| Author | Message | ||
| funkyjazzjunky
Senior Member Username: funkyjazzjunky Post Number: 1015 Registered: 5-2007 |
Ever loan you bass out and have the borrower 'fix' your pickup screws? VMG | ||
| jcdlc72
Senior Member Username: jcdlc72 Post Number: 475 Registered: 11-2009 |
I Certainly have not, nor am planning to do, hope not to ever need to loan any of my instruments (specially NOT my Alembic!). I even get annoyed when a trusted friend of mine uses any of my instruments and changes my strap setting (And that is why, among other more aesthetic reasons I have sorted out on some instruments to leather eyelet-type straps, which cannot be easily changed), let alone having my pickups meddled with. I guess all my instruments have costed me sacrifices and are very valued to me -whether they are expensive or not-, to let anybody do anything to them. I was considering, some months ago, to put some of my amps as backline for rent, and every time the thought crosses my mind, I get the creeps, and quickly change my line of thought, go figure... So I certainly hope you're not talking about a real situation that might have happened to you, and I don't wish it to anybody! | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 4809 Registered: 5-2009 |
NO , NO, NO ! Not ! Ganse verboten !!!! ( Totally forbidden) skull and cross bones ! Poison !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wolf Von Verboten ! NO SMILES ! | ||
| rustyg61
Senior Member Username: rustyg61 Post Number: 1798 Registered: 2-2011 |
You lost me at "loan out your bass!" | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 4810 Registered: 5-2009 |
I remember when I loaned out my 1965 Fender Dual Showman , about 30 years ago , well long story short , he destroyed the output stage by disconnecting the speakers while under a full load. SO there are lots of BOZOS in disguise out there ,  . When I asked him what happened he told me that I lent him a BUM amp ! Well ___ I have been there and done that my friends ! NEVER AGAIN . Unless you really know they are not another BOZO . Some guy who learned the hard way _ (smiles again ) | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 279 Registered: 2-2010 |
I don't have any problem with it. I have a lot of stuff from being a repairman, and my friends know that they can use anything I have. I've never had a bad experience, so the responses in this thread are kinda startling. It's not even something I've spent any time worrying about. | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 2229 Registered: 5-2002 |
I think I have 1 custom 5 string (non-Alembic) out on loan, 2 or 3 amps, and a fEARful 15/6/1 right now. I loaned an acoustic guitar to someone I met working for the Sierra Club while she was here for a semester. Everything has come back as good or better than it left. Am I just too generous about this stuff? | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 6371 Registered: 7-2004 |
I currently have two guitars and a portable amp out on long-term loan. Of course I have some instruments I wouldn't loan out, and I've certainly known some people to whom I wouldn't lend a pick. Bill, tgo | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 4931 Registered: 6-2002 |
If it was an alembic they wanted to borrow then my first thoughts would be "are you out of your ____________________________________ ,( fill out any expletives appropriate to your language), mind". However what would come out of my mouth would be a polite but firm no. I think my musician friends know that anyway and would not even ask. I have a non alembic bass that I use only for practice away from home and at a push to help in a desperate situation then that one might go out. For my alembics there are two immediate exceptions which are probably unlikely but worth mentioning. If Stanley Clarke or Jimmy Johnson were over in the UK on tour and needed a bass because their instrument was delayed or otherwise unavailable. I would feel ok loaning either of them one of my basses even though Stanley looks like he can be quite brutal with a bass. I'm sure they both could get the bass fixed and back to me if anything bad happened to it. In exchange I'd like prime seats for the gig, backstage access for 2 and live pictures of them playing my bass. Not much of a fee to have a backup instrument in the UK. :-) | ||
| pauldo
Senior Member Username: pauldo Post Number: 1599 Registered: 6-2006 |
Vann-Di, That is a hypothetical question . . . right? When I read the ". . . fix your pickup screws." An involuntary audible gasp escaped my mouth. | ||
| keith_h
Senior Member Username: keith_h Post Number: 2380 Registered: 2-2005 |
I guess it depends on what is meant by loan. I have let guitarists I've been in bands with borrow one of my guitars for rehearsals and gigs when theirs was in the shop. However the guitar came home with me each evening. I wouldn't be comfortable loaning my Alembics at all unless it was to someone from the Club that I knew reasonably well and was present where they were being played. Otherwise I won't loan any of my equipment where it is out of site or my general control after having bad experiences when younger. Keith | ||
| 811952
Senior Member Username: 811952 Post Number: 2426 Registered: 10-2003 |
I've loaned the Alembic out several times, sometimes for months at a time. I've loaned the Lakland fretless. Generally not amps, though, but some outboard gear. People are generally good, and I don't just loan things to anyone. They need to pass the gut test. There's a guy who lives 75 miles from me that keeps bringing his pristine Ric to my gigs to play, and he had me keep it when he went on vacation recently, but he won't take any of my basses... yet. They are wonderful things, but in the end they are just things. John | ||
| jcdlc72
Senior Member Username: jcdlc72 Post Number: 476 Registered: 11-2009 |
Well I think the key phrase here is "Just not to everyone". I have also lended equipment (mostly NOT instruments) to other acquaintances and friends, with various results. Just recently, an artist I played with about 4 months ago at a festival asked me to loan him a chorus pedal for the gig (a LARGE stage), and he went wired, straight his guitar to this pedal, to a backline Vox AC30 amp. Well, the guy thrashed the stage in some attempt to put out a show, and my pedal went literally flying, still tied to the cords, about 4 times. A resistent, not so expensive pedal, mind you, but anyway. Same guy who at a rehearsal at my house broke one string on one of my guitars without even mentioning anything about replacing it (Gig was pretty well paid, tho). This guy will never get anything of my equipment again, for sure. On the other hand, one of my former students, who has been a member of one of my bands for some time now, has been as responsible all around as I would have wanted, and more. He was having some rehearsals with friends of him at his house, and I offered him an 8-channel mixer so he could do better. I ended up giving it to the guy, who is taking a nice care of it. So it all depends, I guess, thing is in most cases it seems you'll never know until something happens. Question is: Are you willing to take the risk? | ||
| rv_bass
Junior Username: rv_bass Post Number: 35 Registered: 8-2014 |
I suppose depends on the person and circumstances. (Message edited by RV_BASS on March 08, 2016) | ||
| edwardofhuncote
Senior Member Username: edwardofhuncote Post Number: 874 Registered: 6-2014 |
I'm pretty generous with other musicians, especially ones I know personally, and I'm fortunate enough to have a few nice quality instruments that I'd gladly loan out to a fellow player in a tight spot. But not my Alembic - not for any reason. And the kind of folks I'd be loaning a bass to would never ask to borrow my Alembic, much less expect to. As for "fixing" pickup screws (or adjusting anything else) on said instrument... that's a little over-the-top. As long as no lasting harm was done, it's a sin, but forgivable since it was likely committed in ignorance. Some people genuinely don't know any better. | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 4811 Registered: 5-2009 |
Actually I have had good and bad experiences with lending out equipment but I have not been ask to lend out a musical instrument per se without my being in the presence of it being played . Not that long ago I was at a gig and I was ask by a keyboard player if a bass player who I did not know could sit in on one tune . This bass player had a big belt buckle , rings on both hands and chains on his neck and there was no way that I would have handed my Alembic Bass to him regardless of who he was, thirty years ago I would have felt peer pressure to do so but now I know better . I said " no"___ as politely as possible and made a joke about my self and problems with my OCD ! He answered with a smile and said " no worries . it's ok ." I lent out some DOLBY SR equipment a while ago to a most gracious individual once who ask to pay rent per diem for the equipment. I was happy to do so ! ______ 30 years ago I had not developed a good ability yet of making a good judgement of whom to lend to and who not .I was inept to that then . Wolf | ||
| 5a_quilt_top
Member Username: 5a_quilt_top Post Number: 59 Registered: 6-2012 |
First (and last) time I loaned a quality piece of gear to a "friend": The lead singer for the first band I was in during high school decided to learn guitar so he could back me up on the 2-guitar material we were doing. He got himself a decent brand new SG - which he babied and wouldn't let anyone else touch - but had no amp. Since I had two, a Music Man HD 130 and a Fender Quad Reverb (both in like-new condition), I offered to loan him the Quad until he could get his own amp. I figured since he was beyond meticulous with his guitar, my amp would be treated with the same respect. Wrong. A few weeks after he started using the amp, I noticed that one of the control knobs was busted in half, the grill cloth had acquired several small tears and stains and the tolex was looking a little rough. When I commented on the damage, he replied "Hey what's the big deal? It still works, man. You're way too anal about your gear - it's a working tool and it's gonna get beat up." End of loan and, shortly thereafter, end of my involvement with band. | ||
| fmm
Senior Member Username: fmm Post Number: 454 Registered: 6-2002 |
I've loaned gear before, mainly to students and former students. One student took my Yamaha BX-1 to Europe. My electric upright has been loaned to students and friends. No one has asked to borrow my Alembic. I think I would allow that, if I was at the gig. | ||
| jcdlc72
Senior Member Username: jcdlc72 Post Number: 478 Registered: 11-2009 |
Sonicus's history about the bass player with the big belt buckle and rings made me remember when I started studying guitar, waaaay back then in the very early 80s, the was a time when the same teacher had to put together both the Classical (where I was then) and Electric (Where I wanted to be!) Guitar classes at the same time, in the same classroom. We early teen kids on Classical training admired the slightly older guys with their electrics, and asked them for tips and licks we could try (mostly unsuccessfully) on our nylon strings. But there was a lot of a comrade thing to it, as some of them weren't able to do some of the lessons we had to. I specially remember one guy they called "The crazy little one", which had a cream colored, maple neck 70s 3-screws neck joint strat with a few cigarette burns in the headstock. It was the first strat I ever played, and I still remember how amazed I was at how it felt, and how easier to play it seemed compared to my Nylon-strung Giannini. Anyway, the guy was a charm to talk with, and was eager to let me play on his strat every now and then, unless one of his friends, who had a black Gibson Les Paul (A Custom, if I recall correctly), all shiny and all. This guy would play this guitar with extreme caution, had towels everywhere not to scratch it, only once I saw some other guy playing it with this guy literally over the other, telling him to "avoid making any skin contact with the guitar body, because it can develop stains". It was the pre-MTV era back then, but I had seen more than enough of players who were not that neurotic about this, and immediately thought "there must be something wrong with this guy". 30-something years after I think... Why, then, would he even bother to bring this guitar to a class full of teenagers? Why even taking it out of the house, if he would spend so much time and energy by NOT having it touched? How would he do when actually having to play it? I've never heard of this guy ever again... and some of the other guys even became somewhat famous around here. Still to this day, I have not seen anybody as obsessed with not touching the guitar's finish as that guy. Not that I would play my Alembic wearing a big, bulky belt buckle (sounds like a tongue twister!) myself, while swinging the instrument all over as I play... But there are extremes, in every situation, for almost anything, I guess... | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 1025 Registered: 9-2004 |
Yamaha BX1 = Cool! All you got to do is let them understand that you expect the loan of their wife in exchange. Works like a charm... | ||
| tubeperson
Senior Member Username: tubeperson Post Number: 531 Registered: 5-2005 |
That wife thing may not be a good deal, be careful what you trade for. I ask for a $10,000 deposit if anyone ask to borrow anything. That tends to settle things. Just keep in mind, Prince sat in with the Roots recently, borrowed a vintage guitar from the regular guitarist, and decided to smash it to bits. Not cool and a warning for all. If the player is a Pro Player, he should not have to ask to borrow your gear, he should have backups. | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 4813 Registered: 5-2009 |
Most players and owners of vintage guitars have an emotional connection with their instruments and therefore the loss of said instrument will cause emotional hardship. Here is a question for the lawyers in our forum ; is emotional hardship grounds to claim punitive damages in a law suit ? Therefore replacement value of the instrument plus emotional/punitive damage could be claimed in such a law suit, Is that correct ? My question is hypothetical and will consider any response as well . Theory of jurisprudence and legal precedent in such matters if you will . Wolf | ||
| terryc
Senior Member Username: terryc Post Number: 2463 Registered: 11-2004 |
My Alembic only goes to places with me firmly attached to it....or I will demonstrate WadoKai Kihon Nos 1 to 5 along with a few techniques from when I did Taekwon Do for 20 years! | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 1026 Registered: 9-2004 |
Unless we are talking a Fender P bass, which has been known to survive head on collisions with docking aircraft carriers and has been used to hit home runs on the field with major league baseball teams. | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 2233 Registered: 5-2002 |
Speaking of all this, hey, Jazzy! When are you going to return the Series II I loaned you? :-) | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 4934 Registered: 6-2002 |
Never, I guess you can keep the deposit though..... :-) | ||
| funkyjazzjunky
Senior Member Username: funkyjazzjunky Post Number: 1016 Registered: 5-2007 |
No Pauldo. It happened. The 'improvement' was undone but still | ||
| slawie
Senior Member Username: slawie Post Number: 853 Registered: 8-2002 |
I loaned a mid 70's Rogers holiday snare to a friend of my son. It's been 2 years and I cannot get the guy to return it. Never again. You wanna play, get your own gear! | ||
| slawie
Senior Member Username: slawie Post Number: 854 Registered: 8-2002 |
I loaned a mid 70's Rogers Rock kit snare to a friend of my son. It's been 2 years and I cannot get the guy to return it, or any of my calls or messages. Never again! You wanna play, get your own gear! slawie |
