loaning gear

mike_l

would you loan your gear to other musicians? I thought about this having loaned a pedal to monquixote. I'd lend pedals or amp as they're reasonably easy to replace. Guitars, only if i was there to keep an eye on them.

digitalscream

Yeah, I lent Drew my Flashback for a couple of weeks, back when he was trying to choose delay pedals (before I'd actually met the guy, which is unusual for me). The ex-bassist in BHD still has one of my guitars (the Washburn NX3), some mics, a few leads, a computer monitor etc of mine...that's OK, though, he's a pretty decent chap and only lives down the road from me.

However...I once lent my beloved Squier Strat to my cousin "for a couple of weeks" because the guitarist in his band didn't have a guitar. That should've been a red flag right there. It came back after about 4 years in such a wrecked state that I've only recently (about 10 years later) summoned up the enthusiasm to start putting it right - the neck was twisted, the frets were damaged beyond repair, the electrics were literally ripped apart inside, and all the hardware was covered in rust.

Grunfeld

I wouldn't loan anything I use to make my living with.  Gear falls into that category -- and you're right ease of replacement is a massive factor... I'd lend someone a plectrum but not my Flying V.  There's a bit of elbow room cos it's not my primary source of income but all the same, it contributes to it.  So theoretically I might consider it but in practice I probably wouldn't.

John_P

I'm usually pretty happy to lend gear out -but less likely to lend out guitars.

I've got a couple of guitar I'm not so attached to that I'd lend out but the rest are staying - a few weeks ago at a nightmare gig the singer snapped a string in the first song and broke the jack socket on his backup in the second song,  I even felt very reluctant to lend him (a really good friend btw) one of my backups to get us through to a point i could do some repairs.

Apart from guitars, if I know someone well enough then it's fine - I've lent out keyboards, amps, pa gear and pedals -   in fact I need to track down a get back an ibanez trio multipedal i lent out 4 years ago before i completely forget...

mike_l

i will say that non of my gear, guitars excepted, that is rare or particularly expensive. I have loaned pedals to others without problems. Bigjon used a guitar while i was there, again no issues.

viz

It's like money. Don't lend it unless you're ok with never getting it back.

RedRabbit

Depends on who it is and what they want to borrow.  I've enough guitars that I'd lend one to anyone I trust provided they weren't specifically asking for one of my two "main" instruments.  Amps are a no go as I only have my practice amp and main amp and I wouldn't lend out to leave myself short.  Pedals, mics, plectrums, etc all work on trust but obviously I'm more likely to lend out a pick then my fuzz factory.

ICBM

Totally depends who it is and what it is.

A good friend who can I trust to look after it, borrowing something that isn't my most precious instrument - certainly.

An amp to another musician at a gig if pre-arranged or his amp had gone down, and I was there to keep an eye on it - yes, if it didn't look like he was going to trash it.

A guitar in the same situation - probably not, unless it was someone I really know well.

digitalscream

Oh, and then there was the time I lent my rare Fender HMX prototype to one of my brothers, and he sold it for about 20% of its actual value.

You'd think I'd learn, really.

mike_l

@digitalscream i hope he gave you the entire value of the gear he sold, as that was out of order...

digitalscream

mike_l said:

@digitalscream i hope he gave you the entire value of the gear he sold, as that was out of order...

He fully intended to give me all of the money he got for it - he thought he was doing me a favour, as I never liked that guitar anyway (I'd only lent it to him because I couldn't stand it and couldn't sell it). I let him keep £50 on that basis...he was hard up, and given his intentions it didn't seem right to make a big issue of it. I got back more than I paid, so nobody really lost out.

Stil...

[Deleted User]

Amps/pedals, yes. Guitars, absolutely not under any circumstances....

Kebabkid

I have 2 great friends that I would have no hesitation in lending any of my gear to, and they'd be the same with me. Further down the line, and still talking mates, I'd lend pedals but I'd have to be there if it were guitars, amps or PA.

They're too precious, tools of the trade etc.. and what happens if through no fault of the person you lent something to, something goes wrong? It just becomes plain awkward.

chillidoggy

Depends on who it is, and where it's being used. But I'd never lend my tatty old Flying V out to anyone.

fretmeister

Pedals yes.

Amps - I can think of 1 person only.

Basses - Unlikely. But if it was it would not be my favourite ones!

Myranda

I happen to live in a town with a really good music community so I know several people who are reverent enough to gear (theirs and others) that I'd be willing to lend my gear to. Or to my best friend... however I'd not lend a pedal to some of my other friends, let alone a guitar.

GuitarMonkey

I'm not precious about my stuff at all, but everything I have ever lent out, including pedals, has come back damaged.

keithf

5 years ago,i'd have lent mostly anything to most of my mates.

now,there's really only  3 people that could borrow my gear and thats the other guitarist in the band,the guy that fixes my guitars and a member of the old mr forum,Wolf5150.

they're the ppl i could totally trust to get the stuff back exactly as they had it.

octatonic

I don't lend things as a rule- and I don't borrow either.

daveyh

I've lent two things IIRC, one was a reverb pedal to a bandmate which I never saw again. The other was a Takemine acoustic, lent for tracking acoustic on an album, then lived with a name guitarist for 18mnths who eventually sent it back with a thank you cheque.

mike_l

thinking on, theres 4 friends who i'm happy to lend guitars to. I know the guitars would come back as they went out. 2 are forumites...