For the last few years now, Carvin has been equipping their instruments with "Snagg" theft-recovery chips.
I've always been a bit skeptical of how well these things could work; so today I finally got around to reading up on it.
http://www.snagg.com/
I'm still skeptical.
The Snagg chip is an RFID-emitting microchip that gets hidden away somewhere in your instrument. The chip emits a unique alphanumeric ID code when scanned. Simply register your Snagg-equipped instrument with the company and you're ready to enjoy life without the worries of having an instrument stolen.
So they would claim...
A good idea...
in theory, but I still don't see how it can be effective. A system is only as good as the people using it. In order to be effective, the owner has to register their info with the company. If (God forbid) the instrument gets stolen, it is up to the owner to report it to Snagg; to inform poilce that your stolen instrument is Snagg-equipped; as well as reporting it to any music stores, pawn shops, etc where your instrument could be resold. When an instrument matching the description of yours turns up, whatever shop or agency has it simply whips out their handy dandy Snagg chip detector and scans it. If there is a signal, and it matches, your instrument is recovered!
First of all, I really don't think that every police department, music store, and pawn shop out there has the necessary equipment to detect and read a Snagg chip. And even if they did, there's no guarantee that they would even bother with it. Stolen property cases aren't exactly aggressively investigated by the police.
How many pawn shop owners do you know who would care to check if an item was "hot" or not? Not exactly the most reputable people.
Same with music stores. How many times have you seen one ask for proof of ownership before taking a used instrument? I never have.
As for the company's claim of "theft deterrence;" when has an increased chance of getting caught ever stopped a thief? If someone wants to steal it badly enough, they will; Snagg or no Snagg. I doubt they would even know what "Snagg" is; they'd just look at the "Snagg equipped" sticker and say "huh...wonder what that is? oh well, it's mine now!"
And if the thief keeps it and doesn't try to sell it, that completely defeats the whole purpose of Snagg. Are you supposed to make a public plea to the thief, asking him to please turn your instrument in so your Snagg system can work?
Has anyone had any experience with this system? Any stolen gear that's been recovered thanks to Snagg?
