# Is there a microchip for instruments?



## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Is there such a thing?

I mean, we microchip cats, dogs, cows, and even people (the use army can satellite track its soldiers according to the rummer mill). I believe all cell phones have gps locaters built into them now too.

So, why not instruments? I was just reading the posting about a stolen guitar and thought "as distinctive as some scratches and dents are, from 50 feet my eyes are a fail and one tobacco looks just like any other tobacco". Then I thought, it would be a lot simpler to positively identify instruments if they were micro chipped. They don't need to have batteries or other power sources built in. They would be factor set. 1 or 2 millimetres their physical impact on the instrument is not noticeable. And the neck and body could be easily chipped separately too.

I know this wont help the person who has had their instrument stolen but maybe it could help people in the future. It could even be something that customs could use in scanning packages heading out of country. They ping on a stolen item micro chip maybe they could help prevent stolen goods being shipped out? I don't know, it is an idea so, I ask here 


**EDIT you know, it could also cut down or even stop instrument counterfeiting. Especially if a hand holdable scanner for say 20 dollars is available retail. Take it with you, scan the instrument and know immediately the pedigree of your prospective purchase.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

on all the nice guitars i've had, (all 3 of them) i put a label under the rear plate that says "if you are reading this contact: my name, adress, phone #.
because this guitar is stolen
they didn't have email back then or i woulda put that too. when i sold them, i removed the label.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Indeed, labelling, stamping, and otherwise marking equipment is a good "See, there's the proof this is mine". I used to do the same thing with home stereos and bicycles etc. It is a good idea, and something people should do with their valuables, instruments included.

In asking about micro chipping, I think I am taking that idea the next step. With a microchip anything that passes through any kind of shipper that has a scanner can read the chip. The chip wouldn't be more than the size of a grain of rice. It would be passive too, no one would need to be "looking" to see if what's on the conveyor was wanted by the police or not. It could help police in identifying materials seized in raids as well. You may have a label affixed to a panel that is under screws, but if 10,000 items are seized by police in a raid, I have little faith there will be an officer with a screwdriver taking out screws seeing to whom things belong.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The challenge is placing it somewhere that is cosmetically acceptable, easy to install, but not easy to remove. For example, between fingerboard and neck, or between the maple cap and mahogany body of a two-layer guitar.


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

inside the truss rod cover maybe...???...


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## simescan (May 15, 2007)

Have you tried selling the idea to the "big" names?,...You may have something there!


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

trust me...the idea has already been thought up long ago...many people would come out of the woodwork claiming it was their idea...


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## vasthorizon (Aug 10, 2008)

Gibson Custom Shop has been doing this for about a decade now:

"Neck Fit is also where the transponders that are standard equipment for every Custom Shop guitar are inserted into a tiny hole drilled in the neck tenons, which makes removal virtually impossible after the necks and bodies are glued together.
Neck Fitting

“In 1999 we started doing this with the R-9s,” he explains. “Beginning in 2000 they’ve gone into every Custom Shop guitar.”

Mark Case, a member of the Custom Shop’s sales force who you’re likely to see at guitar shows or other special exhibits, says each transponder — about half the size of a typical oblong headache pill — has a distinct number. They can allow guitars to be tracked during the manufacturing process with greater precision. More important to musicians and collectors, the transponders can be used to foil counterfeiters and thieves. If somebody’s trying to sell a guitar, it can be scanned to see if it belongs to another owner, is a genuine Gibson, or is a vintage guitar or a reproduction.

“There have been cases of people trying to pass off our Custom Shop reissues as genuine ’59s and that sort of thing,” Case says. “This is one way to stop that from happening.”

Keeter is inserting a transponder into the neck tenon of an ES-335 with a pair of tweezers as we speak. Then he picks up a toothbrush and wipes a few specs of glue and sawdust off the fretboard and chases that with a gust of compressed air to clear dust from the base of the tenon. He does the same on the neck slot of the guitar’s body after using a chisel to trim an almost imperceptible sliver of wood off its side. Then he eyeballs the slot and lightly digs in with the chisel once more before sliding the neck into place and declaring it right."

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/219-gibson-custom/


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

That is good news from Gibson at the least. 

Though reading the other posted article today about the long time it took to gain evidence in China against the counterfeiter there, it strikes me that they should chip all their guitars and even sell or lease the technology to other makers if Gibson is the only company doing this at this time.


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## vasthorizon (Aug 10, 2008)

keeperofthegood said:


> That is good news from Gibson at the least.
> 
> Though reading the other posted article today about the long time it took to gain evidence in China against the counterfeiter there, it strikes me that they should chip all their guitars and even sell or lease the technology to other makers if Gibson is the only company doing this at this time.


A lot of big companies and individual musicians have been putting chips on their instruments and Fender, Gibson, and Carvin are among the brands that carry this technology. But only the Custom Shop guitars get the treatment.

It is called SNAGG.

http://www.snagg.com/


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Wh8ile it's a good idea--it won't be long before somebody, somewhere can fake those things, and before long they'll do it more cheaply than the real thing, or at the least there will be a way to scam consumers that their guitar has one of these things in it, when it doesn't.

Just thoughts about the whole process, it would be an ongoing thing to develop it more & more.


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## vasthorizon (Aug 10, 2008)

zontar said:


> Wh8ile it's a good idea--it won't be long before somebody, somewhere can fake those things, and before long they'll do it more cheaply than the real thing, or at the least there will be a way to scam consumers that their guitar has one of these things in it, when it doesn't.
> 
> Just thoughts about the whole process, it would be an ongoing thing to develop it more & more.


Not really. Each company has its own type of decoder. Why so pessimistic?


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

vasthorizon said:


> Not really. Each company has its own type of decoder. Why so pessimistic?


Not pessimistic--just realistic.

Anytime any human being comes up with a good idea, somebody comes along and fakes it, or twists it, uses it unethically.

That doesn't mean we don't come up with good ideas and that we don't implement them, we just need to be aware those ideas will be misused. And sometimes take preparations in that regard.

The biggest fraud would be counterfeiters or others saying a guitar has a chip and using a fake system to prove it. So just a warning really.

I did mention it was still a good idea.


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