Musician Buddies Always Needing to Borrow Gear

[telequacktastic]

I have a friend who's always needing to borrow gear. We don't play in the same band so I guess you could say I don't have a dog in the race he's in. I like to help folks out but, Sweetwater is open 7 days a week.

He's got enough guitars and amps, he just lets them all sit around needing something to work properly, then gets down to his last shuck with nothing to sell.

Musician buddies, gotta love em.

 

[memorex]

I guess I should applaud you for your generosity. The one time I loaned an amp to a friend, he took it to an outdoor jam, cranked it all the way up, and blew out the speakers for me. That was in 1969, and since then, I have never loaned any piece of gear to another musician. If I occasionally stand in with a friend's band, I take one one of my cheapest guitars, and I don't let anyone touch it.

 

[OmegaWoods]

You've made different choices than I would make...

 

[bottlenecker]

I have a friend who's always needing to borrow gear. We don't play in the same band so I guess you could say I don't have a dog in the race he's in. I like to help folks out but, Sweetwater is open 7 days a week.

He's got enough guitars and amps, he just lets them all sit around needing something to work properly, then gets down to his last shuck with nothing to sell.

Musician buddies, gotta love em.

Everyone wants to say "I knew them when" but no one wants to know them when.

 

[Beachbum]

With that I'm fortunate. At 75 I no longer have buddies.

 

[StoneH]

My buddies always had enough gear, but a musician who I barely knew, dropped by one day and saw some of my gear. His comment was, "Man, I need to borrow some of this". My comment was, "Not likely".

 

[johnny k]

My gear falls mostly in the really cheap part of the market, i don't mind lending a guitar or my peavey amp to friends / other bands, but be aware that they might not be up to your standards. I think the crunch channel on my peavey is ruined, but you can get the amp loud on clean and get a somehow cool sound. It works for me.

Other than that, i don't really mind. But i don't have any expensive piece of gear, and the only one i would not lend is my fender mustang guitar, because it is old, and it won't stand another piece of surgery so i will keep it like that. Amps i am ok with, i have got a mustang 2, noisy on the knobs, a fender champ with blown fuses, and a fender stage something i would lend because no one would care about playing it.

Can you lend me your mouth harp, harmonica and maybe a piccolo flute ? I have got a great idea in my mind... A mic i would lend to a friend after putting my doc martens shoe over it just in case.

 

[Peegoo]

If your pal is named Doug:

Just say "no" to Dougs.

 

[drumtime]

I try to support the local scene in any way I can, but it doesn't always work out. I loaned a nice cymbal stand to a friend in one band, and asked him to send it home with another friend who lives much closer. Didn't see him for a while, and then he texted to say he left it at a festival where he took it. Promised to replace it, etc etc. It's a $200 item, and I don't play my kit much, but I'm hosting a jam at my studio tomorrow, and no stand yet.

I've brought extra stuff to jams and gigs, and let others use them, but it goes home with me.

 

[telequacktastic]

Everyone wants to say "I knew them when" but no one wants to know them when.

I can give you this guy's number if you're looking for an investment opportunity. That can definitely be arranged

 

[Preacher]

When I used to ride motorcycles there was an old adage that you don't ride another man's bike or his wife...

I never loan anything that I have a problem not getting back.
Years ago I let a guy borrow a P Bass I had. He was playing in a band and did not have a bass and so I loaned him one that I had. A few months go by and I have not heard from him but I happened to run into a buddy of his and asked if he was still playing in the band. The guy said that the band fired him after the second gig when he was late showing up.
With that information I decided to see about getting my bass back. So I planned a little trip to his house to pick it up only to find out that he had moved.
So I put out an APB on him with all of my friends telling them I needed to see him to discuss playing bass in a band (see how sneaky I am?)
So a week goes by and all of the sudden the dude shows up at my house. He heard that I was looking for a bass player. I chatted with him a little on the porch and asked if he was good on gear for the gig. He said that he would have to borrow a bass as he had sold the one that he had. I just looked at him sideways and said, "oh man, that is too bad. No gear, no gig."

He said, "well maybe I can..."
I cut him off and said, "Not going to happen until I get the last one back."

He changed the subject and then made an excuse to leave. I never saw him again.

 

[schmee]

There are people I would loan stuff to, but almost never have.
Not my go-to guitars really though. I dont want their muck on it or risk with it. My cheap extras laying around? Sure.

 

[Trenchant63]

You can’t take it with you!! Next time lend him the original ‘65 Super Reverb and ‘59 Les Paul. Stop being so churlish!! What’s the worst that can happen?

 

[stxrus]

There’s a guy that lives here 7-8 months of the year. He’s a well respected blues guy that records, produces, and gigs in Chicago, NY, and around the NJ, Ct areas.
He‘s always looking to borrow something. Not just me but others.
We had a discussion a while back when he wanted to borrow an overdrive I have but don’t use. I told him I’d sell it for $25.00. I told him that he makes good money and as a vocalist should have 2 mics and 3 mic cables and at least 2 mic stands
Sometimes I think he just likes bumming things

 

[24 track]

years ago in a small town outside Vancouver called Whiterock, I met Robbie Bachman,( Randy Bachman's brother and drummer for BTO) I asked him "what is the one thing or advise you could give me to succeed
in music?", with out a blink he said, " never, never carry anyone, if they cant cut it ,let them go", same with gear

 

[PhoenixBill]

I don’t loan gear or let people use my stuff, I have been burned in the past. The only exception: I played for years in an established band where the other members had their own gear and they never needed to borrow anything. If one of them had showed up to a gig and suddenly realized that they had left their bag of guitar cables at home, or if we were mid-gig and something happened, then I would’ve loaned them whatever was required to get through the gig. However, I had played with all of them long enough to know that they weren’t mooches. Otherwise , I expect musicians to provide their own gear.

 

[blue metalflake]

Have done it a few times but with someone I knew really well & was 100% certain they would look after the gear.

 

[ce24]

I sent a vintage non verb Princeton amp for a trade to a guy that was a well respected guru builder… use to be on this forum….3 years ago……..crickets!

 

[Flaneur]

I let a guy borrow my '64 Reverb Rocket, back in the mid '80s. He stored it in a damp cellar and it was junk, after six months.
I loaned a bass to another guy, in the early '90s and never saw it again.

I'm a lot more careful and less trusting, these days. I always enjoyed listening to other players, using my amps and sometmes instruments, at the jams I used to host- but that stuff always came home with me.

 

[NeverTooLate]

Yep. No surprises here. I am not a musician but grew up with friends who were. Some things change and some...not so much!

There is a big, sad side to the life of most gigging musicians having to put up with crap like this--or the harmonica guys--on top of the perennial uncertainty. Joining this forum has certainly reminded me of that.

for all of you who play live music!