Furnish with a soft tip (7)
I believe the answer is:
appoint
'furnish' is the definition.
(I know that appoint is a type of equip)
'with a soft tip' is the wordplay.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'soft' becomes 'p' (musical abbreviation for 'piano').
'tip' becomes 'point' (synonyms).
'a' next to 'p' is 'ap'.
'ap'+'point'='APPOINT'
(Other definitions for appoint that I've seen before include "Assign position to" , "Fix" , "Assign to a duty" , "Furnish" , "Delegate" .)