Security!

I'm an at home player only, but one thing I do in case my house is broken into (besides my handgun & hollow points :)) is that I have the very last factory preset overwritten with a patch name that reads, "Property Of (my first & last name)". That way, if it is stolen and I happen to find it at a local pawn shop or somewhere, I can prove it's mine. I also have this patch saved in the Axe Fx's flash memory.
 
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I thought about this a few days ago and started looking for a GPS device that I could attach to the rack to keep track of it if it got stolen. Anybody else here doing this already?
 
Funny thing as I was thinking about this last night after loading out from a multi-date gig we just finished. I would be willing to pay an upgraded price to have this type of "locate" GPS feature built into the the Axe Fx. I realize we are not dealing with an Iphone, but a similar feature in a premium product like this would be wonderful.
 
"WE NEED INSURANCE. BUILD FENCES. THEY ARE COMING." In all caps really brother? I take it you think anyone who is concerned with having to leave their expensive investment behind at a venue has nothing to be concerned about? I know it's way beyond the spectrum of reality that some random indecent person would think to try and take something of value from another person. To think how naive and paranoid some of us are? Hell, I need to start removing the locks from my home and vehicles because no one alive would think to take advantage of someone by stealing from them. Thank you for setting us straight.
 
Many years ago my kid brother (who has always been a big boy) was my bands security. He'd just come home from the military so was always ready to hang with the band for the perks. :D No one ever even tried to get near our gear while he was there.
 
hgwy407 said:
"WE NEED INSURANCE. BUILD FENCES. THEY ARE COMING." In all caps really brother? I take it you think anyone who is concerned with having to leave their expensive investment behind at a venue has nothing to be concerned about? I know it's way beyond the spectrum of reality that some random indecent person would think to try and take something of value from another person. To think how naive and paranoid some of us are? Hell, I need to start removing the locks from my home and vehicles because no one alive would think to take advantage of someone by stealing from them. Thank you for setting us straight.
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Geez man, take things too seriously much? :roll


I'm pretty sure Jakobscortum was just trying to be funny (and since I laughed out loud at his post, I'd say he succeeded).
 
Insurance is the very first thing. Keep detailed records of serial numbers, descriptions, and updated pictures of everything.

Never leave your trailer, car, or can unlocked. Even when we're loading in/out we lock the cars up each trip or have somebody standing by the trailer.

Tuck easily carried things out of reach when on stage. Guitars back of stage, heavy stuff up front and keep an eyeline on the stage. Somebody is going to notice a guy trying to haul one of the tops off or a person going into the stage, but might not see somebody casually walking by the stage and snatching a guitar.

I went down the GPS path researching different ways to track down stolen gear and it's fraught with issues. First is power. For GPS to actually work, you need have power to transmit a location. Second is reception. You need a damn good antennae.

There are passive ID chips you can put in your gear, but it requires a scanner to be effective. Carvin puts them in their guitars IIRC. The scanners are basically the same as vets use to scan lost animals. Some pawn shops have them now.

The person who comes up with a good solution to this problem will make a LOT of money.
 
Does the Axefx2 have a kensington lock hole?

Otherwise you could mount this sort of thing in your rack and have it charge off your mains feed. Then you get 30 days of tracking since the last time it was powered up. It seems to require a sim card to talk to the GSM network so there would be some cost associated for that as well.
 
I've been ripped off twice in 43 years. The last time was 6 years ago & believe it or not... (start CSI theme) DNA caught the thieves.... one of the thieves cut himself breaking in and left a significant amount of blood behind. The investigators took samples & called the local ER's looking for someone that may have come in with a serious wound. Sure nuf there was a guy, he denied involvement even tho he lived a block from our rehearsal studio. The investigators got a warrant for DNA & it was a perfect match...BUSTED!!! The guy ratted out the other 2.
There is a funny/stupid side to the story. The thieves took a lot more than they kept. They made multiple trips because they were on foot, but they returned the bigger racks the same night because there wasn't enough room in their small apartment.

I got all of the gear back. My insurance paid me replacement value & when the gear was released by the authorities, I bought it back from the insurance company for 1/10th of the value.

Here's my advice:
1. Get Inland Marine insurance, it'll cover your gear against loss, vandalism, etc. You may be able to get the coverage as a rider on your home owners/renters insurance. You may have to tell your agent that you want Inland Marine insurance(most don't know what type of rider covers professional gear).
2. Make sure theft, loss, vandalism etc is covered in your contract.
3. Record serial numbers & take pics of all of your gear.
4. Remember... locks only keep out the curious. If someone really wants your gear, they'll find a way to get it.
 
I have a lot of the same advice, make sure the gear is insured, and you have documentation, pictures, serial numbers, etc.

As far as at the gig, I have a lot of the same advice there. I always lock my car doors, even if I’m only going to be a minute. I try to never separate my gear. If I do, it’s because I’m loading out, and we try to make sure there is a band member inside as well as outside watching the gear.

I don’t usually wander too far from the stage during breaks. I don’t really have a need to, so I’m always watching the equipment.

This is the important advice not yet mentioned. I don’t let friends of the band help bang gear, especially the friends that help just for the free beer. They may want to help, and they may want to be a part of the show, but they are not mindful, and more often just slow you down anyway. I’ve had people “helping” that the second we are done playing, they start lining stuff up on the sidewalk before we are even don packing things up, and then they don’t stay with the equipment to watch it. I have even had people “helping” that didn’t know which equipment was ours and what belonged to the other band, and then start loading the other bands gear into our truck. Then I just end up apologizing to the other band for the drunk accidental thieves we brought along. Not cool.

I have a system to setting up and packing up my gear. It only takes me 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how much room I have to move. Any help I get just slows me down and gets my gear misplaced. If you aren’t making enough money to warrant paying for a real road crew, then you don’t need it. Just my 2 cents.

Festival season can also be tricky, especially when you are in a tent. The back of the stage can actually be the unlit back edge of a tent. My bass player had a guy sneak under the tent and grab a bass off the back of the stage. Luckily a fan saw it and tackled the guy. Pay attention to your surroundings, I guess is the moral of that story.
 
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