OH NO!! a Scatch on my Baby!

[Steelpickin']

Guildmarks thread,

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8697

Got me to thinking...How do the rest of us feel when our beloved guitars get a battle scar? :shock: I decided a long time ago that I would own my guitars and my guitars would not own me!! but, I still cringe a little bit when I hand one of my "family" over to someone and they inadvertently bang it into something or ding it or scratch it. Its really not that big a deal to me and some of my instruments have quite a few scars to prove it! I think it kind of gives them character...mojo if you will. Once the first ding is there I seem to be able to relax and not worry so much about it. What about the rest of you though? I know that some folks get sick to there stomachs when they hear that "smack"..you know the one...I dont usually sell my instruments and dont "invest" in one or more to make money so I am not concerned with the resale aspect of it .Some folks do tend to worry a lot about there guitars and I can understand and its fine! I just wondered how the rest of you felt.

 

[fungusyoung]

I really don't care much about small dings or scratches. I take care of all my guitars as best as I can with proper storage, humidity, etc., but I've never owned one that I didn't play the daylights out of. Stuff happens, ya know? I try to avoid bumping into things or knocking them over, but I'm an imperfect person. Just ask my wife :roll: .

On the other hand, I own 15 guitars and I didn't pay over $1K for a single one of them. Most were quite a bit less than that. That's not to say I want anything to happen to any of them because I really treasure each one. Probably my highest level guitar is the DV52, and that had some weather checking & whatnot when I got it. To be honest, that kind of took the pressure off me to handle it with kit gloves, which would never be what I'd want.

In other words, you won't see me owning a pristine '68 F312 (braz) anytime soon!

 

[12 string]

Yeah, you guys are right but, still, every time a guitar gets bumped I feel its pain.

' Strang

 

[Steelpickin']

Dont get me wrong I used to get really upset when it happend and several times I have brought guitars in to get the finish touched up...I just kind of got to the point where I dont care as much as I once did. as long as its nothing structural :wink:

 

[Scratch]

I think we mellow out a bit as we get older. I make sure to wipe 'em down good after each play, but there was a time I'd lose sleep over the tiniest bump/scratch. Now, although I'm still pretty picky about them, I don't get quite as upset. I just cry real hard, throw things, yell, then sleep like a baby...

 

[capquest]

My 41 yr old F-50R has some crazing and a ding here and there. However it's in way better shape than I am after all those years!

It had to have a new face put on back in '70 when the girl who gave it to me threw it at me as a parting gesture of our time together.

I had Augie Loprinzi put a female German silver spruce face on it and for all these years anyone who hears it thinks it the best F 50 they ever heard.

 

[Dr Izza Plumber]

What really bothers me, is when I see a Westerly Guild on ebay, and someone has drilled a hole thru the headstock to hang it on a nail. :twisted: :roll:

 

[Guildmark]

Honest damage doesn't bother me. Accidents happen, and, like Dreadnut's buddy said, it's just a #$^&*!@ guitar. In the last couple of years, I've been amazed to learn how much can actually be repaired on a guitar. So I guess I'm even less worried about it for the most part. Even Richie Havens or a couple buddies of mine who strum holes into the top of their guitars do it honestly (though pickguards can be made bigger, damn it ).

I hear Dr. Izza, though. Abuse of an instrument is beyond my understanding. Any instrument of any type or in any price range. I never understood Hendrix or Townshend setting fire to guitars and smashing them on stage. To me that was always indulgent, disrespectful to the luthier and the music itself, and to me. If they didn't want the instruments, why didn't they give them to someone who did - like me? I worked damn hard to earn mine. Art, shmart. If you're going to trash your instrument or play a piece of crap intentionally, you had better be real good or have something worthwhile to say with it. So Tommy Emmanuel is allowed to scrape his down to bare wood. The 13-year-old in the local battle of the bands isn't.

 

[West R Lee]

What drives me absolutely insane is to see an eBay listing of a guitar, especially a Hoboken or Westerly since there are only so many of them, that is perched on a rock, or a tile floor, or leaned up against bricks......I get upset thinking about it. Then they expect someone to buy it :shock: . I remember one a while back that was photographed on the back porch or a cabin in the middle of winter with snow piled up all around it.......you could almost hear the finish cracking!

West

 

[RussD]

What drives me absolutely insane...

Short drive; pack light! or
More of a putt than a drive, I'd say.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Sorry, West, but with straight lines like that...

 

[Rainsong]

I'm afraid I am falling into the "guitar owning me" category with my new one. I really wasn't expecting it to be in as good of condition as it was (buying sight unseen off flea-bay). Now, instead of keeping it out on a stand to enjoy whenever I walk by, I keep it in a case with a humidifier and try to make sure when I play it I have long sleeve shirts on so my sweaty underarm doesn't stain the nitrocellulose and make sure my shirt is over the belt buckle etc.
For the time being I have decided not to put a pickup in it and vowed to pretty much keep it at home. I know the thing will only open up if it's played but I don't even want to put pick scratches in it at this point. I guess there is nothing wrong with having an investment trophy guitar but as of now, I find myself reaching for the Rainsong just because it is pretty well bullet proof and has it's share of small dings and pick scratches. I will imagine I will probalbly ease up on my anal-ness in a while, but for know I can't bear to alter it's pristine condition.

 

[West R Lee]

What drives me absolutely insane...

Short drive; pack light! or
More of a putt than a drive, I'd say.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Sorry, West, but with straight lines like that...

And it seems the older I get, the shorter that drive becomes! :shock:

West

 

[Mingus]

The older I get (I know, I know, I'm only 30) the more absolutely crazy I get about my instruments. I think that there are two different kinds of "honest wear." I only think one of them is acceptable.

Bumps and bruises:
These things happen. You nick it on a guitar stand. . .you bang it on another guitar. You let someone else play it and they nick it, etc. In my opinion, this is unacceptable "honest wear." Sure, a lot of it is unavoidable, but I like to take the best precautions I can to avoid them.

Actual WEAR:
Look at a well played '50s stratocaster and you'll see the finish worn off from playing. You can see the finish worn off the fingerboard on a maple fingerboard electric. This wear is absolutely unavoidable.

I think the former is avoidable if you're careful with your instrument. People tell me "lighten up. . .it's not supposed to be pristine, it's supposed to be played." I've got gear that I played almost every day for multiple hours for 10 years that still looks showroom new. Even if I only played it a modest 1 hour a day, that's 3,650 hours of play time and the guitar is still in showroom condition!

I bring my guitar into my office during the day because I have a gig that night and don't want to leave it in the car. I leave the guitar in the case until it's time to tune. I then put it BACK in the case until it's time to play. Once i'm done playing, i thoroughly wipe down the guitar and put it away. I get all the enjoyment out of the guitar that I possibly can, the guitar gets played and everyone's happy. In another 30 years, the finish will probably wear a bit. That's honest wear. . .and I won't sweat it.

I've become a little more relaxed lately as I've bought a LOT of guitars used with built-in battle scars. Surprisingly, i'm not upset about it if I didn't own the guitar when it happened. I acquired a D-35 from bdeclee that has a BIG scuff. It doesn't make me sick at all. . .but if I had made that scuff I probably would have thrown up!

-J

 

[fronobulax]

I guess I have always thought of myself as a steward of an instrument. Thus I try to take care of things so that, when it is passed on - (I'm sure they'll give me a Starfire Bass instead of a Heavenly Harp if I ask, but it probably won't be the one I'm playing now) - it is in the same shape or better than when I got it. I played my JS for a while before I realized there was a "disease" known as buckle rash. After finding that out, I now take precautions (and wince at the old scratches). I pay attention to how I stack a case now that I know that a fall can snap a headstock, and so on. Honest play wear doesn't bother me since the alternative is a museum piece, but I try and prevent what is preventable.

For what it's worth, my last few cars have been used cars because I have difficulty handling the first scratch on a new car.

 

[Mingus]

For what it's worth, my last few cars have been used cars because I have difficulty handling the first scratch on a new car.

perfect analogy.

As for buckle rash, I was playing lead guitar in a 4 piece rock band at one point with these guys (kids) from Queens. They were all "starving musicians." The bass player didn't have a decent bass, so I let him use my gear. When I noticed the buckle rash on the back of my 5 string Jazz Bass it was too late. What did I do? I brought it to my luthier and had him buff them all out!

"Made to be Played" doesn't mean "Made to be taken advantage of." If you played a guitar that cut your arm every once in awhile you'd figure out what the hell was going on and fix it. You wouldn't just accept the fact that it cuts your arm sometimes just because it sounds great. On the same token your guitar shouldn't accept "battle scars." Find out the behavior that causes them and cut it out! LOL

 

[Scratch]

I recently bought an auditorium sized Martin (I know, I know) 000-16 for use as a 'roadie'. I wanted a smaller bodied, easier to transport A25, but couldn't locate one. Anyway, I found this Martin at a reasonable price, which no kidding, was rescued by the former owner from a Greenwich Village NY coffee shop. The GV guy who first 'possessed' it drew pictures on it, wrote on it and in general marked it up and scuffed it up pretty good. What an $$$^^&%@... I thought, what the heck, it's just a road guitar.

I couldn't take it... Since then, I had Ross the Magic Luthier buff it out, touch it up, and set it up to the point where it is a very nice looking and nice playing guitar. There are still a couple of finish scratches near the lower bout, but you have to look for them. I replaced the chipboard case with a TKL and now have much more into it than I can get out of it, but at least I'm not ashamed to take it out of the case and say "Yeah, this belongs to me..." OK... so I'm anal... :?

 

[cjd-player]

OK... so I'm anal... :?

I'm not going to touch that.

But if Graham sees that, you're toast. :lol:

 

[Scratch]

oooops :lol: :lol:

 

[RussD]

OK... so I'm anal...
I'm not going to touch that.

Aw, butt, why not?
C'mon, take a poke at it! :lol: :lol:

 

[Scratch]

Awesome avatar Russ!!!