Handcuffs & Serial Numbers. Don't Go Drinking With Your Guitar! Plus other informative nuggets to protect your gear.
“Just like “The Bag
Lady” Erykah Badu said, “Pack light!” Less is more while on tour, always.”
Anonymous.
 |
| "You might miss me when I'm gone" |
What’s going on?
I have noticed a
rash of stolen gear from musicians. Some left the guitar in the car, walked
away for a hot minute and smash goes the window. Bye Bye Strat. While
researching this hot button topic, I came across many people who had their
equipment walk away. Most never is returned. While I don’t have a lot of empathy
for bigger name bands who are familiar with tour life yet still leave ALL their
expensive gear in a trailer outside a motel in Houston, I do think thieves
suck. What I’ve learned too is thieves can be plagued by indolence. Yet once
they get your stuff they are like Cheetahs in the savanna or a reality show
princess in Bloomingdales. They are quick and often crazy. Yet they move your
gear for the money. Most likely the money they get isn’t even for the full
value. I suppose their bargaining decision making depends on the price of their
drug of choice. I am sure not all thieves are addicts. Still addiction causes
people to do desperate and often callous deeds, like lifting someone’s rare Les
Paul or another’s Sunburst. You can’t put a price on the memories one has of a
certain gig or even a spur-of-the-moment practice session. As I wind around the ways of how to not piss
people off with my writing, I offer this to you musicians. Think of it as a way
to get Lady Karma to send me luck and prosperity and for you not to get ripped
off. Here we go.
Before we do that let's start with a positive outcome Petty and the boys got lucky, babe.
This is not the norm.
Protect your Gear.
1 My pal Jake of Old
Currents says "We usually try & keep all our stuff together in a
corner with 1 person or more right next to it and if I’m talking to someone, I
usually have the person I’m talking to stand so I can keep an eye on our gear
while talking. (see more of our convo below)
#2 - "Handcuff
them to you". My friend, Richie,
has spoken. Don't ask questions. Just do it.;
#3 - Joseph, the
luthier, says "Yo rock stars don't leave your guitar at the bar. Ok. Bartenders and Waitresses are not to be trusted". Apparently someone had a waitress lift
his guitar. Please see #2. (More about that in the Sad Stories portion)
#4 - Sleep with it.
At least you can say you didn't sleep alone. #upallnighttogetlucky
# 5 - My friend,
Angelo, who works at 2 guitar shops said matter of factly. "Micro Chip it.
You chip your dog. Why not your guitar".
#6 – Adam, the lead
singer of Fragile Creatures has actual insurance. He and his crew have Fenders. Fenders are expensive. Insure your Fender.
Read this…
#7 – If you
need to fly to another city or country, Kevin, a respected Philly session
player, said “be very kind to the flight attendant. Ask politely if you can
store it in the back in an upright position.” I would imagine it might be hard
to store in the overhead compartment. Again he stressed “Be very nice…” It does
go along way.
#8 - Finally. Leave the case empty. Carry your stuff in a gig bag. Carry into the hotel, motel. Don't let it leave your side. Pete, of the legendary Figgs told me. They have been together 32 years and have NOT had anything lifted.
Also I was watching this video of the Play It
Loud exhibit at the Met. I still want to go. If you watch, see how the players
marked up their guitars. My fave is the incomparable Tom Morello's guitar with
Soul Power etched on it. The Edge has picks on his. A few have noticeable dings
and nicks. Part 1 and 2 are pretty awesome to watch. I blew a half hour staring
at the masterfully arranged exhibit.
Now if you do get
your gear taken do the following:
1. Alert the police PRONTO.
2. Throw pictures out on ALL the socials. If it’s
a late gig, don’t wait until the morning. Someone is most likely up at 3 am.
3. Implore folks to share.
4. Call the pawn shops.
5. Alert guitar shops in the area. So you know
dealers and guitar shop workers are in cahoots with one another. They loathe
thieves just as much as you will when you go to your car and poof, your
Hollowbody is gone.
Dealers communicate
with each other. A smart dealer will ask someone who comes in off the street
the following:
1. Where's the case?
2. Where's the
certificate?
3. Do you even play
guitar?
4. Where’s the
serial number? A sure sign of a lifted
guitar is a rubbed out serial number. WRITE IT DOWN. Register your equipment.
It is imperative. I sound so Mom like.
Just do it y’all.
1. 1. Cake is not immune to thievery. They also
left all their gear in a trailer outside their motel in Portland which is plain
stupid. Sorry Cake. You can’t eat it too.
2.The Suffers too
left ALL of their pricey gear in a trailer. NOW they also started a GO Fund me
and received a bit over 30K they were asking for from suckers. Like me. I gave
money. Not much. But after I thought about it, and talked to a pal, I though
they should have known better. Also, I only saw a picture of an empty trailer.
It really could have been any trailer. I didn’t see any sign of break in. My immediate Nancy Drew went into full foul
play mode. Also, they don’t come from
nothing really. They all had “Real” jobs at one point. Jobs that would give
them access to insurance. Moral – treat your gear like a family member. Get
insurance. Hell, some people get their doggos insured. DO IT. It’s really not that expensive. Put it in
perspective, maybe skip a night out at the bar, or juice place. Eating healthy
organic stuff is expensive. I am still annoyed that I gave them anything. Ce La
Vie.
3.One of my fave “poor
you” stories is this one. This guy was asleep in one of the "Many
lounges" on the campus of Berklee. Uh really. He wants your money, sucker.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-replace-mwanzi039s-stolen-guitar
4.Royston Langdon of Spacehog's guitar "walked" off stage in Seattle. He was extremely upset. It clearly had to be someone at the gig. The venue's manager alerted all his socials as did Royston. He did NOT start a GoFund me. Classy move. He of course doesn't need to get a second job but that is an option people.
5. Also I did hear a story about a luthier who lent a custom guitar to musician. The musician decided this fine guitar would be his wing man at the bar. Don't go drinking with your guitar ok. A waitress took it out back. Guitar went missing for a short while. It was located because of the special nature of the make of the guitar. Thieves are heartless bastards.
Last tip for you. There is a registry and people actually take it seriously.
http://www.stolenguitarregistry.com/howworks.php
Here is more of my
convo with Jake, of the Old Currents. They HAVE Not had anything stolen.
Jake - On the
subject of protecting gear, we haven’t had anything stolen yet but we’re still
super careful with our stuff. We never leave any gear unattended, even if it’s
go grab a beer. We usually try and keep all our stuff together in a corner with
one person or more right next to it and if I’m talking to someone, I’ll usually
have the person I’m talking to stand so I can keep an eye on our gear while
talking. I don’t know if it’s effective, but I heavily sticker my cases so I
can quickly identify it from afar. I also have photos and serial numbers of all
my gear written on a paper in my important stuff drawer at home in case it’s
stolen I can have all the details. I also mark all my gear in a discrete spot
so even if someone steals and say refinishes it, I can still identify it too.
We used to be pretty
relaxed about our gear then within a short period of time two bands I love Two Cow Garage and American Aquarium
got their stuff stolen and I didn’t wanna be in the same boat as them.
T - Awesome ideas. If you don't mind if i use some
of this. I don't have to use your name..... American got their stuff taken??? I
like them.
J - Yea quote away! And if memory serves BJ didn’t
get his red Gibson acoustic taken, it Bill their bassist at the time got his
Gibson goldtop Les Paul bass taken among other gear. So do I they’re a great
band.
All I know it if I
got my Gibson ES-335 stolen I’d be crushed. I worked and saved all summer when
I was 18 to get and I’ve played every full band show with it since except for 2.
It means more to me than anything I own.
And whenever we go
out of state, anything of value gets taken in from the car to the hotel/friend’s
house etc. the last thing we wanna do at 1am is unload the car, but we’d rather
bring it inside and be safe then lazy and have our stuff taken."
T - I agree. I am
convinced it's like a bling ring. I am also convinced the venues or my friend
said hotels might could be not sure but could be in on it. I like that you
heavily sticker the cases. Good idea. Well I'm pimping myself out to watch people's instruments. I have pepper
spray.
J - Good call! Start
a side hustle guarding gear! I’ve totally heard or read peoples theories that
hotels or venues might be in bed with some bad people, but I don’t have any firsthand
experience with that. I’ve heard once that a band with a heavily secured van,
spent extra money to stay at a nice hotel, with a guarded parking garage with
security cameras and STILL got some stuff taken. Seems a bit fishy to me. Maybe
it’s not the best way to be, but the only people I can trust with my stuff is
me.
T - I can do that and be a merch girl.
My dream job lol
Happy gigging. Don't let this happen to you.
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