Has someone ever damaged your gear?

[garrybeers]

I loaned a "mate" a bass that I had used in the studio but didn't use live and then when I went to see him play a little while after he had painted the bass black- badly. I was in such shock I did not know how to feel about it. Of course later the rage took control.

 

[Downwiththebass]

playing a club one night and the owner actually walked past my bass on stage during a break to get to a storage room. Coming back he bumped it and knocked it off of the stand. Didn't even pick it up or apologize. Luckily, no damage done---he went out of business shortly after. Never liked the guy....

 

[GreyEagle]

I came to a rehearsal (we rehearsed 3-4 times a week, so I often left my bass at the guitarists' home where we rehearsed) & the guitarist handed me my bass with a broken headstock laughing! That was my first bass (a Kimberly from a pawn shop)! I had to borrow one of my sister's older basses until I could scrape up for a new one. I stayed with the band out of a misplaced loyalty until it disintegrated! A bitter lesson learned about loyalty's limits...

 

[slam dunk]

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?

I think if you’re a working musician taking any and all the gigs you can, somewhere along the way, someone’s going to damage your gear. Accidents happen, especially at rock or country gigs in bars where the rowdy patrons aren’t always clearly separated from the band.
What is most infuriating is when a band member or employee damages my gear and won’t admit it. I find the damage and absolutely no one comes forward, but I know it’s not the way I left it. I hate, ´´ it was like that’´.

 

[Cskala]

I hear guys over at Fender are getting paid handsomely to damage basses.

 

[Doug P]

I buy used. I can’t have to worry about a ding in some wood. If I was a collector, different mind set. But I’m not. I play hard ( and loud ) and things happen when your around many people some who are not musicians, stage hands, etc…. So ??

 

[dasherf17]

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?

...under penalty of broken pieces...no...nobody touches my gear...

 

[lug]

Yes. On an unrelated note, did you know that if you bury a body under a cow carcass, the search dogs will get all confused?

 

[micguy]

I hear guys over at Fender are getting paid handsomely to damage basses.

I f you want truly authentic relicing, you need to start with absolutely authentic conditions. So, you put a bunch of guitars in a club, crowded around each other and drums, and other gear. Then you have a few drinks each - at least until you start to have problems walking and standing. Now, and only now do you approach the gear.

Everyone straps on an instrument, all crowded together, and... a good looking woman walks by. A few times. Then someone makes a "comment", and another guy yells, "Hey, that's my wife! Another couple guys, who don't say anything, but are pretty fumed, realize (it takes then a while, they're pretty buzzed) that it's their sister that he's talking about. A brawl naturally ensues. Authentic relicing! It's a tough process to get right, but by golly, some of those guys at the Custom shop have it down pretty good. The high cost you pay for for relicing? Their insurance premiums are pretty high at this point.

 

[micguy]

Yes. On an unrelated note, did you know that if you bury a body under a cow carcass, the search dogs will get all confused?

I can't imagine HOW you know this, but I will admit that you probably have superior knowledge in that area.

 

[sunnyboy010101]

I'll start my saying I'm not poor, just don't have any money. I buy my gear used 'cause that's what I can afford. But some of it is in very good condition.

So because I can't afford to replace it (and some has become 'vintage'), NO ONE ever gets to borrow anything. As for 'emergencies', I'm sorry. It's not an emergency to me, so NO. You can't borrow it.

As for gear damage, two come to mind. First one, playing a wedding for a friend. His little brother (grown adult) has to get on stage to sing a few, and manages to destroy the singer's microphone pretending he's Roger Daltry. Refuses to admit he did it, until the VIDEO of the wedding reception clearly shows the moment the capsule detached from the mic!

Second not technically a lending damage, but my daughter's school band wanted a bass. I had just bought my current bass (used!) and had my old one as spare. Offered to sell it to them for cheap. They bought it, and about 6mo later wanted a refund because one of the students "somehow" managed to snap off one of the tuners. Sorry, I already spent the money... no refund. They ended up paying some music store more than the bass was worth to get the tuner replaced (and no, I can't figure that out either!).

 

[Phil Bonk]

A rent-a-drummer for a concert.
GOOD drummer.
BAD sense of gravity.
He dropped a heavy duty music stand on my Fender Jazz from about 6 feet and took a chunk out of the body.
Thankfully a luthier restored it back to the original burst.

 

[fretno]

at some point in the life of my '72 it took a hit . I think we figured out what hit it but not who lol

It's a magical instrument though so perhaps they hit tone into it ? If that is possible .

 

[ad9000]

A couple of years ago I rented my upright bass to the Theolonious Monk Institute for the bass player in their student all-star band to use for a week of West Coast shows and the rehearsals preceding them. I was told the kid was very respectful of instruments and would take great care of it. I asked that they please get in touch with me if the kid wanted to adjust the string height, pickup placement or anything else.

When it came back to me the bass played like s**t - the bridge was radically adjusted (without there being any conversation about that) and the strings (a fairly new set of Spirochores) were completely dead. Also, there was a layer of chocolatey-smelling gunk all over the bass and fingerboard, much like somebody had chewed up a bunch of Oreo cookies, spit them out and smeared it everywhere.

I did relate all of this to the guy in charge of the program - he was very apologetic and offered to pony up for a new set of strings in addition to the rental fee they gave me, which was a modest amount (maybe $200?). I got the bass cleaned up, restrung, set up and basically back to the state it was in previously, but it took a lot of work. Needless to say, I learned my lesson and will never loan or rent any instruments or gear ever again.

 

[IanKH]

When I was 16, back in 1981 I bought my second bass: a Vantage VB600 (Witch Bass). I'd had it for about 6 months and a friend was singing and spun around hitting my bass with the mike stand, taking a divot out of it just below the strings... 41 years later and I still send little reminders.

 

[TTA]

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?

i have been lucky. I had a small dog knock over my first high quality bass and chip the paint in two places. it was a big deal for me to buy so i was devastated.

i played a gig where i let someone use by tube amp. The drummer put a cup of water on it and i almost killed a man that day.

no horror stories. But i was always pretty careful with my gear.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

Yep. Now it takes a tremendous amount of persuasion to get me to allow someone to HANDLE, let alone PLAY, one of my instruments. However, as a co-host of open mics for decades, I let others use my amps regularly, but always under my watchful eye.

 

[ebo]

I was using a GK 115 combo amp at a bar gig. Singer left a pint beer on the window ledge behind my amp. Drummer crawled back to his throne and put his hand on the windowsill and it was loose. Said beer dumped right into the upward facing head and shorted a board. I later wired a 1/4” jack into it and converted it into a 15” extension cab. The head was fried. Same thing happened to a friends keyboard. Now I watch for randomly placed pint beers… they’re gear killers!

 

[RPRWC]

You probably think Im nuts but I only buy decent used gear. It usually comes with a couple of scuffs n dinks but has to work solidly. Like Sensai the first-scratch-panic is already passed. I dont worry about an extra dink but like someone borrowing it to respect it.
Of course, if it came back in more than one chunk we’d have a bit of a chat

 

[Captain Comet]

In a fit of Jack Daniel's-fueled comedy, a former band-mate decided to get the fire extinguisher and start spritzing the rehearsal hall with it.

My amp had a faint permanent crackle noise added to the mix anytime it was powered up after that.