Guitar Gear

You’ve heard of it happening to other guitarists, and how could it possibly happen to you? That’s right, your guitar gets stolen at a gig. Over the years, I’ve heard of countless stories of players having their axes taken right off the stage during a break; especially at small clubs where the stage can get obscured by the crowd. Bands have devised numerous ways to protect their gear from taking their guitars with them during breaks, to always leaving at least one band member in the stage area to keep watch over gear to even cordoning off parts of the stage area.

Myself, in my solo acoustic gigs where I play outside at a busy outdoor mall, I cordon off the open, rear area – I play in a “patio” at the end of a busy walkway – to prevent people from walking through my “stage.” But I also do this as a mild deterrent from possible theft. In other gigs, the stage is either raised or in an area that’s secure enough so as to offer more reasonable protection from theft. But still, that’s not complete insurance, so when I take a break, I either do it within line-of-sight of my rig, or have the servers and bussers keep watch over the stage when I can’t be within eye-shot. But if in the rare chance that any of them get busy and can’t keep watch, it’s possible for a cunning thief to come along at take my guitar.

Just a couple of weeks ago, this kid wandered over to my stage area and started checking out my rig while I was on a break. He was even audacious enough to twiddle with my pedals – he even lifted my Deep Blue Delay to inspect it! And while I was trying to get through the crowd back to the stage, he picked up my guitar! I finally got out there and asked him what the hell he was doing, and told him to put my guitar down. It turned out that he was just a young, high-school kid who turned out to not have any filters for manners. Some of the stuff he blurted out during our conversation made me open my eyes wide (had to say a brief prayer that I make sure my kids have filters 🙂 ). In any case, he just assumed that since he played he could just go up and mess with another player’s gear. I was friendly enough so as not to make him too uncomfortable, but I was quite firm when he asked me if he could play my guitar while I was on break that no, he couldn’t, and it was just not cool to just pick stuff up.

So what are we gigging musicians to do?

Enter the new Rock Lock from The Rock Lock Company. This is one of those inventions where you say, “Damn! Why didn’t I think of that?” The Rock Lock is much akin to a laptop tether with a loop at one end to attach to a fixed, stationary object (like a guitar handle as shown in the picture to the right), and a locking mechanism that wraps around the neck of your guitar.

Folks, this is the answer to guitar security! Talk about a theft deterrent! I’m totally excited to get one of these as it will certainly set my mind at ease when I go on breaks!

Here’s some information about the Rock Lock from the site:

• MADE IN USA!!!
• PATENT PENDING
• Core Constructed from Cutting Edge Metal Replacement Technology
• Nitro-Cellulose Safe Over-Mold
• Heavy-Duty Braided Steel Cable
• 1 Year Full Warranty with Registration
• 2 Keys Included, with optional Key Registration
• Fits almost all standard 6 string Guitars.
  This excludes: 12 String Instuments, Flamenco/Spanish Guitars, and Bass Guitars.

Pricing and Ordering

The Rock Lock will retail at $49.99, and if you’re one of the fortunate first to pre-order, you’ll get free shipping.

Note that the Rock Lock is not widely available just yet, but you can submit your name and email address to be notified when the next shipment is available (apparently, the first short, test-run sold out immediately). I exchanged info with the manufacturer, and he indicated that the first large production batch will be available on December 1, 2010, so get your name in ASAP!

You owe it to yourself to be comfortable to leave your stage knowing that your axe(s) are safe!