My insurance company has sent me a bottle of Smartwater for my viola. I can't quite get over my horror at the idea they want me to put water on my instrument, but they are a specialist instrument insurer and there are many pictures of violins in the instructions. It doesn't say it would damage the varnish or anything, but then it says put it somewhere "inconspicuous" - not sure there is any such thing because I'll know where it is and I'll see it. Have people Smartwatered their stuff before? Where did you put it?

I confess we never did it to daughter's violin. I couldn't bring myself to do it.

You might want to look at this instead


http://www.itsminetechnology.com/

It is called SmartWater, but it is really a type of paint, which is almost invisible once applied. You would only apply a few drops, so it shouldn't be too visible. The paint is water borne, (I suspect it is a type of water borne acrylic), so it shouldn't harm your instrument.

SmartWater contains tiny flakes of mica or similar, which are etched with a unique number, visible only under a microscope. The paint also fluoresces (or lights up) when exposed to ultraviolet light so it is easily identified at a Police Station. The idea is that if the instrument is stolen, it can be positively identified if recovered. Fragments also tend to come off on a thief's hands, and are difficult to remove, and I am told that Police Stations routinely scan for SmartWater when suspects are 'booked in'.

The only reason I know so much about this is that we suffered a series of lead thefts from the roof of our local church over a period of a few weeks. The lead itself was valued at about 20,000 pounds, but the work to replace it cost more than 50,000 pounds! Thankfully most of this was replaced with a 'lead replacement material' which is not worth stealing; but I had the job of marking the edges of remaining lead with SmartWater so it could be positively identified at a scrap yard. Otherwise our insurance would have been null and void.

SmartWater is very expensive to buy, (I think at least 20 pounds a bottle), so your insurance company is clearly keen to protect your mutual investment. However, read the terms of your policy carefully, as many insurers now decline claims unless certain items are protectively marked with SmartWater.

SmartWater has a website and a help line number (0800 521 669) where they should be able to answer any questions.

SB

I would put it in the peg box, under fingerboard and in the corner of a C bout. It's fine in all those places, but I also put a blob of it on the bottom of my ?8000 violin and it left a very visible mark.

What happens when a smartwater-protected instrument is recovered? Can they match the instrument to the registered owner by just looking under UV, or does a sample have to be scraped off for analysis by Smartwater? This seems relevant to where it would be sensible to put it.

I work in a violin shop and I told the owner that I had heard smart water had to be scraped off. He was shocked and called them straight away to ask No, no sample has to be taken or scraped off.

SmartWater shows up under UV light, but it needs to be examined under a microscope to see the unique number. (I would imagine the Police would be keen to leave the SmartWater in place on the instrument if at all possible, as otherwise it could raise all sorts of questions about contamination, samples being mixed up and so forth.

Your unique number has to be registered with SmartWater (rather like a car registration number with the DVLA), so they know who the instrument belongs to.


SB

My Smartwater registration specifically says it DOES have to be scraped off if required for forensic examination. Looks like they could do with being consistent on this point. The amount that has to be taken off is microscopic, but still it needs to be done and a mark will presumably be left. By this point I suppose you'd just be pleased to see your instrument again because this would only be relevant if it had been stolen and recovered and returned to you, so I suppose a small mark would be a small price to pay for not losing it altogether, but they need to be able to give everyone the same answer to that question.

I'm not sure what the benefits of this are, compared with taking a decent set of photos of your instrument, to be circulated in the unfortunate event of it being stolen.

I suppose it depends on your instrument and how much personality is has. My viola is pretty distinctive, even if someone saw fit to remove the label (which probably devalues it considerably) the varnish has a mistake in it that's really unusual. I suppose that the insurance company also has in mind woodwind instruments, where a large number of extremely similar instruments are produced, and telling one Howarth from another Howarth is not so straightforward.

I'll have to check the policy carefully, though, I don't want to find I'm not insured if I don't apply it.