All the above looks like great advice. If I may "drift" a bit, it does raise the issue of "loaning" your instrument doesn't it? I recently loaned my guitar to have it returned with the preamp fried. But it was a friend, and responsibility for the damage was a little "iffy"; they might well have shorted the thing out by not plugging it in all the way, the jack being a tight fit. But it might not have been them at all. Cost a bundle for a new preamp. But as you tell people about it it's often "Well that's what you get.." kind of stuff. As greg above implies, people are more important than property, but when you rely on that property as many musicians do, it's tough to be nice sometimes. z