Theft of kit while loading in

[Steve_nottm]

I guess I’m lucky this hasn’t happened sooner but after 20 years of gigging I’ve had the first instance of stuff being nicked.

 

carting things into a venue you tend to leave cars/vans open until you’re all in, then lock them up.  We did that and I dropped a half empty gig bag in the back of the van.

 

come to get it after finishing and no sign (along with an empty guitar case and a monitor speaker).

 

luckily only spare cables, mics, stands, that kind of thing but still annoying!  And a lesson to be extra careful.

Edited December 1 by Steve_nottm

[Rich]

Sadly, there are some properly low-life thieving scumbag W⚓s around. Commiserations. 

[Maude]

It's no help now, but we always do a kind of relay where one person is always in attendance at the car, even at quieter locations. It just takes one opportunist walking past and a thousand pound guitar is gone in seconds. 

[Lozz196]

Not good, fortunately not too much of a loss monetary wise. I never leave my vehicle unlocked when loading in/out if on my own, but prefer to do the relay thing where the vehicle is never unattended whenever there’s anything in it. Similarly I also like someone on guard with the gear in the venue.

[Dan Dare]

Bad luck. Having lived all but the last three years of my life in The Smoke, I'm extremely wary of tea leaves and always lock the vehicle even if I'm only leaving it for a very short while. Now I've retired to a rural location and many of my gigs are in nice places, it's probably a bit OTT, but better safe than sorry.

 

I'm with Lozz and Maude. Have one in the venue and one keeping an eye on the vehicle when loading in and out.

[AndyTravis]

I tend to take guitars/basses in first, lock the car. Our drummer is always first in - and his

wonderful other half sits in the car as he does this.

 

I then load my amp in.

 

My pedalboard is tiny and lives in my lead/strings/capo bag.

In 28 years of gigging I’ve left behind a stool and a guitar stand…my own fault.

 

An old keys player interrupted a bloke sifting through our gear once - he ran off with an acoustic bass…I’d pulled the same acoustic bass out of a skip a month earlier so I wasn’t overly wounded by that.

 

[PinkMohawk]

Yeah, back when my old band were gigging, the van was never left unattended at any point during the load-in. At least one of us with the van at all times. Of course, didn't help when the cheeky twats broke in overnight, though they didn't clear us out much either. 

[Dad3353]

For those with pedal boards, Fx, Class-D amps, cables, mics etc... Use an accordion case for all of that stuff. No-one will nick that. 

 

...

 

Probably. 

[Burns-bass]

6 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

For those with pedal boards, Fx, Class-D amps, cables, mics etc... Use an accordion case for all of that stuff. No-one will nick that. 

 

...

 

Probably. 

Very good.

[Downunderwonder]

Nec week on TalkPolka;

 

"Some fecker stole my accordion case and left the accordion, what depraved fecker would do that?" 

[Muzz]

I had an old Cortina Estate (yeah, that dates this one) which was on its last legs: the next MOT was never an achievable dream, so, with it being well insured, I took to leaving it unlocked (with old Fords this was pretty much the same as locking it) when I was in Manchester city centre clubbing in the hope someone would nick it and I'd make money on the insurance. The best thing about it was the gear knob, which was made from a pool ball. I came back to it one night and the door was open...you can guess what was gone. I was gutted.

[Cliff Edge]

Many moons ago I acquired a lump of wood in the shape of a Fender bass. No hardware, frets etc. just wood. We screwed it to the back of the van so it lay across the doors. Came out of a gig one night and some idiot had stolen it. They hadn’t even bothered to try opening the doors. 

Edited December 4 by Cliff Edge

[lemmywinks]

33 minutes ago, Cliff Edge said:

Many moons ago I acquired a lump of wood in the shape of a Fender bass. No hardware, frets etc. just wood. We screwed it to the back of the van so it lay across the doors. Came out of a gig one night and some idiot had stolen it. They hadn’t even bothered to try opening the doors. 

 

 

This is actually the origin story of Wishbass.

[Rich]

Back in 1986 some scumbag(s) stole everything apart from my bass and amp while I was loading out from rehearsal at South Hill Park in Bracknell. Leads (cheap and nasty), AKG mic, mic stand, Arion tuner, shiny new MXR Phase 100, the lot. I sincerely hope the MXR exploded in their face. I doubt it though. I bought replacements for most of it, amongst which were the two Klotz cables that I still use at every rehearsal and many gigs to this day. I suppose it's an ill wind and all that. 

[Rosie C]

On 03/12/2024 at 13:32, Muzz said:

I had an old Cortina Estate (yeah, that dates this one) which was on its last legs: the next MOT was never an achievable dream, so, with it being well insured, I took to leaving it unlocked (with old Fords this was pretty much the same as locking it) when I was in Manchester city centre clubbing in the hope someone would nick it and I'd make money on the insurance. The best thing about it was the gear knob, which was made from a pool ball. I came back to it one night and the door was open...you can guess what was gone. I was gutted.

 

I still have a Cortina, and yes, I also have the pool ball gear knob! 

 

 

[lemmywinks]

16 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

 

I still have a Cortina, and yes, I also have the pool ball gear knob! 

 

 

 

 

[Rosie C]

12 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

 

 

ha ha! No, not @Muzz's pool ball   

 

[Lozz196]

Many moons ago I foolishly left a band member in charge of my gear, foolishly because he either left my bass behind or it was stolen from under his nose and he didn`t notice. I looked up the gigs of the bands we`d played with that night and went to their next ones, if I`d seen my (ex) bass being played, well it would have been a case of Paddington stares at close quarters.

[miles'tone]

On 03/12/2024 at 13:32, Muzz said:

I had an old Cortina Estate (yeah, that dates this one) which was on its last legs: the next MOT was never an achievable dream, so, with it being well insured, I took to leaving it unlocked (with old Fords this was pretty much the same as locking it) when I was in Manchester city centre clubbing in the hope someone would nick it and I'd make money on the insurance. The best thing about it was the gear knob, which was made from a pool ball. I came back to it one night and the door was open...you can guess what was gone. I was gutted.

😄

I once had an Avenger that had a Rover V8 gear knob that I acquired from a scrappy. At the time I was convinced it felt like it made it go faster 😂

[Maude]

22 minutes ago, miles'tone said:

😄

I once had an Avenger that had a Rover V8 gear knob that I acquired from a scrappy. At the time I was convinced it felt like it made it go faster 😂

I suspect most of us had a go faster knob when we were younger. 😁

[Dan Dare]

4 hours ago, Maude said:

I suspect most of us had a go faster knob when we were younger. 😁

 

Mine fell off 😭

[lurksalot]

7 hours ago, Maude said:

I suspect most of us had a go faster knob when we were younger. 😁

When we were younger ?

some of us think we still have one 😄

[tauzero]

10 hours ago, Maude said:

I suspect most of us had a go faster knob when we were younger. 😁

 

Swiss Tony says the go slower knob is the one to have.