Smart water Options

[bassoonista]

I've just insured my daughters flute with Allianz, as she's started her music degree, and is living away from home. They just sent me a tube of smart water to dab onto the instrument. However, the instructions say not to use on shiny surfaces. As the flute is silver, and they have the serial number, what should I do? Also, would it be OK to use on my bassoon, and our piano?

[andante_in_c]

The advice from one of the London flute shops was to unscrew the crown and put some on the inside so that the headjoint is marked, and to apply some more to the under side of the G# key to mark the body.

[Chris H]

Just a thought, I am selling a saxophone that has Smartwater on it - could that cause problems for the new owners if they decide to use Smartwater as well?

[bassoonista]

The advice from one of the London flute shops was to unscrew the crown and put some on the inside so that the headjoint is marked, and to apply some more to the under side of the G# key to mark the body.

Thank you very much for that. I assume I mark the foot joint internally also?

[andante_in_c]

The advice from one of the London flute shops was to unscrew the crown and put some on the inside so that the headjoint is marked, and to apply some more to the under side of the G# key to mark the body.

Thank you very much for that. I assume I mark the foot joint internally also?

I don't remember them mentioning the foot joint, possibly because the head joint would have its own value, whereas the foot isn't likely to be of any use to anyone without the body. But inside should work, I would think, or possibly on the underside of the C# key.

[Aquarelle]

Please, what is smart water? I've never heard of it.
Also I can't find an insurance company to insure either my flute or my piano. Any one happen to know of an insurance company outside the UK who might do this sort of thing?

[Roseau]

Please, what is smart water? I've never heard of it.
Also I can't find an insurance company to insure either my flute or my piano. Any one happen to know of an insurance company outside the UK who might do this sort of thing?

If you have a piano at home it will be covered by your house insurance (although you will probably have to declare it as a "valuable object" and you may have to opt for a slightly higher overall contents value to cover it).

For my oboe, cor anglais (and daughters' cello, trombone, oboe) I use la Mutuelle d'Assurance des Musiciens. You can get a quote from them from their website. I think they are comparatively more expensive than UK insurance companies but they are not exorbitant as French companies go and for me they offered the best deal. I did use a Swiss based company whose name I have forgotten before but the Mutuelle d'Assurance des Musiciens offers better protection (and a lower franchise) for accidental damage, which is what I think is most likely to happen to my daughters' instruments. If you are only interested in insuring against theft then you can probably find something cheaper.

[david123]

Smart water is a substance that is unique to you. It is a liquid (normally) that contains a code. you brush it onto whatever you want to protect and it is absorbed into the material and extremely difficult to dislodge, even worse for the thief it is invisible to the naked eye.

You can pass the information to the police if your item gets stolen

Hope that helped.

David