As long as I don't think the person is an absolute moron, yes. I've let vague acquaintances play the acoustic I built, which is possibly the most sentimentally valuable thing I own.

I love it when other people play my gear, it always sounds much better than when I play it for some reason...

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Rated "M" for meaty.

I once let a stranger "rent" my Gibby acoustic... a bit of a dicey endeavor but it turned out well. She needed an acoustic to play at her friends wedding reception... she was a guest at a very fancy resort in Jackson, WY where my roommate worked. I figured if anything happened to it I'd just bill her room for a new one . In any event, she bought me a bottle of Booker's which was a nice gesture, and at the time, I'd have probably bought myself a bottle of bourbon with any cash she might have given me anyway.

Ordinarily however, I'm not too keen on strange mitts pawing my guitars... with some of my guitars it's a more touchy subject than others. No pun intended...

Heres the way I look at it.I personally don't hang out with boneheads, so any of my friends buddys most likely will be cool people.So,with that being said, I would most likely let them play it as long as I was there.Its a strat and I kinda think of it as a tool of the trade and it's to be used, not babied.I like watching other people make my strat come alive.Everybody that has played my strat has told me that I have a live one.It's kinda cool to know that I'm not the only one that appreciates my guitar.On the other hand...if somebody asks to use my harmonica...the answer is NO.That is like wearing another dudes underwear or swapping spit with another guy....ain't gonna happen.

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1986 Fender Sidekick Reverb 35
1990 Fender Red Knob - "The Twin"
1992 Fender Newporter - Acoustic
2000 Fender American Series Strat - Natural ash
2010 Fender Mustang 1
2011 Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster -Sunburst
2012 Fender Champion

I never met Jimi Hendrix, but I would have let him play any one of my guitars no mattter how high he was. Heck, the pieces after he was done would be worth more than the entire guitar.

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Bill

My sentiments exactly...

I have no problem with someone I trust playing my guitars, but nobody rides my motorcycles. At least not another man. Do the math yourself.

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Gary

I'm one of those kinda freaky wrapped up sort of people. I look at it like this. I worked my butt off to get what little I got. I have to save and save for each guitar and if something were to happen I would really freak, I mean really totally go off the chain freaked out and something very very bad might happen. Unless I really know the person well and they are a really talented musician I don't even let anyone handle my guitars. I probably should relax a little but a good Squier is $300-$350, that's 6-8 weeks saving. A MIM is $450-$650 so that's 5 or 6 months and MIA is a tax return investment all in itself for me.

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I believe that Jimi, Stevie, Jeff, Robert, Hubert, Les, Leo and the "Duck" are all looking down on Joe B. saying "Holy smokes that dude got some stuff going on!"

Check out the cause:
http://crossroadsguitarfestival.com/

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

+1

cheers

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It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting - paulo coelho

It seems that the responses are pretty evenly spread. I guess I'm in the more uptight crowd. I don't have a lot of expensive stuff and I could save up again and replace any of it but I consider my guitars more of a personal item.

Not long ago an acquaintance of my wife's stopped at our house to drop something off (whatever the school kids are peddling this time of year). So as my wife and this lady are politely chatting her preteen son sees my guitars and asks if he can play one. I said, sure and handed him one of the lower end ones and plugged him into my solid state rig. He strummed a few power chords and butchered some AC/DC licks and all was fine.

However, as he is playing I noticed that this kids hands were filthy. It looked like it had been two weeks since he had washed. This is the specific point where I learned that I was indeed quite protective of my guitars. Yeah, nothing was broken or even slightly damaged but from now on, I'd rather not have people I don't know touching my stuff. Oh well, it didn't hurt that guitar to get a good clean, polish and new set of strings.

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'09 Am Deluxe Ash Strat
'09 Mex Standard Strat
'10 Mex Standard Tele
Champ 600
Blues jr.
'65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

I let a fellow play my Ovation acoustic one night at a jam. We were playing in a room with a fairly low ceiling and when he was done playing he lifted the guitar over his head to remove the strap from around his body. He stuck the neck of the guitar into a ceiling fan that was on and proceeded to eat the guitar neck. I need not say more, I rest my case.

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OK, I'll hum a little bit, got it now?

The problem is getting put on the spot. The truth is if you say no, you come off as an a-hole.

... and I'm perfectly fine with that. If I don't know them or trust them then I don't care what they think of me.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I could count on one hand the number of people on the face of this earth who I trust enough to allow then to touch any of my guitars-let alone play them.I take fastidious-some would say obsessive-care of my guitars and every one of my guitars that I bought new is pretty well mint condition,even my first electric that I got for Christmas in 1967.

I suppose if owned a reliced guitar-something I'd never have under my roof anyway-I may let a handful more play it.

A lot of people don't have any qualms about letting others use their gear and even get a lend of it.When people lend gear they never ever ask the person why they have to borrow it anyway,if the answer is because they can't afford one of their own,absolutely refuse to lend it to them no matter how good a friend they are.If they can't afford to buy one of their own then you should know that they bloody well couldn't afford to replace it if it got broken or stolen.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Coming off as an a hole by saying no isn't as rude as somebody you don't even know asking to play your bass, especially if it's an expensive one.