Expensive basses need a fireproof home.

[benchpress11782]

Hello all. Soo I have about 3 basses that are worth allot. What are some options I can do to store these to be safe from theft and fire. Other than your homes lol. I have a Marleaux, Adamovic, and lesser expensive Kiesel. I am thinking like a rifle safe with temp control. This is what Anthony Wellington uses for his Fodera’s I believe. Any other options? Thank you

 

[Katoosie]

Seems to me like you have already found a solution to your predicament on your own

 

[JW56789]

That's exactly the turnkey solution, but . . . be sure your floors can handle it !

 

[tpa]

If you dont feel they are safe at home, you can leave them in your band rehearsal room. If I had such instruments I would make sure that they were listed in the insurance policy in a section for valuable inventory and concentrate on the playing. I would not consider an instrument safe in a fireproof enclosure as temperatures will rise anyway above what is good.

 

[lowphatbass]

I would take out a well documented insurance policy for retail replacement value. If my house burned to the ground my basses would be a concern, but probably not my primary concern.

 

[Jazz Ad]

A rifle safe offers no protection against fire and temp control is the first devide to turn off in case of abnormal temperature.
The best you can do is a plaster block closet, much better than any rifle case. Which is why we use them to build inside walls.
There is no proper protection against a fire other than preventive measures. Alarm, smoke detectors and so.

 

[Bass V]

even if you're going over 4 digit$ I doubt there's a safe that will keep instruments playable in a complete burndown, unless there's intense sentimental / historical value it's likely overkill.

 

[ryan pate]

Stop, Drop and Rock n’ Roll??

Sorry. I’ll just grab my coat.....

 

[chris_b]

The most precious stuff in my house is probably the cheapest, like family photos etc, so my focus would be to stop thieves breaking in in the first place.

Protection from fire? Don't live in a forest and get insurance. I have expensive basses, amps and cabs but they are all replaceable.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Honestly my thought on this are if I’m away from home and my house burns down nothing is really going to protect my gear. What I do though is always keep my nice bass in its case when I’m not playing it so that if i was home and a fire broke out I could easily grab it and get it out of the house.

 

[JonathanPDX]

Insurance is the best way to go. I use MusicPro but you can research other options. Ask questions, read every line, make sure you're covered for fire/weather damage as well as theft.

Take photos of everything and upload a gear list with serial numbers to the cloud (My MusicPro account has all this stuff saved there just in case.) You could also keep a gear list with your will or other crucial legal documents, in the hands of a third party as an added layer of protection.

As others mentioned, a safe is unlikely to protect wood from fire damage. As for theft, sure a 1,200 lbs. safe might keep someone from snatching them at night, but you're more likely to have them grabbed off the stand at a gig or out of your trunk while loading stuff.

In the end, even the nicest bass in the world is replaceable. The music is in your hands, anyway. The fancy basses just make it easier to get out, and sure, they're great to have, but I'd rather get my cat and my family photos out of a fire than my basses.

Invest in quality insurance, good cases/bags to protect your gear while traveling, good stands to reduce the odds of it falling over, and if you're super paranoid, stage said cases/bags near your primary egress route should you need to exit your home quickly. A good home security system, a motion sensor light, and a camera or three are going to offer you far more protection than a safe.

 

[two fingers]

A rifle safe offers no protection against fire and temp control is the first devide to turn off in case of abnormal temperature.
The best you can do is a plaster block closet, much better than any rifle case. Which is why we use them to build inside walls.
There is no proper protection against a fire other than preventive measures. Alarm, smoke detectors and so.

There absolutely are fire proof gun safes.

 

[MNAirHead]

I’ve been through a fire. My basses and guitars were directly above.

I’d guesstimate that my roster of guitars and basses may be valued at a large value.

It started under my stairs (long story why this fluke happened). I keep them in like a “book shelf” built under the stairs... all in molded plastic cases with foam interiors.

What happened?

1-The cases melted (beyond use).
2-Insurance company sent them to clean up
3-Insurance company sent them to a luthier for inspection and repair

everything was fine on the instruments..... cases melted.

To keep serial numbers and pix of your most important stuff.

————

A prior poster wisely noted that after your fire, guitars will not be your problem.

 

[Jazz Ad]

There absolutely are fire proof gun safes.

And on several occasions I made the insurance pay the content that was ruined.
If there is a true fire in the room nothing is safe.

 

[truand85]

I keep mine on a rack next to a window. In case of fire, I can open/break the window and they're in reach. I also have 3 dogs roaming my backyard at night to prevent anyone else from getting the same idea. So far so good

 

[bassinflorida]

Stop, Drop and Rock n’ Roll??

Sorry. I’ll just grab my coat.....

Hiding it under a desk also works.

 

[two fingers]

And on several occasions I made the insurance pay the content that was ruined.
If there is a true fire in the room nothing is safe.

Maybe things are different with regard to response times for emergency services over there. Fire safes are often rated for time. They aren't designed to sit in a fire for two days while it smolders. However, here in the states (in most areas) a fire is responded to pretty quickly. It would be extremely rare for a safe to "sit in a fire" for an hour. In most cases, the fire is under control in a matter of minutes.

As such, any fire rated safe would protect basses in most areas in the U.S. I have a large one for some items, and a smaller one for documents. I have zero fear about losing any of those items. There isn't a single home within my neighborhood that isn't within 100 ft (30 meters) of a fire hydrant. And that's pretty common here in the US. The nearest fire station is about 1 1/2 miles from me. There are 22 fire stations in my relatively small county (which includes one college town and the rest very rural areas). I'm guessing that is pretty common as well. Nobody in my county is more than 8 or 10 miles (a dozen or so kilometers) from a fire station.

In short, a fire rated safe should work fine assuming you live in an area where fire response times are short, on average. There aren't many consumer fire safes that would withstand a fire that was allowed to burn until it "burned itself out".

 

[spade2you]

Insurance seems to be a little more reasonable. A nice rifle safe is super heavy, expensive, and it could be tricky keeping proper humidity.

On top of insurance, I have a smoke detector that's wired to a home security system.

 

[Ostie]

In a fire, what isn’t ruined by the heat and smoke will be ruined by the water. All of my basses and amps are replaceable. My family isn’t.

 

[Indiana Mike]

I would take out a well documented insurance policy for retail replacement value. If my house burned to the ground my basses would be a concern, but probably not my primary concern.

i know you didn’t cover this, but…
Don’t rely on homeowners insurance. They typically won’t cover the “vintage value”
Went thru this insuring a cello, the language is confusing. Some homeowners only pay for property AS you replace it. Some have limits on items regardless of actual value. I know someone who went thru a fire. He only got reimbursed for property as he slowly replaced it.
No big lump sum was paid