This fall, two major manufacturers’ forums
played host to some of the most heartwarming
displays of generosity from strangers that
we’ve seen recently.
Ernie Ball/Music Man
On August 12 at 9:12 a.m., one of Ernie
Ball’s forum members, Erin Payne (a.k.a.
stingray96191),
made a post about selling a
special order DDII Big Al bass he had saved
up to buy—one that hadn’t even come in
the mail yet. The 25-year-old had been diagnosed
with brain cancer, and his accumulating
medical bills were forcing him to sell this
and a few other basses he owned.
By 12:40 p.m. that same day, Sterling Ball had
stepped in with a challenge. He said that if
the forums could raise the $2400 Erin needed
to pay his bills and keep his basses, he would
give him the Big Al at no charge. Sterling
put the first $100 in and the special PayPal
account hit its goal in less than six hours.
The generosity of forum members didn’t
stop there; and 12 days later, the grand
total was just under $9000. Erin is currently
in recovery and gigging with the DDII Big
Al bass he almost sold.
ernieball.com/forums
Seymour Duncan
Over on Seymour Duncan’s forums, forum
member Lewguitar was similarly struggling
with the expenses of cancer. After selling
most of his guitar collection to pay for his
insurance deductible and premiums, he
learned that his insurance company stopped
covering the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center
he had been receiving treatment with, and he
would have to foot the full cost to continue
with his doctors beginning in January.
Again, the forum started pouring out support.
As mentioned in our “On/Off/Standby” section
last month, another forum member (Newking)
won a custom guitar setup by Jol Danzig and
pickup replacements from Seymour Duncan
and donated it to Lewguitar.
Forum member sosomething
began a PayPal fund for Lew on October 19, BigJoe77 began
a
benefit auction of his gear, and ratherdashing
offered to mod and repair pedals in
exchange for donations to the fund. Forum
members even set up a Facebook page to
promote donations. As of press time, the
forum had raised around $2000 for Lew’s
medical expenses.
seymourduncan.com/forum