Writing your name/info *inside* your concertina?

[Azalin]

I've seen names and even addresses before writen inside concertinas... When you know you're always going to own your concertina until the day you die or can't play anymore, do you think it's a good idea to write your name or other info inside? I am a bit divided. I think it could be a nice signature and proof of ownership, but at the same time, high end concertinas are so rare, you don't really need to put stuff inside to have it marked as yours. If it gets stolen, I doubt something inside would make any difference, would it?

[asdormire]

I've seen names and even addresses before writen inside concertinas... When you know you're always going to own your concertina until the day you die or can't play anymore, do you think it's a good idea to write your name or other info inside? I am a bit divided. I think it could be a nice signature and proof of ownership, but at the same time, high end concertinas are so rare, you don't really need to put stuff inside to have it marked as yours. If it gets stolen, I doubt something inside would make any difference, would it?

 

I don't see how it can hurt as one more bit of insurance in case anything did happen to your concertina.

[Hereward]

I don't see how it can hurt as one more bit of insurance in case anything did happen to your concertina.

 

It is a good idea to write your postcode/zip and house number on the outside with an infrared marker. The police in the UK will give you one if you ask them usually. Then, if it's stolen, it can be scanned and they know who it belongs to. Smart water would be another option.

 

Ian

[Hooves]

I've seen names and even addresses before writen inside concertinas... When you know you're always going to own your concertina until the day you die or can't play anymore, do you think it's a good idea to write your name or other info inside? I am a bit divided. I think it could be a nice signature and proof of ownership, but at the same time, high end concertinas are so rare, you don't really need to put stuff inside to have it marked as yours. If it gets stolen, I doubt something inside would make any difference, would it?

 

 

you can also use RFID chips: here is a link to stew-mac (a luthiery supply store), they sell the chips and the reader.

 

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Accessories/Security.html

 

the device is made by SNAGG.

 

I wrote the maunfatcurer and asked the range of the detector (I was wondering if it could be used to ID a box ina bag as somebody is walkign away with it...) the range they told me was about 3 meters.

Edited April 2, 2009 by Hooves

[Peter]

I have my name and town written on the inside of my instrument - not for the police (though I that's a nice side effect I hadn't thought of) - but instead as a hello for whoever has my instrument after me. I really hope (being a young guy and full of hubris) that a century from now someone will open the instrument and wonder who this Peter bloke was and what he was doing with this instrument.

[Chris Drinkwater]

..... and wonder who this Peter bloke was and what he was doing with this instrument.

 

Well, come on Peter, let's not wait until the next century... spill the beans now, and tell us who you are and what you are doing with this instrument. Playing it, I hope! Come on, don't be shy. We'd all love to know.

 

Chris

[Chris Drinkwater]

I've seen names and even addresses before writen inside concertinas... When you know you're always going to own your concertina until the day you die or can't play anymore, do you think it's a good idea to write your name or other info inside? I am a bit divided. I think it could be a nice signature and proof of ownership, but at the same time, high end concertinas are so rare, you don't really need to put stuff inside to have it marked as yours. If it gets stolen, I doubt something inside would make any difference, would it?

 

 

Why not have a sort of concertina log-book, like they do for cars? Each time you sell your tina, the new owner has to add their personal details. It would also be a nice thing to pass on with your tina and give it some history.

 

Chris

[Azalin]

Well, try not to laugh.... but does someone know how much would some GPS device cost to put inside the instrument (hidden) so that it can be located if stolen? Hehe, that would be so cool.

[Chris Drinkwater]

Well, try not to laugh.... but does someone know how much would some GPS device cost to put inside the instrument (hidden) so that it can be located if stolen? Hehe, that would be so cool.

 

 

The problem with that is that, with such a device installed and switched on, you, the owner, could be tracked anywhere. Imagine you had lied to your spouse, pretending to take the dog for walk, whereas instead, you had really slipped off down the pub for a pint and to play in a session? Your spouse could get suspicious and track you down. And, instead of the sunday roast waiting for you on the table when you got back home, you could be in for a roasting.

 

Chris

[John Wild]

Why not have a sort of concertina log-book, like they do for cars? Each time you sell your tina, the new owner has to add their personal details. It would also be a nice thing to pass on with your tina and give it some history.

 

Chris

 

 

At the recent WCCP Kilve weekend I bought one concertina and sold another. I asked the seller of my new instrument to write a brief history of the instrument as far as it was known, and I have done the same for the new owner of my outgoing instrument. In these cases, we only cover the last 25 years or so, but the idea is that each new owner will add to the history and pass it on in turn. Another player gave me the idea for this a few years ago, and I am writing up notes on my other concertinas just in case I ever pass them on.

 

A printed page inside a protective plastic sleeve should easily slot inside the instrument case.

 

- John Wild

Edited April 3, 2009 by John Wild

[Azalin]

Well, try not to laugh.... but does someone know how much would some GPS device cost to put inside the instrument (hidden) so that it can be located if stolen? Hehe, that would be so cool.

 

 

The problem with that is that, with such a device installed and switched on, you, the owner, could be tracked anywhere. Imagine you had lied to your spouse, pretending to take the dog for walk, whereas instead, you had really slipped off down the pub for a pint and to play in a session? Your spouse could get suspicious and track you down. And, instead of the sunday roast waiting for you on the table when you got back home, you could be in for a roasting.

 

Chris

 

Well, I'm single, so I could keep the GPS in the concertina until I get a real girlfriend!

[Chris Timson]

Another player gave me the idea for this a few years ago, and I am writing up notes on my other concertinas just in case I ever pass them on.

Unfortunately, over the course of a century or two any piece of paper will be lost or destroyed. I have taken to signing and dating my concertinas inside, not at any great length, because it isn't for security, but just enough to give future custodians a clue to those who have played it in the past.

 

Chris

[Simon H]

I bought a couple of new strap buttons for my wheatstone from David Leese, (I didn't want to damage the originals) and got them engraved, one with my name, the other with my phone number.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/341090..._ee2a2835a7.jpg

 

Simon

Edited April 4, 2009 by Simon H

[David Levine]

I have had several instruments stolen. One was a Gibson F4 mandolin taken from my house. I had no identification in the instrument, nor did I have a bill of sale for it. Had my name and contact information been in the mandolin I might have had a better chance of recovering the instrument.

 

In Boston many years ago my car was broken into and a lovely Wheatstone metal-ended English concertina taken from it. (One lesson learned is that you never leave an instrument in your car, in a dodgy area, no matter how inconvenient it might be to carry it.) The concertina turned up two years later in the display case of a music shop in Cambridge. Luckily I was with two members of the band I was in, who remembered the instrument and who identified it as mine. Had I put my name somewhere down in the bellows folds there would have been no question that it was mine - title does not transfer to the thief.

 

Putting your contact information inside the concertina does not lower the value of the instrument. It could well be what saves you from losing the instrument to a thief. I do it now as a matter of course, with all my instruments. In the end it could be you, a bored cop, and the thief with the instrument - and your word against his as to who is the rightful owner.

[NoNaYet]

I have my name and town written on the inside of my instrument - not for the police (though I that's a nice side effect I hadn't thought of) - but instead as a hello for whoever has my instrument after me. I really hope (being a young guy and full of hubris) that a century from now someone will open the instrument and wonder who this Peter bloke was and what he was doing with this instrument.

 

 

Peter,

 

That is exactly why I put my name in my Tedrow baritone. I am reminded of a wardrobe we bought at auction. While cleaning up we found a name and a 1936 date on the back, which made the purchase even more special.

 

I once bought an old story book in french (which I do not speak) simply for the extensive notes in the fly. I tried to contact the address there but found that it ceased to exist in WWII.

 

NNY

[Ptarmigan]

I've seen names and even addresses before writen inside concertinas... When you know you're always going to own your concertina until the day you die or can't play anymore, do you think it's a good idea to write your name or other info inside? I am a bit divided. I think it could be a nice signature and proof of ownership, but at the same time, high end concertinas are so rare, you don't really need to put stuff inside to have it marked as yours. If it gets stolen, I doubt something inside would make any difference, would it?

 

Instrument makers write or print their names on the instruments, so why shouldn't the owners.

 

I have a Yocky Mountain Dulcimer in which the maker has written in pen, his name, the date & his special nick-name for that particular instrument, which of course makes it a one-off.

 

As anything written inside a Concertina isn't actually seen by anyone, unless they open it up, I can't really see why anyone could have a problem with this practice.

 

Cheers

Dick