Why not just call Superman? Perhaps he and Wonderwoman will get your gear back for you.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
old band lost my guitar. advice?
- Thread starter JamesGoodall
- Start date
Why not just call Superman? Perhaps he and Wonderwoman will get your gear back for you.
Last I checked, I started this thread for advice, on talk bass. A forum created so bassists could give other bassists advice. Thus far though, it has decayed to petty and some personal insults towards me, with the occasional person such as yourself, posting something they find funny.
Yes, I learned my lesson, and I'm done loaning out gear to anybody but my church where I am the one using in 90 percent of the time and I see it twice a week.
I know I'm late in filing a report, but that's on me. Its not for anybody else to ridicule me for, and again. Lesson learned. The three of us who got our gear jacked are going to the cops next week, filing a report, issuing a claim in small claims, and going from there. If anything happens from that, I'll post it on here, but until then I'm done with this thtead and my having to defend myself to a group of people who seem to take great joy out of belittling me and making sure I'm told 1000 times over what I did wrong and what I should have done etc. etc. ad infinitum.
Peace.
So this thread was a big success. It appears you have learned several life lessons not the least of which are don't loan your gear to drug addicts and never ask for advice on serious issues from a bunch of anonymous boneheads on the internet.
I don't think anyone is meaning to hurt your feelings or to belittle you, certainly not myself. Look at it like some bar-room ribbing, meant to help you get some results. It's what happens when you put yourself out there in public, that's all.
Just a heads-up, I've seen quite a few postings about gear being stolen from churches. Sad, but it still seems to happen too frequently. Some reasonable precautions might be a good idea there.
This thread is a real eye opener. If it were me I'd file a police report so you have an official record and I'd include any photos you might have of the guitar either with your old guitarist or without. Then I'd have a lawyer draft a "Letter of Intent to Sue". It sounds like you dont have enough proof to sue in small claims, but shoudl the guitar show up somewhere else, then a phone call to the police and a police report would settle that. I'm hoping you get resolution as it sucks to have something stolen, especially sucks when it is stolen by someone you know. Next time do as my dad always said: "never lend a dying man your last breath".
Small Claims Court, brother. Get all your ducks in a row though. Receipts and everything else you can find, e-mails, anything that will prove the guitar was yours, serial number pictures ANYTHING, notes, gig photos showing him playing it, really everything that will prove the guitar was yours, you loaned it to him and it is now gone. The only thing a court will look at is proof. As long as you have all of that, you will win small claims, but then you have to follow through with a judgement and put a lean on him. It is just another form to fill out after you win the small claims. That way, if this person claims bankruptcy, it will be noted in court records..
Realy? That's sad to hear. I'm not a church-goer at all, but I would've thought a church would a pretty safe place to leave gear.
- Jan 27, 2010
- 4,141
- 471
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Genz Benz Amplification
MarkMgibson said:
Sad but true. Not necessarily that members of the congregation are stealing, but thieves know that church people are pretty trusting and tend to leave things unattended and accessible. Add that to the large number of people moving in and out of the building at services and it's pretty easy to walk off with stuff.
Also, teenagers whose parents force them to attend.
This is a good point. I would feel much safer if they locked the under-stage area where we mic the amps.
I'm glad you mentioned it. My young niece has been asking me for ages to come and play at one of their church services, and a I finally gave in and agreed.
- Jan 27, 2010
- 4,141
- 471
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Genz Benz Amplification
MarkMgibson said:
Well, the real risk is leaving stuff there unattended. At the last church I ran sound for there were way too many people with keys to the mix locker. The guy who ran the youth program would routinely grab mics and things that were never supposed to leave the sanctuary To use for youth things on Wednesdays and not return them. Then they'd mysteriously disappear from the youth building. We kept changing the locks to prevent this, but somehow he'd always end up with a key. Eventually we went to a combination lock that only myself and my boss had the combination to. Not long after that he was let go and I was forced out. Churches aren't always full of good and righteous people.
Yeah, my sister and brother-in-law are both church elders, and recently, it was noticed that money was going missing from the donations. They worked out who it was and had to set up a hidden camera to catch him.
As you can imagine, the whole thing was very unpleasant. My B-I-L wanted to take the matter to the police, but the pastor refused. Apparently, he'd been buying lots of new toys - video camera, an iPad and other things that people noticed, so it's not like he was having trouble paying the bills. They think he stole over $20 000 over about 18 months - I would have called the police for sure over that sort of money.
I know it was very upsetting for the church members, that's for sure.
