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Has someone ever damaged your gear?

#101
Years ago I left my guitar at a friend’s house. I come back, there’s a gouge on the top like someone hit it with a screwdriver or something. He doesn’t say anything about it so I ask and he replies “I don’t know”. On another occasion I left my amp at his place. He takes it to someone else’s house and leaves it there, all without bothering to tell me.

I lent my son my bass amp so someone at his high school could use it. It comes back with a knob broken off and the shaft is broken clean off so I can’t turn it.
 
#102
glocke1 said:
I honestly do not understand the whole "borrowing" mind set.

I can understand it if it is legitimate emergency, like if I am at a gig and my bass or bass rig dies and I have to borrow one from an opening act that may be there (wouldn't happen because I bring spares of everything but a cabinet), but there are people I've met where the whole borrowing thing is a mind set...Like, they are somehow entitled to your stuff and you have some kind of obligation to let them use it.
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Years ago at work we had a Canada Day party with bands and entertainment. One of the bands asked if their bassist could borrow my bass. I said yes, it wasn’t an expensive bass so I didn’t mind, but afterwards I thought didn’t this guy bother to bring his instrument?
 
#103
dfreeland83 said:
I was involved in a work trade years ago. I worked in a mechanic shop, and guns, crappy cars, and musical instrument flowed like honey... Anyways, in this trade, I ended up with a Red MIM Strat and a Twin Reverb amp... the guitar played nice, but the thing looked like it had acne scars. Pockmarks all over it. Not worn through the poly, but just dents all over it, like a golf ball. I never asked the guy what happened, but I was real curious.
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at least you had a shot at asking the owner, I'd pay to know who the monsters were that rocked the 3 basses I bought halfway for their wear and stage scars, they must have been fun to watch.
 
#104
On the subject of someone else damaging my gear, or more specifically, loaning gear and it coming back damaged, I think everyone should behave according to their own rules and values.

For me, I don't value things over people. I don't appreciate negligence, and I don't loan gear out indiscriminately, but I generally know beforehand what the risks/likelihoods are of something coming back the way I loaned it out. I try not to blame people for behaving in predictable patterns.
 
#105
Jonny Reese said:
It's surprising to me the number of people who are so protective of their gear. It seems prudish and kind of rude. I mean, if we're talking an average bass that's let's say $500 to $1,500 is it really worth coming off this way to your friends and even family members? I totally get it with the higher end boutique stuff, but your bass is not a Stradivarius. Play it, enjoy it, and let others in your life have some of the fun and magic of music too.
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Friends and family members are just as capable of damaging your gear as the guy who wants to sit in at a gig and often the owner is the one left holding the bag when it comes to repair costs. Sure, it’s nice to lend your gear but gotta weigh the pros and cons.
 
#108
Tim Schnautz said:
I don't know about damage, but a friend borrowed a pretty good bass of mine to do a couple shows, and when he gave it back I'd seen that he changed the action by adjusting the truss rod to his specs. This is a no no to make unauthorized adjustments! It never happened again...
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I never even change the settings on the onstage bass amp I've been invited to sit in and use at a live date. You play THAT one wherever it lies. It's not your gear or your gig.
 
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#109
Used to own a MusicMan HD-500 Bass Head which I loved and gigged with it alot. We were playing a gig and the opening band asked to use it. I thought to myself, this thing is 500 watts and has a built in limiter so I should be good, right? Me and two guys from my band were grabbing a bite to eat when I get a call from the keyboard playing saying that the opening band started their set and that smoke is coming out of my amp. The amp was ruined forever and the morale of this story is that I’m a moron for letting someone use my gear.
 
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#110
About 16 years ago, my then-current band was recording an EP, and I let the guitarists use my MIA Strat with Lace Sensors for some tracking. When I got it back, I noticed a ding on the lower bout of approximately 1 sq. cm, and I didn't remember anything that could have caused it, so I suspect it occurred when they had it. They didn't say anything about it, and there was another dude who may have used it in the studio...so who knows? All the paint was still there, so I more or less fixed it with clear nail polish, and then decided not to care about it, which has worked surprisingly well!

Another time, at a gig in that same band, another band's bassist asked to use one of mine because he broke a string. I let him use it, and he was a good player, but his hands must have been extremely dirty because it was all gunked-up when I got it back. I always wash my hands before playing, and frankly don't understand why anybody would do this.
 
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#111
Bulky Bass said:
Used to own a MusicMan HD-500 Bass Head which I loved and gigged with it alot. We were playing a gig and the opening band asked to use it. I thought to myself, this thing is 500 watts and has a built in limiter so I should be good, right? Me and two guys from my band were grabbing a bite to eat when I get a call from the keyboard playing saying that the opening band started their set and that smoke is coming out of my amp. The amp was ruined forever and the morale of this story is that I’m a moron for letting someone use my gear.
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In an instance such as that, my solution would be to set the pre-gain with the other player, with his/her pickups on full, and tell him that he must not change the setting at the amp. Period. No exceptions. If there is resistance, they need to borrow a rig from someone else. Some players don't know squat about settings.

Also part of the agreement is that I reserve the right to go onstage to make adjustments if I suspect the system is somehow in distress. I've only encountered one or two players in my time whom I've allowed to play my rig with no preconditions—because I knew them to be impeccable in their playing habits and amp knowledge.
 
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#113
"My gear is lovely to look at, and delightful to hold...

But if you break my gear, I'll mark it sold!" ;)

Having grown up poor, now that I have gear and endorsements, I responsibly
and RARELY ever let anyone play my stuff. And NO ONE EVER will play my upright
basses other than me unless...

They have more money than me, I'm feeling charitable or
I'm in the ground...

This stuff ain't cheap and work isn't as plentiful as it once was...

But, that's just my opinion.
 
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#116
Greetings from the North,

Back in ancient times I left my black tuck n roll Kustom rig at a friends house who I didn't know had another band he played with. When I next showed up there were cigarette burn scars on the top of the Kustom head. Also the cab sounded a bit weak. When I brought it home I popped open the back and found that he had rewired the speakers to bypass the centre one which he had blown turning a 315 into 215. Needless to say I was extremely pissed and drove back to his house and lucky for me he had just dropped some THC. Being a bit rubbered out he couldn't do anything while I removed his beloved Traynor head from his basement and held it for ransom until he payed for the damage. Well he never payed and I kept and sold the Traynor.

Years later when my trust in fellow musicians returned I lent out my semi hollow blue burst Yamaha BEX4. That bass sounded as good as it was pretty. When I got it back the finish was as checked as a pitted florida orange. Turns out he had left it in his truck for a few days in sub zero winter weather. He didn't know that could happen so there was no reason to take his first born. So I decided not to lend out anything more unless I didn't mind what would happen to it.

Rezdog
 
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#119
Here is a story that shows both sides of lending equipment.

Damage to an amp or a bass guitar is distressing but the costs go up dramatically when you play upright. Our rockabilly trio had a gig on a small stage at a club in NYC. I usually put the bass in heavily padded it's gig bag right after our last set but there was no floor space on this stage so I stood it up in the corner at the back of the stage and we went to "debrief" for an hour or so before we loaded out. Well the drummer debriefs a bit too hard and for reasons unknown, decides to go back up on stage and manages knock my bass over removing not only the neck from the body but shearing the pegbox from the neck at the nut. I left the bass out so I was ultimately at fault but an apology from the drummer would have been nice. As I packed my newly modified "travel bass" into its gig bag it dawned on me that I no longer had an axe and my Rick wasn't going to cut it for the gigs that were on our calendar.

Fortunately one of the guitarists friends is at the gig and sees the whole thing. She tells me that her father played bass and when he passed away he left the bass to her. It had been sitting in her basement for years and I was welcome to borrow it. As I drive out to her place later that week I mention to the guitarist wouldn't it be cool if it was a blond Kay? Well don't you know as I pull the thin cover off this bass , sure enough, it is a '53 Kay Swingmaster. It has some open seams, no sound post and a cello bridge but it's the rockabilly bass of my dreams. I ordered an adjustable bridge for it and cut it myself. Then I brought it to a local luthier to cut a soundpost and reglue the top. A new set of Eurosonics and I was ready to go. I put about $600 into that bass and my labor but it was a sweet bass. I played it for about 3 years checking with the owner annually to see if she wanted it back. Eventually her son decided he wanted to play bass so back it went but at least now it was a fully functional instrument.

I also had my bass repaired by a well regarded luthier in my hometown on Long Island. That took about 10 months and cost me a pretty penny but its been about 17 years since that repair and it is still going strong.
 
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