Why you should not leave your guitar in your car, a reminder

[Ron's Brother]

http://www.yourband.info/index.php?q=node/111

a nice article on why you should not leave your guitar in your car.... with pictures. I know for one I am guilty of doing this; a lot. It is a nice reminder that you really need to take care of your gear.

[suppositron]

Remember the cold is no good either. I've seen what would be a beautiful sunburst Les Paul with cracks all over the finish.

And for godsakes, let the thing warm up gradually. If it is in a case, keep it there.

[Sean Sullivan]

Another point: I wouldn't leave a guitar in my car because someone would be likely to break in and steal it.

[kslight]

I play cheaper guitars than most (all but one under $400) and they look better with age than the expensive player guitars of many...I don't beat them around and always keep them in a hard case when traveling, never leave them out in the car.. Some people like a "relic" I like my guitars to look decent and don't want any repair bills.

[dsw]

Many years ago I left my bass in the car and the neck warped. I was able to get it back by leaving it stringless in the closet for a week or so (the closet is cool and temp stable) and doing a tension bar adjustment. Cured me of ever leaving a guitar in the car though.

And jeez, how many times have I heard "yeah man, we got all our stuff ripped off"
And then you find out they left their gear in the car overnight, too tired or whatever to bring it in the house.

There's no such thing as a "safe" neighborhood. Gear in your car = please take my gear.

[-3db]

Remember the cold is no good either. I've seen what would be a beautiful sunburst Les Paul with cracks all over the finish.

And for godsakes, let the thing warm up gradually. If it is in a case, keep it there.

Well believe it or not, there are those who actually want that to happen to their 5K Les Paul Historic and have left it out in the cold and exposed to the heat of the sun to make it look more like vintage 50's Les Paul.

[Brett Siler]

Oh shit... I better go get my guitar outta the van!

[ott0bot]

They guy who wrote the article lives in Glendale, AZ...probably like 10 minutes from my house. And let me tell from experience. Don't leave anything in your car in Phoenix during the summer. It will melt anything....even stuff out of direct sunlight. You gotta be careful just touching the steering wheel if you don't put up a window sheild. Stupid people kill their pets and children every year leaving them in the car for "just a few minutes." I can imagine it's not good for a sensitive instrument made out of wood, metal, bone and plastic. It's a frickin inferno everytime I've got into my car for the past 3 months and it makes me grumpy. just ask my wife. Also, like stated, if it doesn't ruin something, someone will steal it.

[joel hamilton]

In my hood, it would not be there long enough to warp. I promise. You would also be missing a window...

[Gregg Juke]

Playing out a lot, I sometimes leave the van loaded with gear. When we don't have a bunch of dates in a row or a road-trip, I try to unload and leave everything in storage at the studio.

A few years back, someone brought me a djembe from Senegal. It had a great, deep bass and a nice open and slap sound too. I was using a lot of my drums for some itinerant teaching, and I had that djembe in the car on a very cold January day. The head popped, and I've never been able to replace it (non-standard size, and I don't do the Mali-weave thing).

Bring those instruments in when it's very cold or very hot!

GJ

[KennyLusk]

They guy who wrote the article lives in Glendale, AZ...probably like 10 minutes from my house. And let me tell from experience. Don't leave anything in your car in Phoenix during the summer. It will melt anything....even stuff out of direct sunlight. You gotta be careful just touching the steering wheel if you don't put up a window sheild. Stupid people kill their pets and children every year leaving them in the car for "just a few minutes." I can imagine it's not good for a sensitive instrument made out of wood, metal, bone and plastic. It's a frickin inferno everytime I've got into my car for the past 3 months and it makes me grumpy. just ask my wife. Also, like stated, if it doesn't ruin something, someone will steal it.

True true. I live in Mesa. In AZ if it's 115 outside, it's at least 130 inside the car. Nothing survives, not even your chihuahua.

Besides, leaving your instrument in the car is just mean man. No instrument deserves that. Hey, guitar's are people too, you know.

[Ron's Brother]

Remember the cold is no good either. I've seen what would be a beautiful sunburst Les Paul with cracks all over the finish.

And for godsakes, let the thing warm up gradually. If it is in a case, keep it there.

Well believe it or not, there are those who actually want that to happen to their 5K Les Paul Historic and have left it out in the cold and exposed to the heat of the sun to make it look more like vintage 50's Les Paul.

WHAT!

[roygbiv]

One time when I was living in Cambridge, MA I came out to my car in the morning, in a somewhat fuzzy sate, only to be informed by the building super (who talked like one of the Click and Clack brothers) that my car had been broken into.

There I saw it, with a door open.

Then, about 50 feet away, I see one of the big, ugly extremely heavy Peavey monitors I had left in the car overnight.

Then, about 150 feet further away in the parking lot, the other BUHP monitor.

Guess they dropped them like big ugly bread crumbs.

So the moral of the story - if you have to leave something in your car overnight, make sure it is a big ugly heavy Peavey monitor.

Not even thieves want those.

[Gregg Juke]

I suppose by now you've heard the following joke, but just in case:

An accordian player has to stop at the bank, and then a store on the way to a gig. At the second stop, as at the first, he is very careful to lock the doors and turn on the car alarm, because his prized Victoria accordian is on the back seat. He goes into the store, and is only there for a few minutes. When he comes out, the guy's worst fears are realized-- the car alarm is blaring, and his back window is smashed. He runs to the car to look inside...and there are two accordians in the back seat.

GJ

[suppositron]

I suppose by now you've heard the following joke, but just in case:

An accordian player has to stop at the bank, and then a store on the way to a gig. At the second stop, as at the first, he is very careful to lock the doors and turn on the car alarm, because his prized Victoria accordian is on the back seat. He goes into the store, and is only there for a few minutes. When he comes out, the guy's worst fears are realized-- the car alarm is blaring, and his back window is smashed. He runs to the car to look inside...and there are two accordians in the back seat.

GJ

Oh man did I LOL at this joke!