Love and Loss (of gear)

[chris_b]

So far (touch wood) I haven't had anything stolen. The guitarist forgot to lock his van one night and both his Strats were stolen. Was that a coincidence or do these people try the doors of every vehicle every night?

I've noticed that the other guys in the band leave their car doors and tail-gates open when they're loading in and out. I close the car when I'm ferrying gear in or out of the gig or home and the car is always unpacked after every gig. The basses go in last and come out first. I have left my cabs in the car only a few times over the years. I reckoned if someone wanted to run off down the street with a 95lb cab then good luck to them.

I wouldn't be heartbroken if I had something nicked. Bloody annoyed with myself for letting it happen but that's all. Loosing the cash would smart, but nothing is irreplaceable and I'd be looking to make the replacement an upgrade.

[zranyard]

I frequently have to leave my amp in the back of a transit when touring, both of them have heavy locks on the back, and are proper splitters, but if someone wanted to get in badly they could I'm sure. I take my bass/basses into the accommodation which can be annoying but it gives me peace of mind. I can easily replace what gets left in the van, it's all insured. My old p bass could be too, but I'm becoming a bit sentimental towards it now...

Edited August 9, 2018 by zranyard

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

So far (touch wood) I haven't had anything stolen. The guitarist forgot to lock his van one night and both his Strats were stolen. Was that a coincidence or do these people try the doors of every vehicle every night?

I've noticed that the other guys in the band leave their car doors and tail-gates open when they're loading in and out. I close the car when I'm ferrying gear in or out of the gig or home and the car is always unpacked after every gig. The basses go in last and come out first. I have left my cabs in the car only a few times over the years. I reckoned if someone wanted to run off down the street with a 95lb cab then good luck to them.

I wouldn't be heartbroken if I had something nicked. Bloody annoyed with myself for letting it happen but that's all. Loosing the cash would smart, but nothing is irreplaceable and I'd be looking to make the replacement an upgrade.

Agree Chris, never leave a door/tail-gate open unattended. I also do similar, the stuff I need goes in last/out first, and it`s that way for the rest of the load/unload.

[bassbiscuits]

Yup it's happened to me. Left my bass, my amp head and a bag of leads/bits in the boot of the car while I dropped my then-girlfriend off at her house one night.

When I came out half hour later the car was gone.

I was working as a signwriter at the time in some pawn shops and gave them a list of the missing kit.

Unbelievably I popped in a couple of days later to check up and a guy got off the bus outside carrying my bass on his back and came in to sell it so we nabbed him and called the police. Turns out he was very well known to them.

Another shop rang about half an hour later with the rest of my stuff.   The car was found dumped in a nearby alley the next day.

Really shook me up and I immediately went and insured all my kit! Very fortunate that the thieves didn't know what any of it was and just tried to offload it locally - ironically to the people I was working for. 

Very lucky escape and three days I never want to relive!

[chris_b]

Our keyboard player used to travel with the drummer. Usually they would meet up half way and load into one car. At the end of one evening they loaded up the keyboard players car and he drove home. The next morning he found that one of his keyboards was missing. It had been left on the pavement leaning against a tree!

2 days later he got a call from a local music shop saying someone was trying to get in touch. They had found the keyboard and wanted to return it. All they had to go on was his name on the case and an internet search!! He gave the guy £50.