Lending equipment to a bandmate?

[Woodinblack]

The guitarist in my band recently messaged to say he had found a practice room we could rent and leave our stuff there. I was very puzzled why anyone would want to leave their stuff anywhere? 

I would lend stuff (that I didn't care that much about) to certain people for individual gigs. Assuming they had never helped themselves to it before.

[Dad3353]

34 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

...why anyone would want to leave their stuff anywhere? ...

The band I play in is called 'The Daub'z', as we used to rehearse in an outhouse at 'La Daubellière', our singer's parents home. All our gear was permanently set up there. Our Eldest was also guitar with Kiemsa for several years; they too would rehearse there, using our gear, simply by commodity. I play drums 'lefty', so Daniel (their drummer...) would switch the elements over, and I'd switch 'em back when we were there. No carting gear around, everything set up for a quick start; why would one not, as long as the place is clean and secure..? The parents sold the place; we now rehearse here, at home; our second guitar has his Marshall stack all ready to go when we play here. Suits us all just fine. 

[Woodinblack]

I understand it from a drum point of view, but anything I have somewhere else is something that isn't here for me to practice with, and although it can easily be said I have enough basses (but not any spare cabs) I still don't want to leave them somewhere I don't know who has access to.

I guess, I have had too much stuff go missing

[Dad3353]

We're all different. I don't need (or use...) an amp or cab for practising guitar or bass, just the instrument, and I've got several of each, so... And I'm long past 'practising' drums; I did all that decades ago. I just listen to the track that needs learning, then go and play it. S'what comes of being old, I suppose. It's true I wouldn't leave my stuff unattended in the village square for weeks on end, but other than that, I've never had a problem with stuff being nicked. S'what comes of having unpopular gear, maybe..? The bass amp and cab that we use most have enough mass between 'em to bring the Moon quite a lot closer, so no-one is going to be 'lifting' them and legging it..! In all the festivals I've helped organise and/or played at, I've never once come across a case of stuff 'going missing'. Just lucky..? Perhaps, or folks where we live are less on the look-out for committing larceny.

[dmccombe7]

A band i was in last year the existing bassist was going to New Zealand and had some TE gear to sell that he left in the bands own rehearsal studio. I bought it from him when i joined and just left it there. Wasn't happy with the TE sound so bought an Orange 115 & 210 and left my SVT4 Pro there. This was gear i normally wouldn't gig with and the band were really good and all nice guys. No-one else had access other than the guitarist who ran the band and had the keys. 

To be fair i would let someone else use that gear provided i knew them and could trust them and only in the studio. I wouldn't let anyone take the gear to a gig. The gear was in 1st class condition when i bought it and still is.

Band split and i ended up bringing it all home again and now i have a spare room full of bass rigs. 

Time to sell of the Orange gear and maybe some other bits as well. 

Dave

[Cat Burrito]

I hate being asked & feel obliged to help a mate out. It then becomes an expectation & often without a thank you. I've personally not had anything damaged or not returned but the faff of carting extra kit for someone who just expects it has occurred in a few bands recently and is now a situation I try to avoid. 

[Grangur]

As someone who's not really into relics, the pain must come when the lender wants compensation for a repair on a ding, and the borrower sees it as having "done you a favour".

[discreet]

19 minutes ago, Grangur said:

As someone who's not really into relics, the pain must come when the lender wants compensation for a repair on a ding, and the borrower sees it as having "done you a favour".

I dunno, I'd still be annoyed if someone put a ding in a Road Worn. The problem is in finding it... 

[Count Bassy]

Unless it's something totally irreplaceable (which I don't have, bass-wise), then I would lend a bass, amp etc. to almost anybody, (once at least) but then I'm not precious about belongings.

However, I'd make the terms re payment for damage very clear, and make it clear that if it is damaged (even when paid for) they won't be borrowing anything again, and if it becomes a regular thing then I'd suggest firmly that they need their own gear.

After all, who know's when you might want a favour in return?

 

Edited March 25, 2018 by Count Bassy

[Dan Dare]

14 hours ago, Cat Burrito said:

I hate being asked & feel obliged to help a mate out. It then becomes an expectation & often without a thank you. I've personally not had anything damaged or not returned but the faff of carting extra kit for someone who just expects it has occurred in a few bands recently and is now a situation I try to avoid. 

+1. It can be difficult to say no to a friend. I will lend anything I'm not bothered about (such as a practice amp, which the OP refers to), but the borrower has to collect and return it to me and make good any damage.

[Monkey Steve]

I'd draw a line between amps and instruments and I've happily let people borrow the amps/cabs/PA/etc in the past. 

I view amps, cabs, etc as completely repairable - if somebody blows up my Ampeg or drops my PA cab down a flight of stairs then they can be fixed or replaced

Instruments are a different matter though, it's much more personal.  I don't really care about scratches or dents (I put enough of them in the instruments myself) but there are some things like a snapped off headstock, or lumps out of the back of the neck, that just can't be made good.

That said, i did once lend a mate one of my Les Pauls for a band we were in together and got that back in a much more roadworn state that I would have hoped, but that was after a lot of playing and gigging, and in fairness he did offer to get it fixed when he gave it back (the most noticeable problems were a couple of lumps knocked off the binding on the body so it could have been fixed quite easily).  I also let him use one of my basses when his current band recorded their last album, and that came back in pristine condition.  I probably wouldn't lend him anything that was going to go on tour...

[MoonBassAlpha]

My guitarist still hadn't bought a giggable amp since going electric about 8 years ago. Uses my amp and Pod (for modelling a vox, plus a tad of comp). I can't remember the last time he said thanks. I have to cart it to gigs too as he doesn't drive. I see it as something a friend does, but it feels like a one-way street in this case.

[discreet]

23 minutes ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

My guitarist still hadn't bought a giggable amp since going electric about 8 years ago. Uses my amp and Pod (for modelling a vox, plus a tad of comp). I can't remember the last time he said thanks. I have to cart it to gigs too as he doesn't drive. I see it as something a friend does, but it feels like a one-way street in this case.

Eight years!?? This has to stop, he's extracting the urine big time!! 

Mind you, even if he buys an amp you'll probably end up carting it around. D'oh!!

[Jono Bolton]

I lent a cab to a mate for a one-off gig once, and didn't see it again for about 8 months. He lived about 10 minutes from me, and had said a few times he'd bring it round, but in the end I had to go and get it from him. When I picked it up the front grill was dented and some of the rubber feet were missing (I'd glued four to the side of the cab so it could be stacked upright). I'd also agreed to let another mate use my bass for a couple of gigs that he was filling in for, and it came back with a few dings that weren't there before it went in the van, although nothing truly noteworthy. I've also had my head taken from my band's rehearsal space for a gig once when I hadn't agreed to it; I was even thanked for the loan!

[bassbiscuits]

I've loaned people bits of kit for gigs here and there, but I've always felt there's a difference between someone assuming they are entitled to use your kit, and you offering to let someone use your gear to help them out. 

I used to play with a guy donkeys years ago who always had an excuse about why he wasn't driving to this or that gig and could he borrow my guitar, amp etc etc.

He assumed my stuff was his spare stuff, and he'd never help set it up or pack it away.

On the other hand I loaned a bass once to mate of a mate for a last-minute gig and it came back with £40 tucked under the strings as a thank you. Fair play to that man.

 

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by bassbiscuits

[Bluewine]

When  I was a teen we were all hurting for gear, we didn't have any money. Lending gear to each other was common.

Blue

[Frank Blank]

18 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

When  I was a teen we were all hurting for gear, we didn't have any money. Lending gear to each other was common.

Blue

I hadn’t thought of this. I learned drums, or at least began learning drums, at 14 years of age on a borrowed kit and also began bass playing with a borrowed bass. However, I appreciated the importance and generosity of the loans, looked after the equipment and would have covered any damages incurred. I don’t find people, generally, these days, have such respect for borrowed gear or the people it’s borrowed from.

[Bluewine]

3 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

I hadn’t thought of this. I learned drums, or at least began learning drums, at 14 years of age on a borrowed kit and also began bass playing with a borrowed bass. However, I appreciated the importance and generosity of the loans, looked after the equipment and would have covered any damages incurred. I don’t find people, generally, these days, have such respect for borrowed gear or the people it’s borrowed from.

Agreed, now I'll say this. I would lend gear to any of my band members. Both guitarist are over the top regarding the excellent care they give to gear.

I know there are some guys that have no respect for their own gear so why would they have respect for mine.

Blue

Edited March 28, 2018 by Bluewine

[Oldman]

Addendum: During the late 60’s a band I was in ( Earl Preston’s Realms ) played the Cavern in Mathew Street Liverpool. The Cavern agency (Ray McFall and Bob Wooler ran this) booked us in. The schedule would run something like this: Tuesday lunch session, Tuesday Night session, Gear already in situ was ‘loaned’ same on Thursday, lunch and evening with no quibbles either way on utilisation of gear. It was common to work the week and then ‘double’ on a Friday and Saturday, Cavern first then a gig the other side of town or in the sticks. P.A’s were loaned/borrowed as was amps and drums ( sans cymbals and snare ). Ther was also the small matter of the ‘All Nighter’ at the Cavern on a Saturday night followed by an afternoon session at the ‘Sink’ ( Rumbling Tum Hardman Street) and maybe a Sunday night Doubler. The maximum gig exposure was therefore : 2 on Tuesday, 2 on Thursday, doubler Friday night, doubler Saturday night, all-nighter Saturday, Sunday afternoon and a doubler Sunday night. 12 Gigs in all, not every week but mostly once a month. Gear was left for others to use knowing that if it broke ( it never seemed to break ) it was fixed! I was 19 at the time and whilst protective of my gear did not have an issue, nobody did. However, many years later in my late 20’s at a charity gig a certain John McNally ( ex Searchers ) used my rig for rhythm, blew it, never said thanks or offered an apology or to pay for the repair, never again I said and I did’nt And won’t. 

Times have changed, unfortunately people don’t, “ lend it, break it fix it “. I now pay more for a set of strings than I paid for my first Framus Star Bass (Single cut).  

😱

Reminiscing of an old man part 1

[dmccombe7]

I've done the stage share thing as usually my bass gear was far better than most when we were younger. I did once lend my WAL bass to a guy at a charity gig. He was the backing vocalist for Hue & Cry at the time but i knew him really well and he always had great guitars that he took a lot of pride in. It was a lined fretless and at the end of the song he said it kept going out of tune. When i told him it was a fretless he had no idea and was playing between fret markers 

I don't generally lend expensive gear at all these days as i find most of the younger generation have no respect for it and on occasion they expect you to let them use your gear.

Last gig i stage shared with i used another bands Hartke 2x15 and L5000 amp head. I even made sure i returned his EQ to his original settings.

Dave

Edited March 28, 2018 by dmccombe7

[pete.young]

4 hours ago, Oldman said:

Reminiscing of an old man part 1

Enjoyed that immensely. When's your book coming out?

[Oldman]

The one about “little yellow pills”? 😂

[Oldman]

Oh, I did have my Fender Jazz (a ‘67) salmon pink matching headstock, nicked from the Cavern...twice. Never got it back the second time had to pay £40.00 for a Precision!...

[ricksterphil]

I think I'm right in saying that the Artic Monkeys borrowed a guitar amp (think it was a Vox) off someone's Dad when they started and hadn't returned it by the time they were famous and on the radio (which is where I heard this anecdote)

And  to Oldman for having played the Cavern....well cool!

I'd lend someone my gear for a gig if I was a) also performing at said gig, which I've done or b) going to be at said gig (not done that). If they wanted to borrow my bass I'd lend them my £50 Jap Special (Hurricane by Morris) which is a decent bass to be fair especially for the money. My Mike Lull or T-Bird...no way Jose!

 

[Combed20]

When politely asked, I have always allowed other bass players to use my rig - never had a problem.  Only once have I refused. My band (London based) had a gig in Brighton. Rather than everyone driving their equipment, we asked the other band if we could use their amps and drums  - they flatly refused, so we loaded our cars and brought everything. The local band then swaned in late, no back line with them because they couldn't be bothered to bring it and said they were using our kit. We always prided ourselves on being polite and friendly to bands we shared the stage with,  but took great pleasure informing this bunch they wouldn't be playing unless they went home and got their kit, because they sure as well weren't using ours.