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Don't let family members be alone with any of your instruments.
I'll start from the beginning. Last Thursday I left for Minneapolis to see a Martial Arts convention. I decide no-one is gonna play with my set at my parents house, so I leave it out in the basement. All is fun during the weekend, went to a baseball game, had fun, etc. I come home expecting to see my drumset all nice and in perfect condition, with naught but some dust on it.
What I saw literally made yell. I think I popped a vein in my forehead.
I look at all of my cymbals. My brand new Sabian HHX 18 inch crash, I had bought last week, has got a big 'ol crack running from he bell almost to the edge of the cymbal, my snare (Remo Emperor X heads with the hot gray dot) heads has dents and gouges going through it halfway from the center to the bottom. The reso has got dents in it somehow, going from out to in. All of my toms have been switched around, and my 8 inch AAX splash is gone.
I found out later my sister had a party at my parents house, and she said one of her friends was a drummer. So she thought he could play for them. I nearly found where that kid lived and beat the snot out of him.
All is good though, because my sister is paying me nearly $500 to reaplace all the damaged stuff. There was a lot more damage than what I mention up there, but it's stuff lots of you wouldn't care about.
That is extremely unfortunate Bill, but it's good that your sister is responsible enough to pay you back for the damage. I'm also a drummer and I don't let any non-drummers play my kit, EVER. Yes, some people think I'm selfish because of it, but people who don't have instruments don't understand the bond musicians have with them.
Parties and instruments is always a bad combination. A friend of mine got his guitar neck broken in two. He was mighty pissed, and the one who did it didn´t even have the balls to admit it and pay up.
In other words, lock up all instruments when someone decides to have a party! :) It´s good that your sister decides to pay.
So true...I've gotten in the habit of locking up my guitar before I go out to the bar to protect it from...myself! Drunken playing = broken instruments and people running away.
sorry about what happened, but ive been there before. for the record i am a multi-talented musicina, playing guitar, bass and drums (although im not the greatest at the bass yet, i got the drums and guitar nailed down). anyways i left to go to toronto for 1 week, and i had my uncle watch over the house for me. I told him not to touch any of my instruments, amps or recording equipment, and he assured me he wouldn't. however, i didn't count on him inviting his family to stay at my house while i was gone, and unfortunatly my warning about the instruments did not reach the ears of his 4 children. when i came home, they were all long gone, and thank god they were. my drums were scratched and dented (albeit still playable). my bass had a broken string and was out of tune (dont know how they broke the string...). My guitar was out of tune, had two broken strings, scratches all over the paint, and my guitar strap was missing. all of these still werent to big a deal, since most of the damage was aestetic and they are not the instruments i play in public. But it got worse...turns out one of his children had got a guitar and few months back and was practicing all he could, but he couldn't afford anything and he only had the electric guitar, nothing more. so he decided to take 2 distortion pedals, one of my old practice amps, and for some reason a piece of recording equipment. i was extremely upset, and confronted him about it. In the end i managed to set him straight, and he returned all of my equipment, although i let him keep the practice amp since he didn't have one.
And thats why i NEVER let anyone touch my instruments, or even stay in my house while im not there.
It's like anything in life that you cherish keep it away from people that might damage it. I'm sorry to hear that.
Cheers,
John.B
Sorry to hear about that, Bill. I know how you feel, it's been done to my set up as well. I hope your sister does indeed pay the $500 worth of stuff back. Anyways, keep drumming.
[quote from Bill S.] Don't let family members be alone with any of your instruments.
To a musician there is nothing as precious as your gear. Protect it with your life!
Todd B.