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I'm pretty good about watching my guitar on gigs, and no one's gonna walk off w/my Twin Reverb.
but never paid much attention to watching my equipment bag until Fri night @ the end of our regular gig when I noticed it missing.
not the end of the world, a SM-57, SM58, spare xlr and guitar cables, packs of strings etc., but still annoying.
fortunately most of the stuff I care about I was using.
the place is frequented by a lot of college age people so I'm thinking someone thought it was a laptop or similar. they were probably disappointed w/the haul.
needless to say the new bag will be behind my amp from now on, lesson learned.
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12-17-2017 07:11 PM
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I know guys out here who have lost pedals during the break from the stage. If something is in reach someone will try to steal it.
Another thing I hearing too much these days are musicans with gear in storage lockers, and the lockers get broken into. Police will say usual an there is an inside people involved, but proving it is tough. Even just loading and unloading my guitar I try to draw as little attention as possible.
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I always get mad hearing about stuff like this.
I remember reading where even Les Paul himself has had guitars stolen at gigs. The nerve of people!
Fortunately I haven't had anything major nicked yet- other than a few tuners/leads that people "borrowed" but they never gave back.
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Lesson learned, indeed. Ninety-nine percent of the public is relatively harmless. The other 1% is hopeless. I've lost a few things to opportunistic theft over the years, and a few more things to guile and patience. Don't get me started on "borrowed."
Last edited by citizenk74; 12-18-2017 at 01:48 AM. Reason: Capitalization
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Sorry about your loss wintermoon.
I'm usually careful where i put my stuff. Behind the amp is a good place, sometimes i hide things under the stage, but over here it seems to be not as dangerous to leave stuff unattended during intermissions or in the dressing room.
One interesting thing i noticed over the years is that guests at business gigs have the tendency to leave their briefcases right next to the musician's space. They seem to sense that their belongings are safer from theft if they place them near us.
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It's not just the public and employees you need to watch. I was in a battle of the bands. The band before us cleared the stage and we set up and just tuned. We left the stage for about 5 minutes for primping. We came back and burst directly into a song. Someone had detuned us massively. We had to start over. That hurt our scores a lot. We know it was a member of our rival band, Queen Anne's Lace. Bastards.
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I wish I had been a member of Queen Anne's Lace. 
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Always very sorry to hear of this sort of thing.
I'll offer one small thought.
I now carry my gear in a rolling plastic file box that costs about $20-25 at an office supply store.
I can get my amp in it, on its side. And there's room for music stand, guitar stand in it, and a bag with my pedal board and cables on top.
Then, during the gig, I put all my stuff inside it (the bag, my jacket, amp cover etc) and use it as an amp stand. If it's a higher paid gig I bring a large piece of cloth and cover it, so it looks a little better.
So, to steal my stuff, a thief would have to enter the stage area, lift my amp and reach under it.
My guitar's gig bag and the guitar are separate. I try to get the gig bag in the back of the stage area if I can. I gig with a cheap guitar, which is good for peace of mind. The gig bag costs more.
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Wintermoon, that sucks. I’m sorry for you man.
Those are great mics you lost there. Classic, durable, great sounding and reliable.
i hope the thief woke up this morning to find that his feet grew together last night while he was sleeping.
Joe D
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I had to look this up just now. It looks like there are more than one Queen Anne's Lace bands. I can't be sure. The one we battled was in 1968 or 1969. I remember that they beat the rest of us and were excellent. I don't remember anything more except their name.
Originally Posted by sgosnell
I wish I had been a member of Queen Anne's Lace.
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Something similar happened to me. Big show in Toronto (not jazz obviously) with a fantastic sound system and side wash monitors.... the whole deal. Sound check sounded amazing then the opening crappy band plays. We start at 10 and first chord sounds like... nothing... I run back and my stereo amps and mics are disconnected... even my line out is gone.... Two minutes into the first piece it is all up and running but what a sh*tty move.... That was 20 years ago and I still cannot believe it..
QUOTE=Marty Grass;827421]It's not just the public and employees you need to watch. I was in a battle of the bands. The band before us cleared the stage and we set up and just tuned. We left the stage for about 5 minutes for primping. We came back and burst directly into a song. Someone had detuned us massively. We had to start over. That hurt our scores a lot. We know it was a member of our rival band, Queen Anne's Lace. Bastards.[/QUOTE]
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I played a gig near Ottawa for a street party. A sketchy guy that , yes, I know shows up and is watching very intently... a street musician here in Ottawa... and, at the end of the show, I move my equipment to my car, he is watching, and I come back to get the amp and it is gone. I ask around and everyone says nothing unusual was going on just folks we know hanging around. Of course... So, I know who stole my amp but I can't pin it on him... aaarrrggghhhh! There are no doubts in my mind about this.
e Originally Posted by wintermoon
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Guess it's long enough ago that all the guilty parties are dead of working at Guitar Center and wish they were dead. So you all heard me say I was a roadie for a Yes tour way back in the Jurassic days. Well at the time this new type of guitar stand had just come out, today those stands are everywhere, but then only the original was out and they were very hard to find and very cool to have. So Yes is headlining this festival in Michigan and the band on before Yes was Peter Frampton who's live album was one of the biggest things at the time. So after Peter's soundcheck some of the core Yes crew see's this long line of these beautiful new Drumland guitar stands and they start drooling over them. So that night when Frampton trucks left they was missing a few of those stands. So even some of the biggest bands are "borrowing" gear from each other.
I think the worst I heard was Canned Heat after a gig their crew loaded up all their gear in the truck and locked it up. They went around the corner for a smoke before leaving, they came back and truck and all the gear is gone.
But my favorite story is about the Rolling Stones. The Stones are run like a business and have huge crew of the regulars and a lot of extras that come and go, the the Stones themselve really don't know who's who. The Stones were on a break between legs of a global tour and they are staying at a villa probably in France. So the Stone are hanging out and these guys come in the house say they are part of the crew and taking amps in for repair so right in front of the Stones just hanging out these guys start rolling gear out and loading in a truck and then leave. A week goes by and the Stones decide to rehearse a bit and work on some tunes. They go to play and no gear, they call their road manager and asked him to have the crew bring back some of the amp they took so they can rehearse. Road manager we didn't send anyone to pickup gear. So the Stones lost a truck load of gear and actually watched to thieves roll it out in front of them. LOL.
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Gear being ripped off is always a major downer.
Like Marty Grass, my only theft occurred at a battle of the bands back in the day. My new Ampeg VT22 (I'm certain 'VT' stood for 'vertical trauma' due to its heft) was stolen by the someone associated with the Midnighters, a top band in East L.A.
I never forgot that event, and to this day never take my eye off of my stuff when at any venue if possible.
@Wintermoon~Sorry to hear about your gig bag of stuff being stolen.
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I had a friend who lent a couple of amps to a person he knew. They left them in the unlocked boot of their car in a supermarket car park and... gone. He took them to a small claims court and got the money back.
The law said there was a duty of care (since the amps were not their property) and not locking the car properly meant it was their fault. Had the robbers actually broken into the car they'd have been okay.
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don't ever leave your keys in your car with your motor running while you run into the post office. if someone steals your car while you've left the keys in it, you could be in for disappointment.
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Who would be nuts enough to steal a VT-22? I left mine in my car one night after getting home really tired. Sure enough, in the morning there were two VT-22s in the car. Vertical trauma indeed. Originally Posted by Gitfiddler
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Originally Posted by Gitfiddler
Guess who's still around maybe you can give them a call.
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Sorry to hear about your loss. All these years gigging in bars, i 've seen quite some theft. Even people coming on stage on a brake and walking out with someone's instrument, or stealing a bag right from the stage, or a pedal or two. It has become kind of second nature to me to watch out for stuff
, you have to have rules and safe habits. I usually have everything on sight all the time, and most stuff out of the way of the audience. Not only to prevent theft, but accidents too. Always assume that a potential thief might be present, and just don't give them the opportunity. Have a reliable friend or band member watch your stuff when you re away.
I also have this thing about leaving stuff in cars
, after having a gazillion of friends having had their stuff stolen there.... even for 1 minute, i wouldn't leave gear in the car by itself..
Also, be prepared. Have insurance if applicable, (it can cover service costs in many cases too), photos, serial numbers, etc.. Sometimes things are recovered months or even years later..
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That sucks! Luckily it wasn't more valuable or irreplacable stuff although losing a couple of pieces of gear is bad enough...
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Sorry to hear that. I've never had any gear stolen myself, but more thru luck than care. A lesson to us all.
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Wow, that's a different kind of sabotage I never heard of. Originally Posted by Marty Grass
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They should have lost the competition just for having that name, that is the crappiest band name I have ever heard. Originally Posted by Marty Grass
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Originally Posted by ragman1
i had my amps stolen from my locked car as well (polytone plus extension cab plus a briefcase with cables etc). Later found them back online, and went to the police. They did nothing, no priority is what they said. This is the Netherlands.
So I learned the hard way - never leave anything unattended
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Yep, that's them! The Midnighters won every battle of the bands competition they entered. Originally Posted by docbop
Guess who's still around maybe you can give them a call.
They played all Fender Guitars through Vox Super Beatle amps that were taller then the musicians and sounded gloriously loud...but I bet my VT-22 weighed more!
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