I bought an Apple AirTag to track my luggage, but then I decided to try it with my Alembic since I wanted to travel with it in my car and wanted a little piece of mind that I could find it were it to be stolen.
It works! but with some caveats
First, where to put it? Dropping it into a storage compartment of the case would be easiest, but that doesn't help track the instrument once it is removed from the case. And if I don't want to advertise that I'm able to track the instrument, then visibly affixing it to the headstock or strap didn't make sense.
So: inside it went! I carefully wrapped it in plastic bubblewrap and found a space inside the electronics cavity where it could be immobilized and not touch any wires. If I were going to do this long term I'd probably wrap it in a chamois cloth so I wouldn't have to worry about heat from the electronics and then tape it in place.
I could then track the bass wherever it went using the Find My app (I could name it Alembic, but there is no bass guitar emoji!). If I pretended to lose it
I could locate it with my phone. The "Play Sound" rang audibly even when the instrument was in its case.
Best of all, there was no audio interference when playing. (No problems when I tested it within my active-electronics Modulus either.)
OK, now for the caveats:
- If anyone really does take your bass, they will be able to figure out you put a tracker in it: the privacy/security feature that protects a person from being tracked unknowingly by a hidden tracker works against using an AirTag as a clandestine anti-theft tracker.
- If someone has an iPhone or an Android phone with Apple's Tracker Detect app, they will receive a notification soon after taking your guitar that an "AirTag Found Moving With You. The location of this AirTag can be seen by the owner."
- When the instrument has been separated from you for a period of time, it will emit a sound when it's moved.
So: it's not perfect, but I figure it's better than nothing. My main hope is if I ever do have my instrument lifted, I will notice it quickly, start tracking it immediately and get some idea of where it is before a thief figures out what's going on and removes the AirTag from inside.
