E-minor7 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 As a very young man I made swift turn on the floor in my room, which caused a fork to leave the plate in my hand and dive directly towards the top of my brand new Morris. Uuuaaaakk ! I got over it, but that mark on the blank spruce placed an similar wound in my almost just as blank soul. Of course I occasionally dinged since, but the fork-incident planted an awareness in my instincts that remains in there til this day. In fact I don't believe I ever made any bigger mistake on that account. Remember a producer once tipped a Guild that was leaning on the console, and still see how it slowly fell to the left and literally exploded when hitting the carpet. Luckily I personally never really topped the flying fork. How about you ? . . . Any traumatic disasters behind you. Here's the possibility to clean and speak out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 In 1975 I had saved up enough money to buy my first brand new guitar, a tobacco sunburst Les Paul Standard. The FIRST time I was changing strings I snipped the last string only to watch the stop-tailpiece bounce (twice) across the face of the guitar. Left two sets of "dings". That's how I learned you should change one string at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponty Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I was polishing my Guild F-20. I was using a can of spray. Holing the guitar on my knees, back facing upward, I began vigorously shaking to can to mix the contents.....WHEN...the can slipped out of my grip and became a projectile smacking the back of the guitar! Doh!! Fortunately, the back of a Guild F-20 is arched plywood. It left a mark but didn't split the wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Luckily no, but one near miss with the CW as knocked it off its stand and it was about to crash sideways on the floor but in last split second my hard reached out and grabber her .... to save the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 My first Hummingbird. It was 1981-82. I'd had it for several months, maybe a year at that time. Anyway, I was invited to play at a country show at The Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Mo. This was big time for me. A 45minute set in front of alot of people. I brought my Hummingbird. Played the set, had a blast, and it went well. When I was leaving the stage I saw some people I knew. Started talking to them. Sat "the bird" on a folding chair, right next to me. I was right next to it, inches away. Then some drunk dude comes out of nowhere, falls over the chair and onto the guitar.....We live and we learn (hopefully). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 On all my guitars, I usually wipe the guitar strings over with a rag after playing, then give a quick rub of the fingerprints and marks on the body, then put it into the case. When I bought the Gibson Blues King (brand new), I had been playing it for quite a while when I first got it home, and while very happy with the sound, I had worn out my fingers, so packed the guitar up. I wiped the strings, as per old habit, then the body for fingerprints etc. I then noticed quite a few scratches across the top of the guitar - I think little bits of metal had come off the new guitar strings on to the rag??? It is also possible the music shop did a cover up job of previous scratches - and I uncovered them! Horrified! Sick! Can't breathe! etc. The scratches are still there, but I hardly notice them a couple of years later, but the sound of the guitar has improved daily and really is my favourite guitar. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Blue Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 back in the early 70's when I had no money, my father who worked in the welding trade, made me a microphone clip out of solid metal. Needless to say, the mic stand got knocked over and the steel mic clip smacked into the front of my first Gibson, an es330. It took a chunk out of the clear finish down to the wood. I had to live with that one for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis57 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 My first Hummingbird. It was 1981-82. I'd had it for several months, maybe a year at that time. Anyway, I was invited to play at a country show at The Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Mo. This was big time for me. A 45minute set in front of alot of people. I brought my Hummingbird. Played the set, had a blast, and it went well. When I was leaving the stage I saw some people I knew. Started talking to them. Sat "the bird" on a folding chair, right next to me. I was right next to it, inches away. Then some drunk dude comes out of nowhere, falls over the chair and onto the guitar.....We live and we learn (hopefully). :o I can feel how painful this experience could had been Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Was thinking the same thing and had an image of a fat Homer Simpson type with a can of Duff in his hand crashing over the chair onto the Bird .... uf, the thought and image makes me cringe. I hope you got a new Bird' quickly after Picker, or was she repaired ? :o I can feel how painful this experience could had been Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneS Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 This topic is like those road wrecks where you're driving by and you can hardly not look. So far, no disasters for my guitars, but I read these posts and think "Is it only a matter of time??" But I do feel that the worry has always been there and that my reflexes, especially when holding my guitars, are heightened--don't turn fast, don't walk around carelessly, don't take your eyes off the a-hole hovering around the stage, etc. Sweaty palms, just thinking of it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 This topic is like those road wrecks where you're driving by and you can hardly not look. So far, no disasters for my guitars, but I read these posts and think "Is it only a matter of time??" But I do feel that the worry has always been there and that my reflexes, especially when holding my guitars, are heightened--don't turn fast, don't walk around carelessly, don't take your eyes off the a-hole hovering around the stage, etc. Sweaty palms, just thinking of it... Be careful Anne - at your next open mic you could start to notice other Gibbo Forum members coming to scratch... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Most of my dings, scratches, etc., have ocurred when using tools,...files, screwdrivers, etc. on my electric and acoustic guitars. One slip....and damnit...scratch or ding. Otherwise, an occasional ding, while strapping or un-strapping a guitar and hitting it on something. I let a friend play my Guild Junbo once. He played so aggressive with a pick that he left really long scratch marks across the top, extending WAY beyond the pickguard. Talk about 'flailing'....Jeesh . Like, DUDE, get a grip.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 I have another guitar war story to relate.... Back in my youth playing in an electric 7 piece band - I had already shrugged off a couple of cheapo electric guitars and began finding big name guitars to buy - mostly word of mouth, second hand shops, pawn shops in the pre internet days. So, I had 3 nice electrics and one nice Dobro on stands on stage - what a dorky show-off - we were taking a break and next thing - crash, bash - the Sax player seemed to have tripped over the PA cables, pulled the speaker boxes and stands over, one of these speakers hitting the drum kit and knocking the cymbal stand over on to my guitars. The band had long known that I was mad and to stay away from my stuff! They ran... So, the wash up was that a Tele had been hit by the cymbal and the neck had a large gouge, the other electrics were lying on each other on the floor, and the metal Dobro had a large ding in the spot where my arm touches the guitar when playing. The band were surprised that I didn't go off, but I was in shock. Anyway apologies were made, sax player begged for his life, bass player Ho-ho etc etc, repairs were made at the luthiers and on it goes. So years later unfortunately the Keyboard player became very ill, and I visited him in hospital where he under the influence of whatever, to my total shock, confessed to tripping over the PA wires and pulling everything over that beforementioned fateful night. Oops. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Great story, BK ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 away back in the 90's, early 90's I had the chance to have a 60's LP bought for me, I loved the thing, I was young and still thought LP's were cool ;) anyway I used it to play live and watched it tumble 5-6 feet off a stage,. my heart sank quicker than the guitar fell...... not a mark except the smallest abrasion on its underside near the jack socket! How lucky can you get? I sold the bugger for a mint.... Moving on to more modern times, I let someone else play one of my brand new guitars for 10 minutes only to notice 20-30 strumming scratches on a brand new guitar, not just the scratchplate either, after reminding myself I bought it to play I calmed down, but quite an annoying incident. Finally, my Woody Guthrie model, first time it left the house for a gig, the guy I play with accidentally knocked his headstock off the top, the result a small ding that's noticeable. Strangely this one came as a relief, it's now the main guitar sitting out in my lounge, although not a beater by any means, it's now in its regular 'life' rather than being babied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duende Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 I am always relieved in a funny way when I do get my first dent/ding etc, as i then become more relaxed with the guitar and just enjoy it. But regarding the original post, the first and only bonafide accident with a guitar; was with a student classical guitar that I had in my late teens. It suffered the disaster of getting sat on by a friend LOL. I wasn't angry - more just in shock. It looked finished - but amazingly the local luthier fixed it and it sounded just as good when I got it back. It then got stolen when I was renting a room a few years later in London, so it was truly jinxed! Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 It is horrible when you do something stupid and damage your own prized possession, but worse when you do it to someone else's guitar. When I was in high school, I was the lead singer in a high school rock band (bass, keys, drums, electric guitar, with me occasionally on acoustic). We were practicing in my parent's basement... lino floor, 70's era rec room. During a break the boys went upstairs for drinks and snacks and I picked up the guitar players new Gibson SG to see how it felt (I never had a brand name electric until years later). I picked the guitar up by the strap instead of by the neck and strap, and the strap broke and the headstock struck the hard floor. There was the classic Gibson/Epiphone neck crack from the nut extending along about 2 or 3 inches. I was mortified. I offered to repair it and he had a replacement SG while it was in the shop. I never got a bill for that repair so I suspect he, or more likely, his well-to-do family picked up the tab. I learned to 1) always pick up a guitar by the neck and 2) never touch anyone else's instrument. With my SWD, it did not receive it's first ding until this summer (about three years into its life). I don't believe in hiding fine instruments away, so, although I'm careful about where I take the good instruments, I will play them out. My wife and I were at a college/school reunion BBQ. I brought the SWD and played a lot of songs that were new when we were all in school together. We were sitting around a campfire and I was sitting on a lawn chair (forward on it so as not to scratch the guitar). My wife was right next to me in an Adirondack style chair. My guitar was very close to that chair's arm, so she kept her hand on the edge to protect the guitar all night long. After much jocularity and imbibing (I don't drink BTW), my wife was telling a story and got a bit animated with her hand and knocked her glass off the arm of the Adirondack chair and it splashed beer all over the guitar and the heavy glass hit the top quite hard. She was apoplectic of course... having been so careful of my instrument all night! I wasn't really too upset. The beer came off (none in the sound hole) and there were two slight impressions in the top that you can see if you look close and at the right angle. But the SWD was certainly "christened"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 On the subject of dings and scratches, a word of warning to guitarists playing off sheet music/books on a music stand in their cramped little music rooms??. The stands are deadly! Bits of metal and stuff sticking out everywhere waiting for Klutz Guitar Players (KGP) to bang into it, scrape against it, gouge etc. After a close call with a new heavy duty metal stand, I put a layer of bubble wrap that came with a delivery on to the ledge that holds the book/music, then gaffer-taped it down. It don't look much but has done the trick! The stand makers should make a rubber edge bumper-bar on any of their equipment that is destined to be close to a guitar! Mic stand makers, guitar amp makers, all of them! Also, Gibson should make rubber bumper-bar bindings available to KGP! (Me? I would go for a 2 inch rubber bumper if available...) BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 On the subject of dings and scratches, a word of warning to guitarists playing off sheet music/books on a music stand in their cramped little music rooms??. The stands are deadly! Bits of metal and stuff sticking out everywhere waiting for Klutz Guitar Players (KGP) to bang into it, scrape against it, gouge etc. After a close call with a new heavy duty metal stand, I put a layer of bubble wrap that came with a delivery on to the ledge that holds the book/music, then gaffer-taped it down. It don't look much but has done the trick! The stand makers should make a rubber edge bumper-bar on any of their equipment that is destined to be close to a guitar! Mic stand makers, guitar amp makers, all of them! Also, Gibson should make rubber bumper-bar bindings available to KGP! (Me? I would go for a 2 inch rubber bumper if available...) BluesKing777. Agree 100% on this one. My music stand is the deadliest piece of guitar-bashing equipment in my little music room, and it's usually within inches of my guitar stand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdd707 Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 My bird hunting buddy says about his battered shotgun stock, "every ding represents a good time"! I agree with those who say it is sorta nice to get that first ding out of the way. Like what happened when I bought my cheepo mexstrat .... it came with a soft case .... chunked in the cab of my pick em up truck and well, you know it had two dings before I even got it home. My Gibson mid-70s J-45 Deluxe is dinged like my buddies gun stock. But not always so. Although we know that Gibson's from that era, alas, are overbuilt dogs, I'm a hummer and strummer (more so at the time of which I write) and it was a nice guitar for such as me. So I was quite distressed to find a crack in the top. A trip to the shop however left it well repaired and put me back to strumming my old folk songs. Then, a WEEK later, my wife dropped a 5 lb bookend on the upper side leaving several nasty cracks. Well, she's a good wife so I decided to keep her and just play the guitar the way is was. Love the old p.o.s Gibson to this day and so glad I kept the wife 'cause she lets me buy any old guitar I desire. Wonder what is the moral of this story? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Some scary, but necessary tales in this thread. Kind of makes me cringe while I'm reading....lol...Dings and scratches are bad enough by themselves, but at least we can live with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Dave Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I used to keep my Epi Dove on a stand in the corner of the living room. With two small kids (2 & 4) running around it was always obvious that it would pick up a ding or two. As expected, it was clipped or smacked by the odd toy, and it wouldn't be the first time that I picked up the guitar to find Batman, Robin and half the cast of Power Rangers using it as a cave! I've recently bought a Gibson J45 and keep it locked in the case! Unfortunately my wife doesn't appreciate its beauty as much as me, so we're having a stand-off regarding where I should put it (insert joke here lol). I'm not keen on keeping this one on a stand, and although I'm not precious about possessions, I do appreciate and care for them. I'd like to hang the guitar in the living room. There's less chance of it being hit (although not impossible!) and it would look amazing - as I said before, my wife is still to be convinced haha. Until then, I will keep it in the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I'd like to hang the guitar in the living room. There's less chance of it being hit (although not impossible!) and it would look amazing - as I said before, my wife is still to be convinced haha. Until then, I will keep it in the case. I know how much fun it is to look at your guitar all the time hanging on the wall, but it would probably be better for all concerned if you kept it in the case: particularly better for the guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Dave Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I know how much fun it is to look at your guitar all the time hanging on the wall, but it would probably be better for all concerned if you kept it in the case: particularly better for the guitar! I think you might be right. I've a feeling that within two minutes of it hanging on the wall it will either be hit with a plastic lightsaber or the screws will fail and the guitar will plummet to the floor (or knowing my luck...both!). The only thing about the case is that the kids are drawn to it because it's blue inside and very comfortable apparently haha. I think I'm gonna have to buy a small lock! Wish me luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 Now that this thread is revived, flags up for all the contributions. There were some nerve wrecking reads there. The H-bird/chair/drunkard incident f.x. The ding-thing = First you are dinged yourself, then after some weeks kind of relieved. Freed from the fear of dinging. DingDong - DingDong DingDong - DingDong Yesterday today was tomorrow and tomorrow - today will be yesterday . . George Harrison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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