How musicians "guard" highly valuable instruments

[rllink]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

I was talking to the wife of Catfish Keith, and she told me that they don't keep their valuable instruments at their home. Obviously, anyone can easily find out when they are on tour or doing shows because they advertise it on the net. Most of us don't think about it but it makes perfect sense.

But how do thieves know that? You would think that if thieves were perusing Facebook looking for places where big name performers lived to break into, they would be hitting them every weekend. At least take the TV and a couple laptops if they didn't find the guitars they were looking for.

I imagine those people would have pretty good alarm systems as well.

[Bob Womack]

I can imagine that Joe Bonamassa's security is reasonably beefy. He often carries four classic Les Pauls with him on the road. They would be worth about $250,000.00 EACH. I have no idea what he does for security at the "Nerdvilles," his homes and the homes of his collections, west and east.


A little part of the Nerdville Collection.

Bob

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

<> Joe Bonamassa<> often carries four classic Les Pauls with him on the road. T

Bob

Why?

Seems like carrying four suitcases, each with the same set of clothes inside.

[LAPlayer]

A few reasons but much the same as acoustic players (like James Taylor) bringing 3 Olsons with him on tour. Because that's what they prefer to play. Much like most of us. we bring what we want to play, when we are playing. I wouldn't do a 3,4 or 5 hour show without playing the exact guitar(s) I want to spend time playing.

[gfirob]

These are the guitars that I have had stolen from me over the years:

1) 1928 Martin 00-28, purchased from John Fahey and seen on the cover of his album number 6, stolen in a domestic burglary.
2) 19th century Martin New Yorker (O-28), stolen from a television studio
3) Mahogany topped banner Gibson, stolen in an office burglary.

Some of these kinds of things you can avoid by being more careful, some of them are just going to happen. If you go out in the world and play your vintage instruments, they are going to be at risk. The answer is to insure your guitars and be careful with them. In some cases you are going to be sh*t out of luck. I still go out and play what I have. Why own a guitar you love that you are not going to share with an audience? What is the point of owning them?

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

Why?
Seems like carrying four suitcases, each with the same set of clothes inside.

1. They each sound and feel different.
2. He is a collector but wants those rare guitars to be heard and not sit in a glass case.
3. He is generous and has been known to allow serious guitarists to go backstage before a show and actually play them.

Bob

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

Why?

Seems like carrying four suitcases, each with the same set of clothes inside.

I laughed. It's more than possible the Joe would too.

He's well aware of the level of his obsession regarding the small details and differences between examples of the same model of guitar. Loves to write and talk about those things in various places. That why the "nerdville" thing.

Interestingly he's another who travels with guitars that have a high valuation, but also does not tour with some of the rarest parts of his collection. He has lately taken to explaining that he sees his job with his played-on-stage and keep-carefully as part of a collection guitars as being a steward of the instruments, preserving them for the future.

[Skarsaune]

My wife and I went to the local symphony Saturday night.

As part of our night out, we had dinner at a local restaurant.

A couple tables over were several of the musicians. One of the gentlemen had his violin case right with him.

I don't know what it was nor it's value, but it was valuable enough to him that it didn't get left in the car nor at the hall.

Lot easier to do that with a violin than the Steinway grand they had as part of the show.

[frankmcr]

Mkay. JB has a lot of fans and has obviously made a ton of money playing music, which is great to see.

A Tele, a Strat, a Paul, a Country Gentleman etc., all on stage at the same time for different numbers I would totally get. Still not getting four of the same model and time period. Nobody in the audience can tell the difference.

Just clarifying my reaction. Not wanting to yuck anybody's yum.

[LAPlayer]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

A Tele, a Strat, a Paul, a Country Gentleman etc., all on stage at the same time for different numbers I would totally get. Still not getting four of the same model and time period. Nobody in the audience can tell the difference.....

I'm glad I finally met the one person that only wants/needs one guitar because "the audience" can't tell the difference. �� Which one guitar is that for you...? ��
Seriously though, we (as a musician I am also in the audience for people I want to see/hear) can tell a difference. Although much of the difference will be tuning and pickup differences that certainly color an electric guitars tone, from my experience. Even Carlos Santana (and Joe) sound like themselves on stage no matter what their playing - but they change guitars for many reasons.

[Ramblin' Dude]

Originally Posted by RP

I went to several Wayne Henderson performances in small venues in the wake of the publication of Clapton's Guitar. Sure, these were not $10,000,000 guitars but their demand and worth definitely increased after the book came out. I was surprised when at intermission Wayne passed his guitars around to those gathered around the stage like bowls of chips. At one of the performances he had an 0-model that had been special ordered, and the new owner was in attendance that night. He even handed that one out for us to try out...

A buddy of mine saw Wayne play a few years ago and walked up to talk to him after the show. My buddy is an amateur luthier and had some technical questions for Wayne, who is one of the nicest people on the planet. Before they could really start talking, someone interrupted. Wayne handed my friend his guitar that he had just played the set with and said "hold this while I deal with this - I'll be right back."

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by LAPlayer

I'm glad I finally met the one person that only wants/needs one guitar because "the audience" can't tell the difference. �� Which one guitar is that for you...? ��
Seriously though, we (as a musician I am also in the audience for people I want to see/hear) can tell a difference. Although much of the difference will be tuning and pickup differences that certainly color an electric guitars tone, from my experience. Even Carlos Santana (and Joe) sound like themselves on stage no matter what their playing - but they change guitars for many reasons.

That's so weird.

You in fact have what I said right there in front of you, you even quoted it:

"A Tele, a Strat, a Paul, a Country Gentleman etc., all on stage at the same time for different numbers I would totally get."

And you completely ignore what that quote actually says and go off about "the one person that only wants/needs one guitar "

[difalkner]

Even down at lower income levels we take precaution whenever possible. When my son was in HS he excelled at the trumpet. In middle school we rented an instrument but for HS I decided to buy him a Bach Stradivarius Trumpet, about $2,500. That was a lot to spend for a 9th grader's instrument but he is more OCD than I am and I knew he'd protect it.

First football game rolled around and when the band takes a break they leave all their instruments just anywhere they can in the stands. Some get knocked over, stepped on, sat on, drinks spilled, etc. so he put his in the case and took it with him for his break. The next day I began to check out insurance plans for full replacement and found it was going to cost about $150 each year and that was with about a $500 deductible and didn't cover anything except the instrument being stolen or demolished.

So I did the next best thing - I bought a $150 Steuben Trumpet that was a knock-off of the Bach Stradivarius. A one-time purchase and he used that for all football games but used the Bach on stage in symphony performances. Today, some 20 years later, both are in excellent condition although the Bach is pristine and the Steuben has a few tiny blemishes that are hard to see unless you know where to look.

[RP]

Originally Posted by Ramblin' Dude

A buddy of mine saw Wayne play a few years ago and walked up to talk to him after the show. My buddy is an amateur luthier and had some technical questions for Wayne, who is one of the nicest people on the planet. Before they could really start talking, someone interrupted. Wayne handed my friend his guitar that he had just played the set with and said "hold this while I deal with this - I'll be right back."

Yeh, that sounds about right....

[LAPlayer]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

That's so weird.

You in fact have what I said right there in front of you, you even quoted it:

"A Tele, a Strat, a Paul, a Country Gentleman etc., all on stage at the same time for different numbers I would totally get."

And you completely ignore what that quote actually says and go off about "the one person that only wants/needs one guitar "

I see my tongue-in-cheek emojis (�� �� ) didn't populate. I was joking with you.