Custom counterweights?

[mgladdish]

I've heard too many instances recently where people have had their instruments nicked, which has got me thinking about what we could do about it.

I've slipped an AirTag into the lining of my gig bag which gives me some peace of mind, but that doesn't help if the instrument itself is stolen.

Which led to a train of thought where I don't see people making/offering custom counterweights? It could be a relatively non-expensive way of customising and personalising your horn. But then, even better, it ought not to be beyond the wit of man to build one that could house an AirTag, so the instrument itself has a better chance of being traced if it goes walkabout.

So, are there people out there making custom counterweights that might do such a thing? Ideally in the UK?

[davdud101]

I've been thinking about this lately as a means of customizing some of the horns I "work" on (purely for asthetics). But I sense that if you're handy with Fusion 360 or similar software, you could probably design them yourself to your exact liking and specs, then have some type of milling company produce it for you.
Certainly wouldn't have to be a place specializing in catering to musicians

[Matt K]

A friend of mine made me one. It is ornamental, adding little to the overall weight of the horn. Indeed, they are not musicians at all! I think they had a CNC machine and a 3D printer and used them for things other than musical instruments. I think he said if he were to charge it would have been ~$50, though this was almost 10 years ago at this point. I paid a tech to solder it and it cost me around $100 plus parts to put it in some OE Thayer mounting hardware. I had them make it so it was removable from the tuning slide. I was thinking I would make other counterweights that I could simply unscrew one out and screw another in but never got around to it. I just sold the horn it was in and I'll probably solder it in place if I remount it since I never took advantage of that particular feature!

Another idea that I've wanted to do is have the YSL645 (torpedo) counterweight added to something. Looks really slick. I dont' know what it is with Yamaha they always seem to have cool counterweights... they've got the one on their 800 series jazz horns that looks like the Batman symbol which is likewise awesome and the one on the Peter Sullivan 8820 complements the horn really well.

You can also order an Air Tag that someone has pulled out of its casing and put into a smaller profile:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1004210796 ... lim-wallet

But if you're going through the trouble of making a custom weight you're probably right that someone could bake it into it more easily. You'll run into the issue where either the air tag is painfully obvious about it's location or really difficult to remove, which will be necessary approximately once a year to replace the battery. Also, would be thiefs are alerted almost immediately if they have an iPhone, certainly within a few hours, that they're being trailed.

[AtomicClock]

Wouldn't an AirTag inside a brass counterweight be neutralized? Brass is not as good a conductor as copper, but it's probably good enough to function as a Faraday cage.

Instead of putting the tag inside, I'd mill a compartment into the side of one, then cover it with something. Don't King counterweights use stickers?