I am so fed-up from other people carelessly demolishing my gear

[loudnlousy]

I have a long back-story of lending my nicest gear to other people and getting it back with blemishes or even worse :

Massively torn tolex on four limited edition white Marshall 4x12, cigarette-burns on a vintage plexi, deep scratches and round marks from beverages on the exotic hardwood cabinet of a Boogie, torn-off feet on a guitar case, massive sweat-smears and corroded strings on my 6119, a broken string on another guitar, a blown transformer on an AC30, lost power-supplys and power-cables, an amp came back to me with exchanged preamp-tubes that were ultracheap etc, etc.
Usually not even an excuse or a offer to repair my stuff. "Thanks, Frank. We threw your gear back into the rehearsal room." One time they even put a 4x12 in front of my rehearsal-room`s door where veryone passing by could have stolen it. Even worse: It was raining that day....

Today I noticed that my porn-de-la-porn Mesa which has (had) a spectacular bright white croco-leather skin has lots of dirty brown scratches and stains. It came from my technician where it had a little service. He obviously tossed it around in his workshop and did not care ruining a like-new amp that was always babied and kept in a flightcase by me.
I won't confront him because otherwise he's an accommodating and competent business partner and I'm afraid he might think I'm petty.
But I am angry beyond belief now.

 

[juks]

I never lend my gear to anybody. Any blemishes are my own fault. If your in business of renting gear, a different story of course. I've just seen too many people who think it's "rock'n'roll" to abuse gear. Especially if they don't own it. Infuriating indeed.

 

[hcsterg]

I never lend my gear to anybody.

Yes. Or nearly : only very careful and maniac friends.
I am helped by the fact that I am Lefty, so...

I am in a Music School Association, as an amateur player and repairman member : I always PEST against young musicians - and the director, a long time-friend - about the lack of care there is about the equipment : instruments, amps, PA gear, cables... Saying that if the repair job was done and billed to the Asso by a repair station, they would collapse without rescourse.

A+!

 

[speedicut]

I loaned my Les Paul to my little cousin once for a gig and he took great care of it, thankfully...
Only time I've ever loaned and music gear.

 

[stevo]

I have a long back-story of lending my nicest gear to other people and getting it back with blemishes or even worse :

Massively torn tolex on four limited edition white Marshall 4x12, cigarette-burns on a vintage plexi, deep scratches and round marks from beverages on the exotic hardwood cabinet of a Boogie, torn-off feet on a guitar case, massive sweat-smears and corroded strings on my 6119, a broken string on another guitar, a blown transformer on an AC30, lost power-supplys and power-cables, an amp came back to me with exchanged preamp-tubes that were ultracheap etc, etc.
Usually not even an excuse or a offer to repair my stuff. "Thanks, Frank. We threw your gear back into the rehearsal room." One time they even put a 4x12 in front of my rehearsal-room`s door where veryone passing by could have stolen it. Even worse: It was raining that day....

Today I noticed that my porn-de-la-porn Mesa which has (had) a spectacular bright white croco-leather skin has lots of dirty brown scratches and stains. It came from my technician where it had a little service. He obviously tossed it around in his workshop and did not care ruining a like-new amp that was always babied and kept in a flightcase by me.
I won't confront him because otherwise he's an accommodating and competent business partner and I'm afraid he might think I'm petty.
But I am angry beyond belief now.

Sorry to hear that, you deserve compensation!

But you've also strengthened my resolve not to lend gear out. Someone asked to borrow my Taylor 710 BCE (Brazilian Rosewood) years ago. I flat out said no.

 

[cielski]

There's a lesson to be learned here.
Trust No One---especially if they're not paying rent.

I've always been of the mind that if I borrowed something, I need to return it in the same condition (or better) than I got it. If you break it, you're responsible for repairs.

 

[loudnlousy]

Most of the time I did it because someone I knew well (=not a friend) had a real problem and asked me for help.

I just wanted to be friendly and agreed.

Sometimes I am just too friendly...

 

[Pops]

I think in general people have no respect for other’s property. I’d be pissed, if it were my stuff. Try only lending your worst-looking gear from now on.

 

[GlenP]

Years ago I had a cheap Yamaha RGX strat style HSS shredder, but as a student, $325 was a lot of money to me at the time. I always kept it in the case when not using it. I loaned it to a friend and it was returned to me with a deep gash in the lower horn. It was leaned up against a piano and fell onto the corner of the bench. Fool me once. Never again. No major loss of value on that one, but equally frustrating.

 

[G5422T]

Easy fix.

I don't lend out my wife, car, or gear to anyone.

 

[loudnlousy]

It is my fault to allow others to play my gear but there were occasions when others "lended" it without asking.

As I wrote elswhere here it takes me hours to dial-in an amp.
Can you imagine how angry I was when our former studio-owner secretly twisted all the knobs simply to try-out my amp and told me later "I cannot get any good tone out of your Boogie!" After some more episodes like that I left that place forever.

On one occasion I was just about to call the police when a co-bandmember told me that he thought that it is o.k. with me when he allowed so-and-so to take my amp to a recording session.
I was so irated that I litterally bombed that session and got my amp back. The bandmember in question got fired immediately.
Since then I store most of my gear at home or at my mother`s place.

Shared rehearsal-places are a pest.

My friend Sven owns a rare Marshall Plexi Super Lead with vibrato. A real gem.
Some co-users of his rehearsal-place used it for a Session without asking him. They blew up the amp and one vintage speaker, too. Cost of damage: More than 800 Euro. Noone of them admitted that he/she played the thing. (I would not call this to be a circle of friends but cowards and a++holes.)
And because Sven did not want to spread a hostile and bad mood in his surrounding the poor and work-less guy paid it by himself.
So I am obviously not the only idiot who acts that way.

 

[Jalexander]

When I was a broke grad student pinching every penny, a friend lent me a paperback book. The day I was returning it, I had a pear in my backpack that decided to go soft and oozed everywhere in my bag, including all over the bag. I always put fruit in a plastic container now. I went to a bookstore and bought a new copy of the book to give back to my friend. And I have a copy of that book with brown pages.

If I’ve ever borrowed gear, I have been extra careful with it. I would be mortified returning anything like what’s described above. You are hanging out with the wrong people.

 

[Emergence]

I don’t lend anything of mine and don’t have anything serviced where I haven’t been in the shop first. And I’m never quiet when I’ve been displeased. Careless disregard of the property of others is never excusable.

 

[Mr Swisher]

You're a nice person. Never change that.

I know how you feel though. I love my gear, and if anyone's going to ruin it I want it to be me alone. I spent too many years playing crappy stuff, now I have good stuff I really care about it.

Luckily nobody asks to borrow my stuff. I lent a friend a book when we were teens. It left pristine and came back with pen marks on the cover and all along the spine. "It still reads the same" he said. As you can tell, I've never forgotten it.

Conversely...when the band I was in in the 90s record deal fell apart we had a rather bitter split, during which I never returned the lead singers Tele'. It wasn't expensive ..but I've also never forgotten that I was the a**ehole then. One of a number of things I regret.

 

[GreTschocaster]

On the other side of things, I resist the urge to borrow anything. I am afraid that through no fault of my own the borrowed item will break or get damaged. Of course I would feel the need to repair the item.

 

[blueruins]

Never a borrower nor a lender be.

Those rehearsals space situations are tricky. People going in and out who may not be the most trustworthy.

This post really took me back to a time I hadn’t thought about for some years; Garage band rehearsals.

Our band used to rent a 10x10 storage unit just to rehearse in the 105 Degree Las Vegas heat. It was totally worth it.

At my age, I’m no sure I could do that.

 

[Back in Black]

I have a long back-story of lending my nicest gear to other people and getting it back with blemishes or even worse :

Massively torn tolex on four limited edition white Marshall 4x12, cigarette-burns on a vintage plexi, deep scratches and round marks from beverages on the exotic hardwood cabinet of a Boogie, torn-off feet on a guitar case, massive sweat-smears and corroded strings on my 6119, a broken string on another guitar, a blown transformer on an AC30, lost power-supplys and power-cables, an amp came back to me with exchanged preamp-tubes that were ultracheap etc, etc.
Usually not even an excuse or a offer to repair my stuff. "Thanks, Frank. We threw your gear back into the rehearsal room." One time they even put a 4x12 in front of my rehearsal-room`s door where veryone passing by could have stolen it. Even worse: It was raining that day....

Today I noticed that my porn-de-la-porn Mesa which has (had) a spectacular bright white croco-leather skin has lots of dirty brown scratches and stains. It came from my technician where it had a little service. He obviously tossed it around in his workshop and did not care ruining a like-new amp that was always babied and kept in a flightcase by me.
I won't confront him because otherwise he's an accommodating and competent business partner and I'm afraid he might think I'm petty.
But I am angry beyond belief now.

L&L,

Sounds like you have two choices, stop lending your gear, or live with what comes back from borrowers.

I do not loan...anything!

BIB

 

[cielski]

Treat others belongings better than your own.
There was a guitarist in a band I was in that'd put his beer bottle/glass on top of my Hammond. Put an ashtray on it as well. He got ticked when I put them on his amp.
Keep your stains and burns on your own gear. My Hammond was worth three or four times what his entire rig was.

 

[Bertotti]

I have a long back-story of lending my nicest gear to other people and getting it back with blemishes or even worse :

Massively torn tolex on four limited edition white Marshall 4x12, cigarette-burns on a vintage plexi, deep scratches and round marks from beverages on the exotic hardwood cabinet of a Boogie, torn-off feet on a guitar case, massive sweat-smears and corroded strings on my 6119, a broken string on another guitar, a blown transformer on an AC30, lost power-supplys and power-cables, an amp came back to me with exchanged preamp-tubes that were ultracheap etc, etc.
Usually not even an excuse or a offer to repair my stuff. "Thanks, Frank. We threw your gear back into the rehearsal room." One time they even put a 4x12 in front of my rehearsal-room`s door where veryone passing by could have stolen it. Even worse: It was raining that day....

Today I noticed that my porn-de-la-porn Mesa which has (had) a spectacular bright white croco-leather skin has lots of dirty brown scratches and stains. It came from my technician where it had a little service. He obviously tossed it around in his workshop and did not care ruining a like-new amp that was always babied and kept in a flightcase by me.
I won't confront him because otherwise he's an accommodating and competent business partner and I'm afraid he might think I'm petty.
But I am angry beyond belief now.

Man this last one isn’t lending it is paying a pro tech to service your amp, no way now how should it return in worse shape then it was given to him. I would absolutely confront him!

 

[DougWheeler74]

I have a long back-story of lending my nicest gear to other people and getting it back with blemishes or even worse :

Massively torn tolex on four limited edition white Marshall 4x12, cigarette-burns on a vintage plexi, deep scratches and round marks from beverages on the exotic hardwood cabinet of a Boogie, torn-off feet on a guitar case, massive sweat-smears and corroded strings on my 6119, a broken string on another guitar, a blown transformer on an AC30, lost power-supplys and power-cables, an amp came back to me with exchanged preamp-tubes that were ultracheap etc, etc.
Usually not even an excuse or a offer to repair my stuff. "Thanks, Frank. We threw your gear back into the rehearsal room." One time they even put a 4x12 in front of my rehearsal-room`s door where veryone passing by could have stolen it. Even worse: It was raining that day....

Today I noticed that my porn-de-la-porn Mesa which has (had) a spectacular bright white croco-leather skin has lots of dirty brown scratches and stains. It came from my technician where it had a little service. He obviously tossed it around in his workshop and did not care ruining a like-new amp that was always babied and kept in a flightcase by me.
I won't confront him because otherwise he's an accommodating and competent business partner and I'm afraid he might think I'm petty.
But I am angry beyond belief now.

There is a difference between being a nice guy and a push over. If your tech is a business partner it gets sticky. If his business is trashing other peoples stuff then he won't be in business long. Tell him that you noticed scratches and stains and ask how to fix it. If he doesn't understand what he did, then it is time to reconsider who works on your gear. It is your gear and you have a standard. If people think that your standard is that you don't care what happens that is what will happen. It stinks to hold back because of some bad players. Some people can use my gear, some can't. Luckily very few ask.