Last time I lend a guitar out.

[Cathedral]

Surprisingly, it was also the first time.

Some of you may remember I had a sustainer installed in my RG a few months ago, my beloved RG which is my main guitar. A friend wanted to try out a sustainer, so I lent him my RG for the evening to have a play with the sustainer.

RG is returned this morning, I have the day off so I think great, a whole day for playing. I open the case and notice the whammy bar is still in the bridge, meaning the strings have been slack all night. I take the bar out and see the neck bow right in front of me. This isn't minor bowing, I actually see the headstock raise slightly towards the guitar body. Leaving the action after the twelfth fret getting steadily higher, to the point that its almost half an inch off the fret board by the twenty-fourth fret.

I went straight to Mid-Air Music and asked if they had any advice on how I could fix it, they turned me onto Brian Rogers (Kind chap who installed the sustainer and carried out various other mods to my baby) who gave me some great advice and offered to look over the guitar if I can make it over to his workshop. I'm strapped for cash (yay for still not having a full time job) so Brian advised me to carefully slacken the strings and stuff the bridge cavity with some folded up card etc. to prevent the bridge from falling in.

So yeah, I doubt I'll be lending out another guitar in the foreseeable future, at least not my workhorse.

The strangest thing about this? Before I slackened the strings, she was still in tune, despite the neck bowing. Thankfully the neck hasn't split anywhere, I've given a thorough examination and as far as I can tell, the only problem with the neck is bowing, the screws haven't ripped away from the neck and there are no splits in the wood, so hopefully it'll just be a tweak of the truss rod (and a ringing of a certain friend's neck) to get everything back to normal.

Sorry for the rant, let's make something of this topic. Any mishaps in lending out gear? Share your stories.

[ME.]

That sucks man.

Not sure I understand how that could have happen. But that sucks.
I'm very picky as to what I will lend out to others, guitars no, amps and pedals, maybe, depending on which one. And offcourse only to people I'd also trust with my life.


Good look

[nato101010]

Thats bad, man. Sorry to hear. Hopefully it'll be back to normal. Punch that guy out :P Hah, or just do that to one of his axes!

[brothersnowgone]

I'm confused. So if the strings were slack, why would the neck warp forward? Not being a knob, just trying to get the info straight.

Anyway never lend out any gear of any kind to anybody, including family. I lent a head to my best friend for a recording session. I end up getting a call about it and how the tubes must've blown cause it won't turn on. Turned out to be a blown fuse, replaced it, turned it on and the fuses blew right away. So I take it to a tech and a few days later I get it back all fixed, thankfully still under warranty. I never found out the exact issue, but it was something to do with one of the main PCB's being replaced if I remember correctly.
Either way I don't know if it was the manufacturer or my friend who caused all of this, so to be safe I never lend any gear out anymore.

[Rotti]

I don't think being in the case overnight with the strings slack would cause any issues. Maybe your friend "adjusted" the action for you. Anyway I hope it gets back to normal.

[Cathedral]

Originally Posted by brothersnowgone

I'm confused. So if the strings were slack, why would the neck warp forward? Not being a knob, just trying to get the info straight.

I'm guessing the sudden increased tension from the strings after eight hours of no tension at all may have caused the neck to bow. Or perhaps there was a difference in temperature between our houses. Either way, Claudia was just fine when I lent her to said friend, the next day, her neck's out of whack.

[kotornut]

Hmmm. I don't get the warpage. Maybe your friend did more than he said, but how should I know. But honestly, not to make you look foolish, but what you desribed wouldn't 'cause what your claiming as far as I know and I'm not a beginner or inexperienced to say the least.


I lent a guitar to a friend for a long period of time. It wasn't my main guitar but it was one I built together with my dad. Well unknown to me, he left it down at church all the time and yes don't be naive church kids steal things too and guess what? One of them stole my guitar. So that was good buy to my homemade guitar. And I still miss it to this day for the sentiment.

Now I only let someone else play my guitar if they are under my supervision, a qualified guitarist in some capacity, related to me or in my band (and even then it's iffy), and if they are willing to let me play theirs. I never let anyone take my guitar home. I never let anyone play it when I'm not around. I never let a kid play it that has never held a guitar or says "hey have you ever seen someone smash a guitar?" I never let anyone around it with fire, tools, sharp objects, water, beer, cleaning chemicals, ethanol, juice, glue or anything abrasive enough to damage it. Now that might sound extreme but it all comes natural with the supervision part. I don't have to check what's going on too hard to see that this is a situation in which my guitar is jeopardy.

The only person on this planet that can play Mace ('91 Rg560) without asking is my Pops, but he's the one who bought me my first, second and third guitars as well as let me learn on his, plus he handles every guitar with the utmost care. Oh I almost forgot, there is one more person could play it without asking that's my best friend Andy, that's because he's the one who gave me Mace. But I know he'd ask me anyways.

[Cathedral]

Originally Posted by kotornut

Hmmm. I don't get the warpage. Maybe your friend did more than he said, but how should I know. But honestly, not to make you look foolish, but what you desribed wouldn't 'cause what your claiming as far as I know and I'm not a beginner or inexperienced to say the least.

Well, Brian's gonna give it a look over and see if he can figure out exactly what happened and what the necessary steps will be to fix the bowing. When I spoke to him on the phone he said if the neck hasn't cracked anywhere and the screws in the pocket haven't ripped away from the neck, it should just be a case of adjusting the truss rod.

Oh and guess who isn't picking up his phone today? >:[

[jim777]

I had a guy leave a strap on my guitar in the case, when it had a thin Gibson Custom Shop finish on it. The stap color and location had leeched into the finish when I got it back.

I will lend guitars to my brother Dave, but everyone else can piss off!

[ken_r152]

I gave a family member my old nylon string acoustic as a gift. After a while, it was returned to me after she no longer wanted it, and it had deep pick scrape marks on the front. It was a little bit heartbreaking to see it like that, but after all, I did give it to her as a gift. You just have to assume that nobody else is going to treat things as nicely as you will.

[scotte_za]

I've lent my red SG and my strat copy out before (the SG to my girlfriend), and they both came back filthy and full of scratch marks. Now people can only touch my guitars at my house if I'm sitting with them. Otherwise the music room stays locked

[DavyH]

My first electric was lent out; it didn't come back. Luckily it was a cheapy, but it was the last guitar that's ever left home unaccompanied.

[UV-7-BK]

I prefer not to lend anything out or borrow anybodys gear...it just saves a hellova lot of heartache!!!

[kotornut]

Now for the more difficult question: do you lend Cds and DVDs to friends? In a nutshell: no! Because they never return them!!! I've been waiting 5 years to get my zeppelin box set disc 1 and 3 back and 3 years to get my G3 in Denver DVD back. Oh wait, I've been waiting freaking 8 years to get my Santana live at the Filmore West back too.

[rickcard71]

It's simple for me. DON'T EVEN ASK!