem that's been addressed already is battery life, how to wire it, etc. Oh well.

~006

 

[Matt Crooks]

Right before Fender bought Jackson guitars my rep there said they were working on getting lo-jack type tracking devices built into every guitar. I never heard what happened with the idea, but since there's a custom shop jackson 7 string out there that was stolen from me... I think it's a good idea.