Stolen horns and Serial Numbers

Rob Wilson · Post by **Rob Wilson** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 10:23 pm

Very Good Advise. As a insurance agent that is the best advise. For everything that has a Serial Number write it down. Better would be a picture with the Serial Number and Description. Put it on your computer and make copies on a CD. Take one copy and put it in your desk at work or with relatives. When things are destroyed, lost or stolen a picture is truly worth a thousand words.

Rob W. <><

Tubaryan12 · Post by **Tubaryan12** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:07 pm

Good point Mandrake...My Marzan only has the number 1 stamped on the paddles

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:46 pm

There might be an actual serial number hidden somewhere else. My VMI has two -- one on the valves and another on the mouthpiece receiver. They sure helped when it got recovered from a pawn shop.

But -- is it possible to add a serial number? Is there some legal wrangling involved, or can somebody just stamp one on and keep it in their records?

MartyNeilan · Post by **MartyNeilan** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 11:04 am

Ryan is right - many older tubas do not have serial numbers. My school had a Marzan with no serial number, and for inventory control purposes they had to write "LU001" on the back of the horn in permanent maker! My rotary MW2155 prototype has no serial numbers by nature of being a prototype, and my 30 yr old Cerveny F may not have any either.

Pippen · Post by **Pippen** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 10:02 am

Phil, I don't have any UW-L tubas in my possession but recently in the back of my closet I did discover a particle board lapboard that I'm sure must have come out of Main Hall from when we used to take psychology tests en masse there. Can't tell you how I wound up with it because I don't remember taking it.

I wasn't a music major but I played french horn in wind ensemble and marching band throughout college. The reason I'm here is because a friend coaxed me into playing baritone in the symphonic band just for fun and I liked it so much it was the end of my french horn career. No great loss to the music world, I assure you.

Thanks for the ideas on serial numbers, etc. as we just bought a new instrument for my son. I'll take care of that before it heads out the door today. One thing I will add to the idea heap is that my husband has a very unique instrument--a banjo that he made from a kit when he was younger. It is fairly valuable and as it's so unusual he took the step to have it appraised and keeps that appraisal on file for insurance purposes.

Rick Denney · Post by **Rick Denney** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 12:27 pm

mandrake wrote:Good ... so ... if I were to have a unique engraving put on my instrument with some definitively unique marking, it should be enough?

Yes. Any unique number that is long enough to look should do fine. I would not expect the cops to contact the maker and ask them where they put their marks, especially if they are old and don't have any. Lots of European tubas were marked with serial numbers by their importers just because they didn't do it at the factory.

I would mark the instrument in an inconspicuous place using high-quality engraving. Any jeweler should be able to do a nice job, and it would be worth the money. Any large, randome number will be fine.

Rick "who also needs to do this" Denney