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One of the ways I occasionally make money from my gear is by renting it out. I can't use every guitar every night, and I sure as fuck don't gig every night, so this way my gear pays for the room it takes up in my house.

Yesterday I rented out my Supersonic for a 48 hour video shoot. I figured, yay! It's a quick $200 and I know the guy well enough to not worry about it.

Well, this afternoon I received a dreaded phone call.

"Hey Rob, listen... the girl who was holding your supersonic in the video rolled her ankle and she it. On its headstock. Against a piece of concrete
and it landed on a piece of concrete."

I'm getting it back tomorrow, but the guy swears up and down that it hasn't affected playability - just caused a ding that's about 1mm X 2mm and 1/2 mm deep. It'll need a bit of filler and some touch up paint, which he told me to just "pass him the repair bill".

I mean, I appreciate that the guy is being honest about it. It still fucking pisses me off.

I suppose this is the risk when you rent out gear.

Pics tomorrow when I get the instrument back.

Shoot! That sucks.

That being said I would totally rent any of my gear out other than my Coronado! No one I know would ever pay me 200$ for a rented guitar. If you send him enough repair costs you could buy a new guitar with the money you make...

Man, I hate to hear that. Hopefully it turns out that it's not as bad as it sounds.

wait..

SOMEONE PAYED YOU 200 FUCKING DOLLARS TO BORROW A GUITAR FOR 2 DAYS?

let him borrow it for 2 more days and buy a new one

robroe wrote:wait..

SOMEONE PAYED YOU 200 FUCKING DOLLARS TO BORROW A GUITAR FOR 2 DAYS?

robroe wrote:let him borrow it for 2 more days and buy a new one

cobascis wrote:Shoot! That sucks.

That being said I would totally rent any of my gear out other than my Coronado! No one I know would ever pay me 200$ for a rented guitar. If you send him enough repair costs you could buy a new guitar with the money you make...

My usual rate for a guitar is $50/weekend (or $0 for a friend), but that's for a Telecaster or a Strat... you know, guitars that I can replace.

The dude insisted on the Supersonic, even though I hadn't offered it. I agreed at $100 per day, since he isn't my friend, for a 2 day shoot.

One of the thoughts floating in my head was telling him "you just bought that guitar, here's how much the last one sold on eBay - that's how much you owe me", but his offer to fix it (and a few beers) pretty much calmed me down.

YOU MONEY MAKING SONOFABITCH.

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Nowhere near as bad as it could have been, so chill. The guy has been cool about it by phoning you to let you know, rather than just sort of mentioning it when he brought it back or something.

I'd get insurance if you don't already have it, plus get a deposit of the guitars worth before hiring it out. That way if the worst happens you can claim the insurance & you have a deposit.... win win

If you rent your guitars out then something like this is bound to happen at some point. Could have been worse, at least the guy said he would pay to make it right.

Sloan wrote:YOU MONEY MAKING SONOFABITCH.

I gotta do something to make up for loss of income while I'm trying to launch my business.

Love the entrepreneurship. You should have insurance to cover that if it's too bad, or just hammer him for the cost of it all if it's fucked, basically the difference between what he is already paying for rent vs the cost of replacement. Although it sounds like the damage is okay.

George wrote:Love the entrepreneurship.

I love being my own boss My goal is within 2 years to be able to leave my 9-5 job on my own terms and work full time for my own business, that has nothing to do with music or with what I currently do.

George wrote:You should have insurance to cover that if it's too bad, or just hammer him for the cost of it all if it's fucked, basically the difference between what he is already paying for rent vs the cost of replacement. Although it sounds like the damage is okay.

My insurance right now only covers replacement in the event of theft, through my renter's insurance policy/landlord's homeowner's policy. Although, I did just submit for a quote from Anderson Group, but I doubt that they'll insure in PR given our high theft rates, and ridiculously complicated insurance laws.

I'm thinking it'll be less than $100 to get it fixed, since the luthier is a friend of mine. I'm gonna drop off the guitar tonight, and hopefully she'll be ready next week. He agreed to pay, so that's what matters to me. The initial anger subsided after a few beers, but now I know not to rent to this guy again.

Too bad this happened, but it does sound like the guy feels bad for what happened and is going about the situation in a responsible way. Hope it is an easy fix.

mkt3000 wrote:My usual rate for a guitar is $50/weekend (or $0 for a friend), but that's for a Telecaster or a Strat... you know, guitars that I can replace.

The dude insisted on the Supersonic, even though I hadn't offered it. I agreed at $100 per day, since he isn't my friend, for a 2 day shoot.

One of the thoughts floating in my head was telling him "you just bought that guitar, here's how much the last one sold on eBay - that's how much you owe me", but his offer to fix it (and a few beers) pretty much calmed me down.

given that you didnt want to loan it out and he insisted, and then promptly fucked it up, I would probably demand at least an extra 200 bucks

mkt3000 wrote:I suppose this is the risk when you rent out gear.

ekwatts wrote:Nowhere near as bad as it could have been, so chill. The guy has been cool about it by phoning you to let you know, rather than just sort of mentioning it when he brought it back or something.

Yeah, damage is the risk for renting... but I gotta agree, the dude has done the right thing. The damage was accidental, really it could have happened to you at any time, based on the description.

mkt3000 wrote:He agreed to pay, so that's what matters to me. The initial anger subsided after a few beers, but now I know not to rent to this guy again.

I dunno, man. He kinda seems like an almost ideal person to rent to (other than insisting on a guitar that wasn't offered). He's paying, was upfront and immediate on informing of the damage, and is paying for the repair. Seems pretty fucking good to me. Most people would be weaseling their way out of any responsibility, this guy is being a man about it.

Ankhanu wrote:I dunno, man. He kinda seems like an almost ideal person to rent to (other than insisting on a guitar that wasn't offered). He's paying, was upfront and immediate on informing of the damage, and is paying for the repair. Seems pretty fucking good to me. Most people would be weaseling their way out of any responsibility, this guy is being a man about it.

Offering to pay and actually paying are different things.

With money in my hand equivalent to the repair bill, I'll consider renting to him again.

True enough; it's not a completed transaction, but, he's done everything (post damage) right so far.