Donating Instruments to charity

ROOG · August 2013

I have been told that a guitar has to go, so my old 1983-84 Hondo LP has been pushed to the front of the queue. I wondered if there were any charities that made use of instruments, 'passed them on' rather than put it in their window to sell?

I'm in the Bristol area.

stonevibe · August 2013

I would say 'donate' it to a local school for their music room. That way the school can use it and lots of kids will get the benefit of it, or raffle it off and give the money to charity.

EricTheWeary · August 2013

Ooh, the Billy Bragg one. Guitars for people behind bars. I might have that slightly wrong but it is something like that. I may go google.

ROOG · August 2013

stonevibe said:

I would say 'donate' it to a local school for their music room. That way the school can use it and lots of kids will get the benefit of it, or raffle it off and give the money to charity.

Thats a thought, I didn't think that they would be interested in an electric, more; violins, cornets and clarinets from my memories!

EricTheWeary · August 2013

EricTheWeary said:

Ooh, the Billy Bragg one. Guitars for people behind bars. I might have that slightly wrong but it is something like that. I may go google.

Jailguitardoors - but they don't seem to want actual guitars. Oh well.But community music projects,etc, will want it. I know I could give it away to something like that here, for example.

ROOG · August 2013

EricTheWeary said:

Ooh, the Billy Bragg one. Guitars for people behind bars. I might have that slightly wrong but it is something like that. I may go google.

'ETW' I know not of what you speak? "Guitars for people behind bars"!

ROOG · August 2013

Cheers 'ETW', looked em up, I see what you mean now.

EricTheWeary · August 2013

ROOG said:

EricTheWeary said:

Ooh, the Billy Bragg one. Guitars for people behind bars. I might have that slightly wrong but it is something like that. I may go google.

'ETW' I know not of what you speak? "Guitars for people behind bars"!

this has probably crossed over with my reply to myself but I meant prison bars - fairly sure Billy isn't running a charity for publicans. Can I add in here that I once sat next to Billy Bragg on a picnic table at a chainmakers rally?

stonevibe · August 2013

You could donate it to CM which is Community Music in London.Great bunch of people there and I studied there about 8 years ago. They would take it.

They have links in Bristol too I believe.

ICBM · August 2013

The best use you can make of it is to sell it to someone who really wants it for the highest possible price, and give the money to charity.

Particularly don't give it to a school, they'll just wreck it. And I say that as someone who does a lot of work for my local school and has donated things, and would be happy to receive something appropriate - ie a playable bottom of the range instrument of no more value than it needs to be usable. I can guarantee that within weeks it will be bashed about, switch and jack broken, with rusty strings.

In fact I'm on my way to a school this afternoon to pick up a bunch of them for emergency repairs.

ROOG · August 2013

Liking the community music thing, I'll look to see if they have something similar in Bristol or Bath

bertie · August 2013

does the Drake project 'use' such things - the original MR/GASFest guys have a long standing association with Drake

stonevibe · August 2013

ROOG said:

Liking the community music thing, I'll look to see if they have something similar in Bristol or Bath

http://www.cmsounds.com

If you contact them here you can speak with Vanessa or Maricia - they could get you linked up with someone in your area.

ROOG · August 2013

Bertie and Stonevibe, thanks for the leads.

Jalapeno · August 2013

God-children and Nephews do pretty well out of me on this front.

I donated my Eko 6 string to a local school - they were grateful. It's built like a tank so will take the abuse ......

ROOG · August 2013

I'm a bit worried about the weight of the LP for schools use, I popped it on the bathroom scales, they said 5.4kg or 11.9lb

ROOG · August 2013

Jalapeno said:

God-children and Nephews do pretty well out of me on this front.

I donated my Eko 6 string to a local school - they were grateful. It's built like a tank so will take the abuse ......

Mine would ebay it!
:x

[Deleted User] · August 2013

Jalapeno;22133" said:
I donated my Eko 6 string to a local school - they were grateful. It's built like a tank so will take the abuse ......

Trouble is, if it hurts a child's fingers because of steel strings/typical action on those things, you'll probably be sued under health and safety legislation....

ROOG · August 2013

ICBM said:

The best use you can make of it is to sell it to someone who really wants it for the highest possible price, and give the money to charity.

Particularly don't give it to a school, they'll just wreck it. And I say that as someone who does a lot of work for my local school and has donated things, and would be happy to receive something appropriate - ie a playable bottom of the range instrument of no more value than it needs to be usable. I can guarantee that within weeks it will be bashed about, switch and jack broken, with rusty strings.

In fact I'm on my way to a school this afternoon to pick up a bunch of them for emergency repairs.

Sorry ICBM, I think I must have skipped by your post, that's sad regarding the school stuff. I remember my school had a fair o'l mixture of instruments, but no guitars. The brass stuff seemed to survive whilst I was there.

I take your point about selling and making a monetary donation, in fairness that is what all groups would prefer.

bertie · August 2013

if you get no joy, we'll take it and raffle it off for Boxer rescue, or Holly Hedge............ or some other thing that mrs bert does gigs for

if you're not into animal charities, not a problem..............

ROOG · August 2013

Okey Dokey, Bertie, let me see how it goes, bringing it into the office tomorrow to see if they want it, then I can pass on any cash to charity.

I know this might sound daft but I'm just looking for a simple but somehow worthwhile transfer of "playable bottom of the range instrument of no more value than it needs to be usable" guitarness. I love that sentence ( credit to ICBM), it so sums up my guitar.

btw, I have no objection to animal charities.

ICBM · August 2013

ROOG said:
I know this might sound daft but I'm just looking for a simple but somehow worthwhile transfer of "playable bottom of the range instrument of no more value than it needs to be usable" guitarness. I love that sentence ( credit to ICBM), it so sums up my guitar.

It's worth a fair bit more than that - even these old low-end things have some vintage/nostalgia value nowadays.

ROOG said:

Sorry ICBM, I think I must have skipped by your post, that's sad regarding the school stuff.

It is sad. Even an Eko Ranger won't stand up to it for that long. The basic problem is that the kids either don't care because the instruments aren't theirs, or actively don't want to be in the music class at all and deliberately vandalise them. The teachers don't have time to supervise properly let alone maintain them.

Today I collected about 20 guitars and basses from two schools - all are filthy, have broken jacks and pots, missing strings and knobs and some other parts, and are severely bashed about. I passed off as unrepairable four Yamaha classicals with big holes in the backs or sides - they're actually structurally ok so there's no real point anyway. I don't mean dents, I mean 2"-3" holes!

Music projects and charities are only marginally less destructive in my experience. Just don't donate anything even remotely nice in the hope it will be appreciated - it won't. The best thing they can do is sell it and buy more entry-level instruments with the money.

Sorry...

ROOG · August 2013

Thanks for the heads up ICBM, is there a emoticon for dumbfounded?

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Donating Instruments to charity

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