So the house is burning down and you can save one piece of kit....

Dingwall

Possibly been done before but things change......

Mine would have to be my Brook Lyn acoustic guitar. I had this guitar made for me by Brook guitars in Devon, UK. I got to choose the wood and design etc. The guitar is dedicated to my mother and her lineage which came to an end in 2000. It has 'McCabe' inlayed at the 12 fret which was her maiden name. But what would yours be....

G-Man

Yours is quite a tough act to follow Dingwall, beautiful sounding guitar I must say!

But I'm going to have to say my el-cheapo mahogany RG Ibanez! (Providing that it didn't actually start the fire, in which case I'd just make a run for it!) My Di Giorgio nylon is a little worse for wear at the moment so my electric would have to come with me (I've had the action lowered so much on my RG and worked on twice by a Tech/Guitar builder I think I'd battle to find something that plays as nicely for the price)

vic

Very difficult decission...but I would probably grab my R6 Goldtop because it's always following me around... and at least try to save one AC30.... ?
OH SHUCKS...! I've forgotten the old LG-2..... ? ???

G-Man

And I'd be sure to turn this off before I bailed out the window

---mario---

Haha, I think most people would stand there thinking and contemplating for so long that they'd forget about the fire creeping up their leg and wonder: "is someone going to take the chicken of the stove now or what"

Manfred-Klose

I'll take as much as i can.

a bed and normal house stuff is replaceable, a guitar with an unique character is not.
...................but then again i can communicate with guitars ?

makepeace

Quite sensitive topic.. in 2009 a mate of mine's house burned down. a Marshall head and cab were on the long list of casualties.. ☹

Keira-WitherKay

to me , my partner and our two corgi's would be preference , before all else, and if they safe , i would grab my cache of personal documents and credit cards /drivers liscence ect ect ...... oh and the insurance contract ? .......

actually i have a lot of gear but nothing is that precious to me, but if i had to pick one item of gear ....... it would be my '83 usa stratocaster (the one that was made for only one year with only 2 control knobs ) and not cos it's that valuable , but because i love the way this one plays......that birdseye maple neck is heavan ....... ,

i refuse to get sentimental over guitars ...maybe i'll develop that sentiment if i had a rare original 59 tele .....which i don't ..........but till then , if the house was burning i'd have many other priorities before the gear ....... thats whats insurance is for ?

Bob-Dubery

I'm with Keira on this, I don't get sentimental about guitars. They are a means to an end. Sorry to be such a killjoy.

Assuming that in Dingwall's dilemma the living beings and other items of value are safe and NOW you can think about kit, and as things currently stand, I'd grab my Larrivee. I have insurance on the Morgan.

Bob-Dubery

Just a word about insurance... don't just assume that your guitars are covered. Ask, and ask if there are any qualifications. They may be covered if they're in your house but not if they're in your car.

If they're particularly valuable (in terms of rands) then you may need to stipulate them separately and specifically or else you may not get full replacement value (this may cost you extra on your premium).

For my Morgan I've provided our insurers with the serial number and I get a valuation certificate annually.

StephenG

X-rated Bob wrote

If they're particularly valuable (in terms of rands) then you may need to stipulate them separately and specifically or else you may not get full replacement value (this may cost you extra on your premium).

normally brokers will incorrectly inform people that if it is in the house, at the time of fire - whatever - then they are covered completely.

in the event of total loss, insurers will apply an 'average" to each room. very very simplistic example.. if you have house that has 4 rooms (including toilet/bathroom) and you insure your content for R100K, they will, simplistically speaking, apply an average value of R30K per bigger room , and R10k for the bathroom. to make up your R100k cover.

if you tell them you have R40k of kit in one room, they will simply tell you you are under insured.

so its very important to work out that your household content insurance has enough money to cover your kit AND you must specify to the insurer which room your kit is kept in so they can apply a higher average to that room.

I have increased the average on my garage because of all my wood working equipment. It does not cost you anything to increase the average on a room, you simply telling them, that in your Rxxxk of househod insurance, one room is worth more than the national average should there be a total loss situation.

and if i had time, with a raging fire at my heals, i'd take the dividing wall between the study and kitchen with my guitars hanging on it.

Bob-Dubery

Ow! Trickier than I'd thought. Guess you have to read the small print.

Squonk

X-rated Bob wrote I'm with Keira on this, I don't get sentimental about guitars. They are a means to an end. Sorry to be such a killjoy.

Assuming that in Dingwall's dilemma the living beings and other items of value are safe and NOW you can think about kit, and as things currently stand, I'd grab my Larrivee. I have insurance on the Morgan.

But Bob I am sure if you had a guitar especially made by fine luthiers as Dingwall explains in his post , you just might have some value attached to the guitar. I would even consider my Tak, all those years of playing it in, don't think I will find another one like it.

I think Racman and all his research and observing the long proccess it took to build his zion, almost like a pregnancy, there must be value attached

The question is not insurance, if my Tak goes, will I get a replacement, YES? Will it be the same as my Tak, maybe not.

racman

Yip - I'd shout to my wife to run like hell .... and then grab the Cornerstone Zion!!! ? ? ?

Ok, jokes aside, I think the OP was implying what "possessions" and I don't view my family as such so yes it would be the Zion.

Now ask me that question in a few years time and I will probably be burnt alive while I try and decide !!!!

IceCreamMan

my strat ....

Keira-WitherKay

Squonk wrote
X-rated Bob wrote I'm with Keira on this, I don't get sentimental about guitars. They are a means to an end. Sorry to be such a killjoy.

Assuming that in Dingwall's dilemma the living beings and other items of value are safe and NOW you can think about kit, and as things currently stand, I'd grab my Larrivee. I have insurance on the Morgan.

But Bob I am sure if you had a guitar especially made by fine luthiers as Dingwall explains in his post , you just might have some value attached to the guitar. I would even consider my Tak, all those of playing it in, don't think I will find another one like it.

I think Racman and all his research and observing the long proccess it took to build his zion, almost like a pregnancy, there must be value attached

The question is not insurance, if my Tak goes, will I get a replacement, YES? Will it be the same as my Tak, maybe not.

well i know you aimed this at Bob squonk,

but i truly do not get sentimental in the slightest about guitars....

and in my long career have bought and sold so many including a few very top end ones........which i let go quite easily if they stopped suiting my needs ....... in many ways i wish i was sentimental and just stick to one guitar i love.... ? and because i travel so much i been on the road for almost 20 years worldwide...well 3/4 of the world t .......it became impractical to get attatched to guitars...... but now the last 4 years is the longest i been in one place and maybe i'm, finally settling down ? , and may change the way i look at instruments

but even now , as much as i love the look/uniqueness/tone /feel of that 83 usa strat i have found not so long ago ...and prob my favourite guitar at moment if i find an old tele ( that is vintage white and maple neck and possible old enough to be original vintage or close to it ....(which is what i was seeking when i bought this) i would let the strat go without hesitation ... or sence of loss . my personality leads me to want one guitar at a time........ and not have 10 lined up in rehearsal room ,

btw off topic i will be selling all my extra guitars ( at moment i have a bout 7 ..... 5 nylons and 3 electrics ) shortly as soon as i get back from sun city and not cos i need the money , but cos they mounting up and i'm not using em ..... i started hording and thats not in my nature

to me i'd be happy with one good nylon i like and one good electric ....and a small PA .....portability being my main requirement ...that i can use in my shows .... i'm not a collector.....and i don't have that mindset ..... and as Bob mentioned in his post , just like him, i too see guitars as a tool / a means to an end

and in 25 odd years i have never found a guitar that could not be replaced or one i couldn't live without , i'd like to think that my "sound" is in my technique not my guitar ........... however i do love guitars , don't i just but not enough to run into a burning house to save any

so yes i think on this point everyone will have different opinions that suit their character

racman

I'm with you on this Keira. The longest I have kept a guitar was for 10 years and I cannot recall how many I've actually owned. I am hoping that for me that trend (which probably comes from a different reason than with you) will slow down a little in the next few years....

MoJo-JoJoe

I had this same conversation with Arjun last time he visited. He was very surprised to hear my response ... I've learned one thing along the way ... and that's that not all guitars are created equally. Something previous posts have alluded to. So with that in mind, I'd be grabbing my Custom Shop Custom Classic Strat. I could go through 2 lifetimes and still not find another guitar that just feels like I was born with it. The other stuff is replaceable, funds permitting.

Bob-Dubery

Squonk wrote But Bob I am sure if you had a guitar especially made by fine luthiers as Dingwall explains in his post , you just might have some value attached to the guitar. I would even consider my Tak, all those years of playing it in, don't think I will find another one like it.

I think Racman and all his research and observing the long proccess it took to build his zion, almost like a pregnancy, there must be value attached

The question is not insurance, if my Tak goes, will I get a replacement, YES? Will it be the same as my Tak, maybe not.

I tend to be unsentimental about material things. Which is not to say I don't value and respect them, but I don't put a lot of emotional stock in them. YMMV. To me the thing about Dingwall's guitar is not that it was luthier made but that it has specific emotional value to him because of the association with his mother. My wife has some items that she especially values because they belonged to her mother. I think one or two of those are specially insured. Memories are important, but my take on that (others may differ) is that even if the item gets taken away from me the memory will remain.

I'm told that my Morgan is an especially good example (I know two people who claim to have handled every Morgan bought into this country - there aren't that many) so I may not get one the same. It's insured at replacement value (updated annually or thereabouts) and it's insured as a separate item, not just in the general insurance policy (or so I hope, after StephenG's post I am going to double check). This is Mrs X-rated's doing more than mine - she for some reason likes that Morgan and has forbidden me to ever sell it. My evil thinking is that if the insurance pays out the replacement value then I'm nearly all the way to getting a Lowden.

Where did I put the matches?

I understand that I won't find another Morgan just like mine, but I also am sure that there are lots of fab guitars out there (despite Mrs X-rated's instructions, if I'd had the Morgan and enough money with me when I was in Norwich a couple of years ago I'd have traded it in for one particular Lowden that I played without thinking twice)

I had a luthier made guitar, with top wood chosen by me and some custom features. I didn't "click" with it so I sold it.

StephenG

keira - i think you reading way to much into what was started as a light hearted thread.

i dont think this thread was started with the intention of being a debate about whether we should or shouldn't have sentimental feelings or attachments to our kit.

if you dont - fine, then move along... nothing to see here.... BUt reading the way you talk about your guitars, I'd say you are more attached to them then you realise. ?

that aside.

some people have HUGE sentimental value on some pieces of kit.

a friend of mine, who is older than me, has an absolute MINT CONDITION Fender Squier , Made in Japan in 1983 or 1984, an E series..

he got it brand new when we were kids, and it has hardly ever left its hard case,

he says it was the last big thing his father gave him before his dad passed away, so he will never get rid of it, and will always treasure it. this Squier is a stnner and plays like an absolute dream.... he brought to me to restring for him...but wont bring it to jam sessions. he will sit playing it quietlyby himself at him, when he wants to think of his dad.. so yeah, after his kid, i reckon he'd go back in to the burning building for his guitar.