For me it's a matter of who, and which guitar. I only have 2 guitars I'm really anal about, the rest are everyday players, still in excellent condition, wouldn't want them dropped, but are used regularly. Strangers absolutely not. Nothing worse than some drunk slob at a bar that wants to come up and touch your shite. Still any borrowing, or using will be done within my eyesight.

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"Where would rock and roll be without feedback?"

It really depends on who it is, which guitar I have with me, if the person is sober vs. on something, ect...you know, the situation. Generally I will not let just anyone play my stuff. In fact today is the first day in three months worth of lessons that I allowed my guitar teacher touch my #1 guitar, and I know he knows what he is doing.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Just exactly my thoughts!

There was young kid who was trading guitar lessons (from me) for mowing my lawn. I was definitely getting the better end of the deal.
The only thing the kid had going for him was enthusiasm. He had little or no natural talent or bend towards playing guitar, and he wanted to play Avenged Sevenfold-type stuff. I taught him some heavy licks and told him to go from there.

He found a "teen jam" that allowed kids such as himself (read: kids who had no band or prospects for such) and asked if he could borrow my "Big Ol' Board of Sonic Bliss" (the Official Screamin' Armadillo Pedalboard) and my dang-near-pristine '63 Re-Issue Vibroverb amp (the Official Screamin' Armadillo Amplifier).

After I quit laughing, I asked him what he thought might possess me to allow him to take MY stuff--some of it vintage and/or hard to find--to a gathering of dunces (read: thirteen-to-fifteen year old skatepunks) poorly playing music that my rig's not really made for.

I also made him get on the computer and look up the replacement cost of all of my pedals, pedalboard and amplifier. After rounding it up (to cover tax, shipping and patch cables), I asked him where he was going to get approximately $2500-3000 to replace my stuff if it were stolen or damaged beyond repair. The blank stare in return answered my question.

I did help him by loaning him a cheap distortion pedal, which was returned scratched and with the battery missing. I was also questioned (by his mother) about this event, because this Doofus apparently told his mom I was egging him on to perform at this particular venue. Apparently, I also drove him to this event as well, which I don't recall doing, because I DIDN'T DO THAT.

I started mowing my own lawn again the following week. Little jackass.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

This is one of the few benefits of being a left-handed player. People will rarely ask to play your guitars!

If some other crazy lefty actually wanted to play one of them...I guess it would all depend upon the context. If it's supervised at my place for a few minutes, I suppose that would be fine. I certainly wouldn't let him borrow one or take one to a gig.

I have a 17yr old Ducati that only a couple of close friends have been on. Another one 10yrs old that only I have touched. Too much to go wrong. My guitars however I feel are not nearly that susceptible to harm. Anyway my guitars are not that costly and I enjoy listening to anyone that knows how to play them tell me what they think of them, how I can better set them up, and hear them make some nice sounds. I can't say that I can do even my least expensive of them justice.

I had my LP at a barber shop after a lesson. One of the barbers wanted to see it. I opened the case, and the next thing I know she was grabbing it to try out! Luckily nothing bad happened. That was the last time I was "nice".

This past weekend, I let one of my best friends try the cab. He hates teles, he told me some mean comments when I bought mine. He couldn't put it down hahaha!

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"Music is what feelings sound like"

I'm usually pretty good at getting a vibe from:
-who will respect me and my guitar
-who really just wants to have their picture taken holding a guitar looking cool pulling off some low-slung Slash pose.

It's always a case-by-case thing.
We're aware of the negative potentials,
but what about the positives?

You can worry about some idiot dropping it,
but have you ever stopped to think:
What would happen if some hottie picked it up and just broke out into...
say... "La Villa Strangiato"?

I'd marry her.

I like nice things. I'm not filthy rich so I spend my money wisely. I buy a few items of excellent quality rather than a whole slew of lesser items for the sake of selection. That means my gear is important to me. I used to think I was good at detecting BS like you say but I've been fooled on a number of occasions, with guitars, bikes, tools, whatever, even camping gear. I once lent a guy two lawn chairs so he could go on a fishing trip. He brought them back beat to hell. Lawn chairs are inexpensive but that's not the point. You wreck something, you pay for it or replace it. And he was a friend I thought I could trust. I've had techs scratch my guitars, friends crash my bikes, friends "appropriate" my tools. Call me jaded but people have to earn my trust now and that doesn't happen overnight. I'm done being the nice guy who gets walked on. There's the old time honoured truth that trust takes years of effort and relationship building to earn and only a second to destroy forever. If a "friend" gets his nose out of joint because I won't let him trash my stuff then he was never a friend anyway.

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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.

On the other hand (as mentioned earlier):
I would not even BREATHE on someone else's guitar UNLESS they took it out and extended the offer.
In which case, i'd probably just play a few gentle riffs, then hand it back and pay 'em a nice compliment and say thank you, that was nice.

My friend brought her brand new high-end Martin to work to show me one day.
I mean, she literally did not own this pristine guitar for more than an hour or two.
She handed it to me, and I said "nooooo waaaaaay".

I'm kind of on the other end of the spectrum right now as I am in the possession of a quite nice Seagull acoustic that was offered by a friend. I usually play my Strat with him but I was talking about getting a decent acoustic and he offered it to me! He has other acoustics and a Strat so he's not suffering!

Sweet! I love it! I cleaned it up and put fresh strings on it and man!! I'd been playing the Strat so much I had forgotten about that big sound that travels right through your body with an acoustic.

Anyhow, he's a good friend. And I would certainly do the same for a person like him.

Lucky me,
Gridlok

This thread implies a further question. Would we ask to play someone else's guitars?

If I was in the room with guitslinger's collection I'd be just itching to get my hands on some of those bad boys! However, I'd kinda be too bashful to ask and would just be silently hoping like mad he'd offer without me saying anything.

Guitslinger, if it helps you'd be absolutely welcome to play my guitars! Apart from anything else, I'd love to hear you run through your Hendrix repertoire.

Cheers - C

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If you were in a room with guitslinger there'd better be someone taking pics to chronicle the spectacle. (I volunteer, I wouln't miss it for the world) And no donnybrooks, either. I mean it. Couple pints later and the Englishman and the Irishman could be re-enacting "The Troubles" all over again. OK, well maybe one donnybrook. Long as there's drinking and laughing afterward. Makes for a great photo-op.

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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 have done this many times. No one has said no yet.

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