Why I don’t loan out instruments

ByBret Pimentel

I am slowly building a good collection of high-quality instruments. It’s not easy to do that on a graduate student’s budget; I accomplish it by living frugally, saving carefully, shopping around, and generally putting a great deal of thought and planning into each purchase. I don’t buy instruments on credit. I protect my investments with conscientious care and maintenance, as well as an excellent insurance policy by a company that specializes in musical instrument coverage. (Incidentally, this policy quickly paid for itself, several times over, when there was an “incident” with my flute a couple of years ago. Seriously consider getting one if you don’t have one already!)

Every now and then someone asks to borrow an instrument from me. Often it will be a saxophonist who needs a flute or clarinet for a gig they have already agreed to play. My policy, which I have upheld almost perfectly for several years now, is simple: I don’t loan instruments to anybody, for anything, period.

Most people who feel comfortable asking me a favor like this are people who I know well, and who I know would take good care of my instruments. It’s tough to turn down a seemingly reasonable request from a friend, and in the past I have made exceptions in moments of weakness (though I am getting dangerously good at saying “no”).

But it isn’t fair for me to save and sacrifice to have expensive instruments, and then allow others to use them freely to get gigs that perhaps should be rightfully mine. A saxophonist who doesn’t have his or her own flute or clarinet (at least a cheap student model!) likely isn’t a strong or committed enough doubler to be doing doubling gigs. It’s not surprising that people who make these requests often also want to borrow a fingering chart or ask for help with reeds. I spend serious time and money obtaining instruments and paying my dues learning to play them. If you want to get those gigs, you should, too!

I suppose it’s possible that a good doubler could at times find themselves without the gear they need for one reason or another, but I have taken all necessary steps to ensure that I have what I need, and that’s the cost of doing business. Woodwind playing is a bring-your-own-tools situation, and I am acquiring the tools I need while some of my colleagues are driving nicer cars than mine. I’ve made my choice, and they have made theirs.

On the other hand, I’m fairly willing to loan out instrument stands or other non-instrument gear to trusted friends when I can. Serious doublers should own these, too, but to me they are far less personal items, certainly less valuable, and are matters of convenience more than gig deal-makers or -breakers.

I have also had people offer to “rent” instruments from me; I have turned them down as well. While a few incoming bucks to defray the cost of owning and maintaining my instruments might take some of the sting out of loaning them out, there are additional intangible costs that come into play. Every gig that I play myself means additional networking and reputation-building, accumulated experience, and polishing of my skills; I sacrifice these when I enable someone else to play a gig for which I am prepared equipment-wise and they are not. I also enter the treacherous territory of charging my friends and colleagues money, which I am happy to avoid when I can.

So if you find yourself lacking an instrument for a gig, don’t hesitate to give me a call—I’ll be happy to take that gig off your hands.

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    If you are considering buying the newest, hottest instrument, accessory, gadget, etc., it’s worth asking yourself a few questions:

    • Is this item made out of materials that are usually used for fine jewelry or the dashboards of luxury cars?
    • How likely is it that the most visually-attractive materials also happen to have the ideal acoustical qualities? Is there really a good reason to believe that this particular material sounds better than other materials that happen to be less pretty and less expensive? Is there some reason to believe this couldn’t be made from practical and low-cost materials like steel or aluminum or oak or birch, or any of the incredible and endlessly varied synthetic materials?
    • Does the item come in a variety of materials at a variety of price points, with the most expensive materials being pushed as the best-sounding?
    • Does the marketing pitch sound like it might really be describing how the material looks, rather than sounds? “The brilliance of silver,” “the smooth dark sound of grenadilla,” “the rich sound of our proprietary gold alloy,” “the complex character of our highly-figured maple.”

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    ByBret Pimentel

    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.

    I felt a lot of stress and pressure during my years in college and graduate school, about jazz and Learning Tunes. Nobody who is anybody uses a fakebook! You have to Learn the Tunes! Do you know All the Tunes? Why don’t you know More Tunes?

    My teachers told me I would never make it as a jazz player unless I knew hundreds of tunes by heart. Melodies, chord progressions, and “standard” intros and outros. And since I’m a reed player, I would need to know them in at least a couple of keys. I tried, but I found it pretty daunting. My teachers seemed to think that meant I was doing it wrong, in some way they could not specify.

    And besides, fakebooks are bad! They have mistakes, unlike other kinds of sheet music! Plus, the fakebook version of that tune might not be the true and authentic secret original version, but merely a common and tasteful reworking! And if you’re looking at a fakebook, you’re trapped within the confines of the printed page, literally unable to play anything creative!

    My university degrees are in “classical” performance, and in multiple instruments, so jazz has never been my sole concentration. If I had done more focused and advanced study of jazz, I suppose I would have had to Learn All the Tunes, or flunk out and fail to make it in the business.

    But it was never my goal to be the next big name in jazz. I love to play jazz music, but I’m quite content to do my best impressions of my favorite players, take modest solos, and yes, use a fakebook. Of the musicians in the world who play jazz at some level, very few are recording on Blue Note or headlining at the Village Vanguard.

    For hobbyist or part-time jazz players, a fakebook can be very useful. Using a fakebook on a gig means I can just play the tunes the group wants to play, rather than slinking away in shame at my failure to Know them All. It means we’re all on the same page, so to speak, about keys, chord changes, forms, intros, and endings. The practicality of low stress and high versatility wins out over the ideal of never looking at a music stand. I can Learn Tunes by playing them frequently in a relaxed atmosphere. And if I forget a chord or a melody note, I can fall back on my musical skill of reading notation.

    Is learning tunes by heart preferable? Probably, ideally. If you’re in a jazz studies degree program, or trying to break into the top-level jazz scene in a major market, you may indeed find it necessary to memorize a whole lot of tunes as quickly as you can. But for the rest of us, there’s no shame in using a fakebook.

4 Comments

  1. If I played as well as you do Brett, I’d be following these well thought out guidelines about loaning instruments. But the folks I lend my instruments to know they may be called upon to sub in one of my bands with or without pay. And these players rock! Evil, I know…

    Reply

  2. I have never had a person ask to borrow a horn from me…Although I have had the director of a high school band program suggest that I will my instrument collection to his school. Huh? I wasn’t even a graduate of that school, or even of the city or province. It takes all kinds I guess…

    Your point is on the mark though. If a player accepts a gig, without the proper equipment, and then comes to you looking to borrow what they are lacking, that takes a certain kind of nerve.

    “No” would be the only answer someone would hear from me under those circumstances. Good to read that you’re getting good at saying the word. Keep on practicing it. “No”.

    By rights, the gig should go to the person with the gear. Student model instruments are reasonably priced and plentiful. There’s no reason a serious player shouldn’t have the standard “doubles” in their closet.

    Reply

  3. Thanks for the post Bret. I feel the exact same way that you do. Now that I’ve read this post I feel so much better about politely telling people “no, but thank-you for asking.”

    Why should others benefit from the sacrifices you choose to make so you can have great horns to double on? The answer is they shouldn’t.

    My thoughts are: I choose to invest in all intermediate to professional horns (I have 6-7 now) … don’t come crying to me if you don’t have any doubles or when your plastic student model clarinet or your leaky cheap flute isn’t going to cut it for the gig.

    Your statement “So if you find yourself lacking an instrument for a gig, don’t hesitate to give me a call—I’ll be happy to take that gig off your hands,” says it all. :o)!

    Reply

  4. Thanks for this article ,was helpful for me because I’m a drummer and had a friend who hired me for a church gig and later mentioned that some kid was gonna play drums for one song and I kindly asked if the kid was gonna use the church kit or bring his own, friend told me he was gonna use mine ,I was kind of bothered that my friend didn’t care to ask me if it was ok for a kid to play my kit,I kindly declined that the kid could not play my drum kit because it’s mine and I don’t let anyone play my gear and also because it cost me 14k which I bought by myself and anywho he kept insisting it wasn’t a big deal and was just one song and perfered for me to use my kit I got irritated that he still kept insisting and finally I just told him I don’t loan my head and I’ll use whatever the church has and my friend hasn’t really talked to me since but I don’t care since I worked hard to have what I have

    Reply

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