Has someone ever damaged your gear?

[pingvuiini]

Sometimes people will come up to the stage and ask me if they can play bass for a song or two. Then they see mine and they're like, 'Never mind!'

 

[2112]

Closest I've ever come to damage to my equipment happening on-stage or related to band effery has been from Mother Nature: sudden, intense thunderstorms are a thing where I play. We've had a few photo finishes during some outdoor gigs.

My Dad (RIP) once had a drunken customer dump an entire pitcher of beer on him while he was playing sax on-stage at an American Legion hall back in the late 70s. I'm pretty sure Selmer warns against that in their user manual lol. Had to tear the horn down, replace the pads and re-lube the whole works.

 

[evil dewars]

I had blues jammers blow out some 10's a couple of times in the past.

A drunk dancer at a biker club fell off a table, hit her head on my headstock, and landed on my cabinets, which titled an inch from tipping over (on top of her) and then fell back into position.

Same dancer ended the night swan-diving into the steel guitar and guitar rack, knocking everything over.

This dancer sounds hot.

 

[Gunga Din]

Yeh, and it still niggles me a bit today.

Back in '85I had just taken delivery of a brand new Status Series II, not dissimilar to the 30th Anniversary model attached. It was the most I'd ever spent on an instrument, even taking inflation into account, and it was my pride and joy.

Back then, the band I was in got a support gig at Edinburgh University. I arrive mid afternoon for the soundcheck. I kinda know the Monitor guy and we strike up a conversation as we rig the gear. He then asks me if I could loan my bass to the headline act, as the bassist's Wal bass had packed up. I refused. For obvious reasons!

Mere minutes later, the FOH guy comes running over to me and demands to know why I won't loan the bass to the headliner. Again, I state my reasons. He then says that the gig will now not happen and goes away in a rage. Stupidly, and for the first and only time, I relent.

We play our slot and my band goes off to enjoy themselves as I stay to watch the main act and keep an eye on my bass. At the end of the gig I head for the stage and ask for my bass. No one knows where it is so after about ten minutes or so I am finally directed to a room where the main act used as a dressing room. The room was empty....bar my bass.

It sat in a corner, the new finish covered in scratches, and a tone pot had been broken. I nearly cried.

There was no point hunting the band down. The next day, the bass went to the shop to get a new pot and the scratches buffed out. I had learned a very expensive lesson.

 

[juggahnaught]

Has someone ever damaged your gear?

Yes. One person in particular comes to mind; he is a complete *******. Utter cock.




















It's a good thing I'm easygoing about this stuff, because he is me.

 

[squarepeg]

When I was leaving Canada for Europe, I left my Lado bass in a shop on consignment. It never sold, and when I got it back there were several gouges in the finish.

A couple years ago I was at a backyard jam session with my old GK MB150. Another bass player came along and asked to plug in. I said ok, so he plugged in his active bass, all the controls on 10, dimed the volume and master volume on the amp, and blew it up after three notes.

Every time I've lent a guitar, somehow it seems to get buckle rash on the back.

 

[Nashrakh]

Yeah. I once shared rehearsal rooms with another band, and left a bass there overnight. Next time I came back, it hard really deep dings, and no one ever owned up to it. I still don't know how it even happened, it looked like they tried to split wood with it...

 

[Samatza]

Yes, I had to duck out on a gig, family emergency. Guitar player decided he’d play bass, when I got back my bass had the worst buckle rash I’ve ever seen.

On another gig guitar player went to stage during a break to get something, knocked the bass off the stand and bent a tuner.

So now the bass goes back in the MONO Vertigo gig bag between sets and is the first thing I pack when we finish.

Can’t be too careful, people don’t really care about your gear or how much it costs.

 

[GeneralElectric]

I’ve irrevocably damaged someone else’s gear. When I was in my teens/20s I borrowed a thunderbird bass from a friend for a handful of gigs.

At the time I thought I was Jaco and would bend the headstock like a whammy bar on my Fenders. Same move ended up snapping the headstock right off the Thunderbird.

I apologized profusely and paid for the $500 repair.

 

[Samatza]

Yeh, and it still niggles me a bit today.

Back in '85I had just taken delivery of a brand new Status Series II, not dissimilar to the 30th Anniversary model attached. It was the most I'd ever spent on an instrument, even taking inflation into account, and it was my pride and joy.

Back then, the band I was in got a support gig at Edinburgh University. I arrive mid afternoon for the soundcheck. I kinda know the Monitor guy and we strike up a conversation as we rig the gear. He then asks me if I could loan my bass to the headline act, as the bassist's Wal bass had packed up. I refused. For obvious reasons!

Mere minutes later, the FOH guy comes running over to me and demands to know why I won't loan the bass to the headliner. Again, I state my reasons. He then says that the gig will now not happen and goes away in a rage. Stupidly, and for the first and only time, I relent.

We play our slot and my band goes off to enjoy themselves as I stay to watch the main act and keep an eye on my bass. At the end of the gig I head for the stage and ask for my bass. No one knows where it is so after about ten minutes or so I am finally directed to a room where the main act used as a dressing room. The room was empty....bar my bass.

It sat in a corner, the new finish covered in scratches, and a tone pot had been broken. I nearly cried.

There was no point hunting the band down. The next day, the bass went to the shop to get a new pot and the scratches buffed out. I had learned a very expensive lesson.View attachment 4562120

Sorry to hear that this happened to you. This is the reason I don’t borrow gear or lend my gear to anyone.

If they told me they had to cancel the show I’d say let them cancel, not my problem if people can’t look after their gear.

Glad to hear you were able to restore it though. I mean, lots of my instruments have scratches and dings but that’s been from me and over 30 years of use. You still need to look closely to notice these things, how someone can destroy an instrument in one gig is beyond me.

 

[themickster]

My son was telling me about a bass player he is jamming with in the Bay Area who has a 78 Fender P. For some reason, it became very wet and the player's wife unknowingly put it in a gig bag. (Yep. Rode hard, put away wet) Some time later, the guy goes to retrieve the bass, and it has suffered extreme duress. The bass is saved, but not without harsh discoloration. And, it had stayed in tune.

For me, one of my son's high school friends dropped a Rickenbacker 620, and it carved a trophy divot out of it. Still played.

Anybody else?

My bass and I fell off my cycle and lost a bit of nitro from the body. The bass body, not mine. My body lost a lot of nitro.

 

[glocke1]

My son was telling me about a bass player he is jamming with in the Bay Area who has a 78 Fender P. For some reason, it became very wet and the player's wife unknowingly put it in a gig bag. (Yep. Rode hard, put away wet) Some time later, the guy goes to retrieve the bass, and it has suffered extreme duress. The bass is saved, but not without harsh discoloration. And, it had stayed in tune.

For me, one of my son's high school friends dropped a Rickenbacker 620, and it carved a trophy divot out of it. Still played.

Anybody else?

Yeah...tried anyway...

maybe ten years ago I had my Alembic Series 1 bass out on a gig, and I didn't realize it but this was a group of people who apparently had issues with others who had nice expensive gear. One of the friends of the band was getting quite drunk and throwing around comments about how expensive he thought my bass probably was.

At the end of the night I am packing up, bass goes into the case and the case is laying on the floor, this guy "fake trips and falls " and landed on top of the case. He was well over 250 lbs so I am sure he probably thought he'd do some damage. It was so obvious what was going on also.

Overall, These days I just simply do not want anyone handling, touching or messing with my gear. If someone offers to help I'll give them a guitar stand or my iPad stand to carry but other than that I handle all my own stuff.

The life lesson I have learned is that no one, absolutely no one, cares as much about your stuff as you.

 

[JRA]

Has someone ever damaged your gear?
sure, mostly me! but: years ago a girlfriend tripped on the carpet at the studio and tried to stabilize/prevent her fall and 'flailed', knocking over my bass which had been sitting in a stand. it scarred the finish in several places (and one large, long, deep scratch on the front) with several smaller nicks and chips. the instrument still worked fine, she was devastated/embarrassed/guilty, but OK --- it was an accident! i didn't get the cosmetic damage fixed --- played it that way for almost two decades. it had 'character'!

 

[lfmn16]

Yes. I have a guitar player friend that I occasionally loan gear to. He is not good at taking care of stuff, but he thinks he is. I have had multiple pieces of gear come back with cosmetic damage that he hasn't even bothered to acknowledge.

I knew who he was going in. He is a friend. The next time he needs to borrow something, I'll make sure I can accomodate his request.

He’s not much of a friend if he damages your gear with even an apology.

 

[HardNHeavy]

my wife made the mistake of lending an 80's martin acoustic guitar to my neighbor with 2 little girls and a dog...came back with a one inch scratch on the front. And didn't eve say anything about it or apologize.. needless to say i flipped the F out!!

 

[Brich]

Yeah...tried anyway...

maybe ten years ago I had my Alembic Series 1 bass out on a gig, and I didn't realize it but this was a group of people who apparently had issues with others who had nice expensive gear. One of the friends of the band was getting quite drunk and throwing around comments about how expensive he thought my bass probably was.

At the end of the night I am packing up, bass goes into the case and the case is laying on the floor, this guy "fake trips and falls " and landed on top of the case. He was well over 250 lbs so I am sure he probably thought he'd do some damage. It was so obvious what was going on also.

Overall, These days I just simply do not want anyone handling, touching or messing with my gear. If someone offers to help I'll give them a guitar stand or my iPad stand to carry but other than that I handle all my own stuff.

The life lesson I have learned is that no one, absolutely no one, cares as much about your stuff as you.

Man...did you deck this POS in the face? Sometimes assault is acceptable, and if that were my bass, I'd be in jail. Especially if it that was deliberate.

 

[aguacateojos]

St Patty's 2018 - we set up on a big stage, I go to use the bathroom, in the interim the sound guy knocks my bass over and puts a large gouge in the fretboard. Never said anything to me, no apology, I only knew he did it because my band told me.

Lots of four-letter words for him.

Less egregious but more expensive was lending my Eden WT800 to a friend for his open mic... he fried it. That was ten years ago and it's never been fixed. At least he gave me some cash, which I used to buy the Genz Benz Shuttle 9 that I still use to this day.

 

[lbbc]

No one has ever damaged my gear. I take care of it and NEVER loan it out. But my band used to practice in my basement and during one catastrophic rain storm my basement flooded. (4 feet of water). The electricity went out and my sump pumps obviously didn't work during the outage.
My G&L ASAT bass and drum set were floating on top of the water, Yorkville Bass amp and Mackie Powered PA head under water, in my basement. Although I dried all the gear and had it immediately looked at...it was never the same. Plus we never practiced in my basement again.

 

[4-stringB]

Drummer (Isn't it always the drummer!), a big shambling clumsy bear of a guy tripped over my folding bass stand. Fortunately, my bass wasn't in it at the time. Busted off one of the bottom arms. No offer to replace. $40.00 down the tubes. SO...I went to the flea mkt, found a Yamaha timbale stand, solid reinforced steel. Added some padding, a retainer device for the bass. No problems since.

 

[wvbass]

He’s not much of a friend if he damages your gear with even an apology.

I can understand why you'd say that. Sometimes you have to understand the way other people think in order to understand the situation.