Saw some people talking about this in another post. I have, to really good friends. And never had an issue, but I can see where this could go horribly wrong. I have lent out My compleate bass rig to a bud, 1981 G&L 200 bass, Trace Elliot smx ah400 and two two ten trace cabinets, for live gig so he could do two big shows in one night. I have also lent out my a few of my guitars and never had an issue, but a bud of mine lent out his MIM strat and it came back dirty and beer covered. Any good lending stories here would be good.

I also borrowed a Mese dual rectifier and 4X12 in San diego with a Godin guitar to play rythem for a band I was briefly in. was very nice gear and the guy who lent it to me was not at all worried. A veryt cool cat.

Lok

I only lend out gear for two reasons:
1. To have it evaluated by a better player for possible improvements, and also for practice/evaluation if they do not own that model. (Includes amps, guitars, pedals)
2. For practice by someone else in a private setting. Again, I always make sure it is a better player than me. (Which is not hard in my case - LOL)
I would never, never loan out something where a live gig is involved. Way too much chance for wear and tear, theft, and if someone else THEY trust sees it while it's out and wants to try it, it might get lent again, if only for a short time to someone you would never consider.
With the usual poor financials of a lot of musicians, I would be hard pressed to lend out a fairly expensive instrument that would appear in any public setting. Getting that instrument ruined is bad enough, trying to replace it with same almost impossible with every guitar being essentially different.
I learned my lesson in the woodworking trade. Tools NEVER come back same or better, always worse...

Haha guess wud be tough for me to get is loaner if we ever met Some good advice, I doubt I wud be in a situation to lend but if I did it wudnt be any of my favs.

I have given a couple guitars to my nephew which has been cool & I may give a Yamaha acoustic to a friend, but he has given me demo models of serious outdoor use power tools & I am in his debt for sure, but wud only do because I know he wud enjoy & use the guitar as well, not just to try to balance the books so to speak, he`s always welcome to play any of my stuff when he comes over

In short, I have- and I've occasionally learned to be less likely to... sometimes, there certainly wouldn't be a "next time".

All the time. But you have to understand when you do, that you may never see it again.

Maybe if we`re in the same band and I will be there for the gig. Even then I REALLY try to avoid doing that. Last night I did a short acoustic open mic set. Someone showed up without a guitar and the guy who was on after me loaned his acoustic. Well about two songs in the borrower started doing hand percussion on the guitar, with his knuckles. That would be it for me right there-give it back. Now.
Guitar straps, cables, picks-if they aren`t the really expensive ones-that`s different, mostly no problem lending those.

The only people I lend gear to take very good care of things so I know it will come back in the same condition.

Yeah, I had just gotten back a custom refin cherry sunburst, the finish was still a little soft. let a guy sit in, and he was wearing a leather jacket with buckels and shit... I needed a new finish by the end of the song.

I've had that same experience, Bill... people sitting in for one song who thoughtlessly screw something up. Along with drunken idiots who trip and land their fat asses in my pedal board (killing the power section of an SKB board), enthusiastic girls up front who get carried away and pour their entire drinks into a pedal, etc.

Beyond that, as I was discussing it in another thread, yeah... it's a size-up of character thing, and it isn't fair: I've met some people once and let them use all kinds of stuff and I've known some people for years and won't let them touch a thing. You just learn how to tell who's trustworthy and who isn't. I can't explain that... but I'm seldom wrong in judging that... and yeah I learned it the hard way with small things early in life. I do confuse a lot of people by being generally friendly but drawing lines that some people can't cross, but that just comes with years on the rodeo circuit.

" it's a size-up of character thing, .."

indeed. In my case, the guy was with the band that asked us to come to their city and play. They were our warm up, and our hosts. Their presence brought in a crowd because they were local favorites. he asked to sit in.... who knew?

About the only good way out of those type of situations, is to have an extra
that plays and sounds decent but, if something goes wrong it won`t risk
homicidal fury. I had a guitar like that a while back but it had tuning issues so I got rid of it.

Answer: No...

I can count the people I'd lend gear to on the good fingers of Django's left hand.
The last time I lent a guitar to someone, it was a cheap classical guitar to a kid who was playing guitar at a church I attended. He promptly disappeared off the face of the earth, and of course I never saw the guitar again. No great loss, but STILL...
Reminding me of the old expression, "if you want to get rid of someone, lend them money."

And it's rare that I let people play my stage guitar... people who are friends and good players, maybe, but not strangers who might break a string or drop it or scratch it up.

Which is why I had to quit going out and playing guitar on park benches on summer nights.... everybody and his brother seems to think they can play guitar, and have a right to play YOURS, and some of them are drunk! They usually don't bother if you're playing flute or mandolin.

It depends on who asks. I have done it, but only with people I know really well, or if I'm in the room with it while it's being played.

Come to think of it, last night the first part of the evening got pushed back due to an earlier event. I was sitting in the back of the bar checking my tuning and some guy whom I had met before but had no idea that he played, came over and inststed on showing me a few things on my guitar.
I mean, I was right there but I wasn`t altogether happy about that.
He wasn`t even all that good-competent, that`s about it.

Never for any reason. But then again I do not hang out with musicians in this town. Back home, the answer would be, I don't think so, but could be depending on many factors.

Did it once many, many years ago! My guitar came back with the jack plate punched though the body. Never again!

Had a friend get both his electrics stolen out if his garage. So I came to the rescue with an axe that I was about to re-sell, while he filed his insurance claim - as he had some upcoming ticketed shows already booked.

The guitar came back several weeks later, and had been played live, and stuffed back in the case without being wiped down. He had extra salt in his sweat. The pickguard & pickup screws were already rusting from the sweat. Sweat trails and dried droplets all over the guitar, a broken string, and a few new nicks. Took me about an hour just to clean it properly.

Loaned another couple guitars & amps to the son of a very close friend while he was in town - so he could record his grunge demo at home. I figured that should be relatively safe - he wasn't going anywhere with them. Those guitars ALSO came back with not only new nicks - but little dings around the jack holes, where apparently he kept trying to shove the cable in without even looking. One of those also came back with a broken string, and both had about... 75 pick scratches all over the clear coat where he piston-armed a very sloppy strum... over, and over, and over.

Most of the pick marks and little nicks buffed out with some effort.

Never again. Ever.

I'm fine with lending gear to people I know well. It's just pieces of wood and metal, nothing that can't be replaced or fixed if an accident happens. I'm not sure why some people get so obsessive over gear, like it's a holy relic or something.

I lent one of my vintage strats to a friend for over a year. Got it back with a few extra dings on it and one tone knob replaced - no big deal. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it the same cat borrowed a JTM 45 from me, and during his gig there was some scuffle onstage and his stack got knocked over, and the head not only fell off the two stacked cabinets, but also off the stage, which was about 6 feet high. Busted the head box up pretty good, but the electronics still worked great. That was pretty funny.

Would I still lend gear to that guy - sure.

Loaning out my equipment is one thing I just don't do, letting one of my old buds play one of my guitars while we're jamming or gigging is OK...but I still check'em for belt buckles etc. before they get to play on one of my axe's...if it's gonna get dinged, I want to be the one who dings it...amps, I don't worry about...

Here's the scoop. I'm an accordian player (made tons of money, but it's not a babe-magnet), and my brother-in-law, also an accordianist, was having his Cordovox accordian repaired and asked to borrow my Hohner Atlantic MOD VOX II (a vertical Hammond B-3 electronic accordian with "wet" tuned reeds). I lent it to him for one gig. The following week his "box" was still not fixed and I lent it again. Third time was a no-go. No issues with the instrument, but he was making money using a very expensive instrument he didn't pay for (I didn't lend my Leslie with it...he ran it through a Marshall). So, to answer the actual question, I will lend out my gear, hoping that if the same happens to me, a fellow professional will help a friend in need...twice.

No

Interesting thread!

After reading here I think when playing out its a good idea not to lend to total strangers, period. And even if its friends/aquaintences ok but perhaps a few ground rules need to be agreed upon, no rough stuff, using acoustics as bongos etc.

But at the end of the day if you let yr gear out the door as a loaner, you have to be able to accept the worst, if you cant you need to politely decline, especially if its an expensive, or rare, hand me down type instrument, its not worth potentially ruining a friendship if something happened

I still think that the best way, if not the cheapest, is to have a `crash-test dummy` guitar that you can be a nice guy and lend out. If it`s the crown jewels, back off and keep your hands where I can see em.
Oh and in response to an earlier comment-last sunday I spoke to a guy who played through 30 Strats-30-just to find `the one`. Lose one, get another-ya,
I don`t think so.

Only if I'm within 25-50 feet of the person borrowing it, or if it's my dad.

Other than dad, NO ONE ELSE has ever been allowed to extensively borrow my guitars. This is a serious issue for me with my Ibanez RG's. If the necks snap off on those things, and I didn't break it... <-- spins you out for lunch

As far as the amps/effects, it depends on the person. The 25-50 ft rule applies here. You break a speaker or 2, you may have to buy me a new one. You break the amp... Thankfully, that's never happened...

I never loan out Guitars, amps or pedals. I will loan out cables, straps, stands, etc. If I'm asked to loan a pick, a battery and such, I just give it as a gift.

Here's the question in reverse: Are you willing to borrow gear?

I'm not -- I would hate to have an accident with someone's $3,000 Les Paul. I would feel the need to replace it (if I could) and I would feel terrible on so many fronts. It's just not worth it.

Only to very good friends who are very professional. These are people who I can count on to be responsible for repairs if anything happens. All my gear is fully insured so I'm not worried about theft at all. Otherwise no, never ever.

Well as a few of the folks here may recall, I had a `69 Custom Shop Strat on loan from a friend for like, three years. Totally fell in love with it and you can hear it on several tracks on the soundclick page. But I never asked to borrow it, it was offered and I said heck yes. Thankfully not only was it completely unharmed but I repaired the pickup selector switch. Photo is also available if you want a peek. But yeah I was hyperconscious about accidents-always transported it in the hard case even though it probably weighs more than some electric vehicles.
The owner decided to sell it, otherwise I might still have it.

I have loaned out gear before and continue to loan my mics to one friend in particular whom I trust not only to care for their physical well being but also to be nice to the electronics.

I would point out that I lost my job a year and a half ago. Shortly thereafter an unexpected package arrived on my door from Caevan. It was a semi-permanent loan of his TC Chorus pedal. It was a very cool gesture by a guy I've never met off this forum. I think we've spoken on the phone twice, maybe three times. Finest Kind!

(BTW - Much as I like it I never use it, K, so give me the address again or that of another lucky guy and I'll send it along. Thanks, again!)

Shucks, Neil! I'll be in touch...

In the meantime, you just need to line up more acoustic-guitar gigs and get some more use out of it!