Has anyone damaged your alembic when you allowed them to play it?

[jazzyvee]

As is well documented here, I'm not from the school of letting other musicians play any of my musical instruments alembic or otherwise. Yes there have been rare exceptions to that over the years but usually when I have invited someone to play it rather than as a result of someone asking me to play it.
One of the reasons is that I wonder how would things be resolved if anyone damaged the instrument when it was in their hands because a person damaging an alembic is certainly is likely to have an expensive bill to pay that would run at least to hundreds if they are lucky or maybe into the thousands if not so lucky.

I've read on other forums where people have shared their rig/bass cab with other bands and when it was found to be damaged no-one offered to pay for it.


So that leads me to ask if anyone here has ever lent their alembic to someone else and it got damaged in some way, how was the matter resolved and did the person pay to get it fixed?

[glocke]

Not yet...though once I did have a drunk "fall down" onto my hardshell case that contained my Series 1.  I am pretty convinced this guy was one of those people that don't like other people having nice things and the "falling down on the case" was on purpose. There was easily 10-15 feet of clearance all around the case for him to fall on, and somehow he managed to fall write on top of my case.  No damage but I was still pissed.

In some of the bands I play in Im basically a sub and the B/L has a tendency of inviting others into sit in for a song, sometimes on drums, sometimes on guitar or bass.  Typically these are good players from well established bands on the local scene, and sometimes I know them personally and other times they are folks I just heard of.  Since I am filling in and I want to come back for other fill-ins I don't feel like I can really say no so grudgingly hand a bass over, including my SCSD from time to time.  No damage as of yet, and I would suspect no one would take responsibility for the damage.

Another time in another band where I was the main bassist someone in that band invited a local 6 string player to come out and play, without even clearing it with me first and I grudgingly let him have the first song in the second set, which than turned into the second and third song.  My amp was set up for my four string basses and not for his six string modulus and the first minute of the first song some pretty awful sounds were coming out from the guys bass when he would hit the lower notes.  I actually had to get up and turn down the gain and cut some low frequencies on my amp while he was playing it sounded so bad. After that I started having issues with my cabinet and realized that I had to send a speaker off to get reckoned.  It was fine before this guy sat in but I have no way of proving his bass damaged it.
 

Now that I've got some nitro finished jazz basses I want to bring out on gigs Im really going to have to put my foot down if Im asked to let someone sit in.  The nitro finishes are pretty delicate and I want to avoid as much relicing as possible.


One final rant..I honestly can't stand people sitting in.  Unless it's someone that is really going to elevate the band and take them to another level, they are just something that interrupts the overall flow of the set and they can get out of control quickly.  I've seen sit-ins happen where one song can turn into 3-4 songs very quickly meanwhile the guy who is "sitting out" is stuck twiddling his thumbs.  Works the other too for me, Im not a fan of sitting in on other peoples sets.  Their instrument is set up to their personal taste, amp settings are usually different from what i would use, and it all works out to be a sub-par performance.

[dela217]

No.

I helped host an open mic night for almost 10 years.   In that time, I let every bassist that came through the door play my Series 1.   Most didn't even know what it was when I handed it to them, but it always made an impression.   The biggest complaint from that that the bass was too neck heavy.   No big deal to me.    On a rare occasion I had someone recognize what it was and treat it accordingly, like it was the holy grail or something.   It's a bass.   A tool made to be played and enjoyed!   I hope I spread a little of that enjoyment when others played it.

The only time someone else damaged one of my Alembics was completely random.    I was using my graphite necked Series II for the gig one night.   When the band took a break, I put the bass on the stand as usual.   The place was packed, the crowd was rowdy.   When I came back from the break, I noticed that the bass was gone!   My heart sank.    I looked around for it and found it laying on the other side of the stage.    I found out that what happened was that a fight broke out in the crowd and ended up on the stage somehow.   My bass was caught in the action.   It must have been a good one as my bass was a good 20 feet from where I placed it.   It could have been much worse as the bass only got a couple of dings.

Michael

[keith_h]

It depends upon the situation. For a flat out stranger walking up and asking to play my bass I would say "No". For someone I know or a band member knows I would be ok with them borrowing it for a song or two. When I was doing house bass for an open mic night the band leader use to bring a Squire Jazz Bass and Stratocaster for folks who showed up with an instrument. He also supplied the bass rig and would let folks use his guitar amp.

As to using my rig I've never had any problem with others plugging in. I give them a few rules and help them get the sound set. With the Navigator having so many controls a lot of folks appear to be intimidated by it and just go with my settings. When I was renting out my PA I also made my bass rig available as I rather work with a piece of gear I'm familiar with than something I'm not. Also with the ELF controller the built in limiting greatly reduces the odds of someone blowing a speaker.

The only damage I've had done to a bass was by a lazy keyboard player who was auditioning with us. Rather than adjust a speaker on a stand he used as a monitor from in front he reached over his keyboards and proceeded to knock it over into my bass. The guitar stand I use kept the bass from falling over but the speaker left a ding in the front veneer of the headstock on my BB. He didn't get the gig by the way.

[edwardofhuncote]

I guess after about 25 years of playing music around here I know most of the other bass players within 100 miles of here, at least all the ones that play out regularly enough that we'd run into each other at gigs. I can only think of a couple that are reckless enough that I wouldn't let them play my Alembic. Honestly, I can't imagine them asking. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've ever sat-in, or been asked to. It happens, but it's just a rare, friendly gesture. The last time was a Christmas party gig last year, the other bass player, was a former bass player in the band, and yes, I handed him my Alembic. He was very appreciative. Played and sang one song, beginning of a set, and handed it back. He was understandably blown away, never having played one. I remember that feeling well. For me it was a Distillate 5-string, in Nashville 23 years ago.

I can't really lay any guilt or blame on anyone though... I do repair work on the side (or used to) and I've seen firsthand what a moment of carelessness can do. I shudder to think about having to send one of my basses back to Mica in two pieces, but it could happen to me just as easily as anyone.

For what it's worth, I recently offered my Persuader 5-string to the guy subbing for me in Harwell-Grice Band this Fall/Winter... knowing what that bass means to me, he wouldn't take it.

[gtrguy]

I love to have musicians I know sit in, if I have invited them to beforehand. I think it is a great marketing tool as well. However, I usually gig with my '96 Stingray, which is built like a truck and not rare in any way.

I would not let anyone play my Alembic. I have seen gear damaged by other careless people too many times; from guys plugging their 6 strings into my small 12" rig and cranking it way up, to idiots swinging a mic around that crashed into a persons vintage Gibson fretboard leaving a big dent, to a lady letting her small child poke my Mockingbird right off its stand onto the floor (at a Gospel concert no less) and scuttling out the door hoping no one saw her, to a friend repairing a rare 50's fender bass that someone grabbed and ran out the door with and was dropped in the parking lot, etc.

Certain kinds of damage to vintage instruments cannot be repaired, and I am the kind of person that would feel a dent on the neck every time I played it and get annoyed.

Its kinda like parking lot dings on a car; if you have a nice one, you park well away from other cars. My daily driver gets no such consideration though!

[xlrogue6]

Pro tip: If your Alembic is a 6 string bass, nobody ever asks to play it.

[edwardofhuncote]

Fretless 5's kinda' spook 'em too. 

[garyhead]

The first ding in my Essence 6 was by a band member playing it.

[jazzyvee]

xlrogue make that a lefty 6 string fretless and you are even safer. 🤓🎸😂

[xlrogue6]

I've got right handed 6 string fretless (the one I'm holding in my avatar) but it rarely sees the stage these days.

[jazzyvee]

Hi Kent, not sure if I mentioned this to you but i'm having double bass lessons on my classico with your brother in law Tom Hill over here in the UK. He has a nice epic bass too.

[xlrogue6]

That's way cool, Jazzy. Tom is a monster!

[gtrguy]

Years ago I had a friend who was a jazz player and he used a 69 strat set up with the biggest action and stiffest strings you ever saw. I mean you could not bend those strings with a bottle jack. Other jazz guitar playing snobs would sometimes come up and ask to play his guitar at jams or gigs  to try and outdo him. It was always soooo funny to watch their faces when they could hardly even play a chord on that guitar let alone do a solo. And from the crowd perspective it just looked like they sucked at playing.

Oh, the good old days!