Guard Your Instruments at Gigs!

[Andy Alexander]

Record the serial numbers and a good description (model, dings, scrapes, etc.) of all your instruments and keep them in a safe place. Getting that info out quickly could make a big difference in the recovery of your instruments. Do it right now!

[Paul Statman]

..only the Bass was left there while we all went out to get something to eat. We took our instruments into the resaurant with us.We simply didn't want any possibility of anything happening to them..

You had me worried for a minute there, Ivan ~ I was holding my breath waiting to read that you got back to find that the bass had been swiped. What a relief!

[journeybear]

Record the serial numbers and a good description (model, dings, scrapes, etc.) of all your instruments and keep them in a safe place. Do it right now!

Yep. I have all that info in the form of a draft in my email - accessible anywhere. Don't have a smart phone or such, and there surely are other ways of doing this, but at least there is this.

[Andy Alexander]

Another thing, put a slip of paper with your name, address, phone #, etc. under the truss rod cover. That could help in proving an instrument is yours.

[Ed Goist]

I have started a social group for those who have lost, had stolen, or found a mandolin family instrument.
If you have lost, had stolen, or found such an instrument, please feel free to start a discussion in this group about the instrument.
Maybe we'll be able to return some cherished instruments to their rightful owners.

[Bertram Henze]

Another thing, put a slip of paper with your name, address, phone #, etc. under the truss rod cover. That could help in proving an instrument is yours.

...and it helps the thief to find your home and lift the rest of your stuff as well. Oh wait - when he comes in through the door, there's you with a shotgun waiting for him! Brilliant!
Another variant of this would be some small incendiary device with a mobile phone inside your instrument. When it gets stolen, you simply dial a number...

Sorry, couldn't resist from fantasizing. I'd really be feeling sad to lose any stuff to unpersons.

[Tom Sanderson]

I know that my homeowners policy would not cover instruments that are used on stage.

Tom, remember when we played that benefit for Dan Gorno? I do not think your instrument is covered under a homeowners policy for a situation like that.

I am going to look into Heritage or Clarion insurance ad switch mine to one of those.

[Tom Sanderson]

Another variant of this would be some small incendiary device with a mobile phone inside your instrument. When it gets stolen, you simply dial a number...

Or install one of those micro chips that they are putting in dogs

[Dfyngravity]

Or install one of those micro chips that they are putting in dogs

Excellent. Another option for luthiers to offer, GPS tracking! I like this. Boy would who ever stole the instrument be surprised when you and a bunch of cops show up. I know you can definitely get one that would fit in your case.....

[AlanN]

And even stand-up basses can be nicked. At IBMA Louisville one year, a gal leaned her bass against a lobby wall, went to the rest-room. When she came back, it was gone.

I don't leave it out of my sight, or even out when playing a gig. I saw a band once at a bar/restaurant. After a set, they put all the instruments in stands on stage. Looked impressive, bad idea. For me, not in my hands, it's in the latched case - and case is with me.

[Bertram Henze]

And even stand-up basses can be nicked. At IBMA Louisville one year, a gal leaned her bass against a lobby wall, went to the rest-room. When she came back, it was gone.

Well, a bass cannot be taken to the restrooms with you (it might double as one, though); anyway, it is probably big enough to install a car alarm.
Apart from technical gadgets, a band should be organized enough to take turns in watching over the equipment while the rest is taking a rest. Even at our ITM sessions, no outsider is to break into the circle while some musicians are out for a decompression or a smoke.

[Paul Kotapish]

I did leave my then Gibson F-9 on the concourse at Ted Stevens Int. Airport in Anchorage one time.......I just got up & walked off to go grab a bite & left the mando sitting by my seat........I was SICK when I sprinted back to the seat 15 minutes later to find the mando GONE!!!!!

Jim, I did the same thing at Heathrow in London at the end of a long tour some years back. I'd checked my guitar and suitcase with the left-luggage service and was taking just my mandolin and a backpack into town. It wasn't until I'd hopped on the underground and the train doors closed that I realized I hadn't actually picked up my mandolin! Panic ensued for the very long ride to the next station, where I dashed off the train for a frenzied discussion with the station master, who helped me contact Heathrow security. Same story. Someone noticed an unattended case and reported it to security. Fortunately they hadn't destroyed the dang thing. Big lesson learned.

I believe David Grisman had a Gilchrist mandolin stolen from on stage or back stage at a festival a few years back, too. Can't remember the details, but I believe it was ultimately recovered.

[Paul Kotapish]

And aggressively spreading the word--and photos--can really help. I know lots of folks--including our own Ted Silverman--who recovered a stolen instrument because an alert colleague spotted it in a pawn shop, classified ad, or music store.

[tprior]

Also, speaking of theft etc...we are in a new age, the internet, we share many things, one of them is how many instruments we have, then we also share when we are not home at a gig ! put 2 and 2 together..

I generally do not share what I own and am not real open with what I own, friends or folks I play music with know, others do not...I don't advertise ..the world got real small with the NET at our fingertips...

Maybe it's over cautious, I don't know but I could never see much value in having everyone in town know what I've got and when I'm not home !

Yeah I know, there's 3 Mandolins in my photo...but I trust all of you here !

[Tom C]

And be aware..at festivals, a good theif will take the instruments and leave the case. You may not know it's missing for hours.

[Kheath]

And be aware..at festivals, a good theif will take the instruments and leave the case. You may not know it's missing for hours.

Oh man, that brought back a bad memory. 10 years or so ago, my dad and i flew to Argentina for a bird shoot, one of the members of our party got to the lodge opened his LOCKED guncase and discovered a brick.........Kevin

[Paul Statman]

Oh man, that brought back a bad memory. 10 years or so ago, my dad and i flew to Argentina for a bird shoot, one of the members of our party got to the lodge opened his LOCKED guncase and discovered a brick.........Kevin

Look on the bright side. Instead of a brick it could have been a banjo.

[sunburst]

A good warning, but I'm not sure I'm taking my instruments into the john.

While that is far from my favorite term for it, I often do, in fact, take my instrument into the rest room, out house, or Porta Potty. It only takes a few minutes to pick up an instrument and be out of sight with it.

[esslewis]

It might be worth everyone's time to check with your homeowners' insurance company. I did, and found out that for very reasonable annual cost -- $30 per year -- my instruments are fully covered for theft or loss as long as they're in my home or car -- even if they are used on stage to make money with. I gig a lot, and it doesn't cover them at venues, I think, but I have my eye on them all the time when I'm out with 'em. This all surprised me, because many years ago, I had heard that, with a different insurance company, I wouldn't have had any coverage at all on a theft of my stuff from my car IF my gear had been used professionally or semi-professionally (to make money with). This policy has a $1,000 deductible, which is a chunk, but replacing everything, or even some of my gear, would cost a lot more than that.

[AlanN]

While that is far from my favorite term for it, I often do, in fact, take my instrument into the rest room, out house, or Porta Potty. It only takes a few minutes to pick up an instrument and be out of sight with it.

Oh yes. At the bg festivals I hit, the mandolin comes into the p-p with me. Small enough to do that, get some looks when I exit, but I don't really care.

[Bill Van Liere]

Oh yes. At the bg festivals I hit, the mandolin comes into the p-p with me. Small enough to do that, get some looks when I exit, but I don't really care.

Yup, that's just one of the situations where I like to carry my case in a bag with a shoulder strap. Kinda nice to have yur hands free.

[Ivan Kelsall]

As somebody else mentioned in this thread,there are alway those nosy folk who'll even open your case to take a peek.I only ever left my Banjo leaning against a wall once (at the back of the stage),somebody got up on stage,reached to pick it up & knocked it over. I heard the thump as the headstock hit the deck & went to retrieve it as well as to remonstrate with the guy who'd knocked it over.Fortunately it wasn't damaged,just out of tune - never again !!,
Ivan

[allenhopkins]

There have to be gradations of risk, depending on where you are. I attended a folk music camp for a week every summer for 23 years, and instruments (including mine) were left all over the place, unattended, sometimes overnight. Even if you took your instruments back to your cabin, they weren't secured -- no locks on doors. The camp staff said that in 30+ years they had one banjo reported stolen. I've gone to folk weekends, and the same basic behavior has prevailed: instruments left in common areas when people went to bed, dinner, wherever.

Not that I'm advocating this per se, just saying that predators aren't always circling overhead like buzzards. I've never had an instrument stolen in 40 years of performing, but I do know others who've had them swiped. One guy I heard of had his Gibson mandocello taken after a gig; next week, his kid heard another middle school boy talking in the lunchroom about his "new 8-string guitar," and the 'cello was recovered quickly.

There's a thin but definite line between caution and paranoia; I guess I've been lucky to stay on the "safe" side of it.