Share your guitar denting story
 

Nothing gives me a sense of pain like putting a dent on one of my beloved guitars. Last night I dropped my keys on my Seagull 12 string when it was sitting in an open case on the floor and put a noticeable dent above the sound hole. It hurts!

Now every time I play it I see the mark and it bothers the bejesus out of me.

Have you damaged your instrument in ways that still gives you the chills?

It will pass. Dings are life and show that you are alive.

I know, I enjoy the look of a roadworn, vintage guitar that shows some serious battle scars, but when it's a new guitar, the first ding is the most painful, because A - it's no longer a new guitar, B - your eye always gravitates towards it.

I keep a guitar on a stand by my desk in our home office so that I can play when I have a spare minute or two. I'm usually very careful about removing it from and placing it back on the stand. One day about a year ago, something distracted me as I was picking up the guitar and I banged it on the corner of my desk. Put a nice little triangular shaped dent just under the bridge of my Eastman E8D. :cry:

Very few of us get through life without scars on ourselves. How can you expect that of a guitar?

When I first got my AJ, I leaned it up against the front of the couch to go do something. When I got back it had tipped and hit something like an end table (don't recall what exactly). Still has a nice deep narrow dent in the fretboard binding.

never again...

toddler + hotwheels = dent

No chilling damage here.

I really don't know where the dings in my guitars come from. They're all on the relatively soft cedar tops, and I'd guess most are from an unconscious clumsy moment of contact with the fingernails on my picking hand, some when playing, some when picking up or setting the instrument down, some from the place that missing socks go. ;)

YES!!! I keep mine in the case because of my boys, but they still get marks. Especially the underarm sweat finish remover spot, mystery fine scratches on the back and then the marks when the guitar sits on your leg and you wonder, how did those get there. It is impossible to keep them perfect.

Still got me my first Classical Guitar, a solid wood 3/4 scale Raimundo, that my parents who were farmers, and it was certainly a stretch for them to buy, got for me as a Christmas present.

When I was about 14, about 6 years later, I was putting it back in the case and the lid dropped, the edge of the snap on the case lid hit the side and went right through the varnish into the wood. :cry:

Personally, I look around me before getting the guitar out and think carefully when putting it back ever since :p

Took my Lowden back to the Mom & Pop I bought it from for a tweak after I'd had it for four or five weeks. (The weather was going from Hot Summer to cool, dry Fall) The owner opened the case, removed my Planet Waves humidifier from the sound hole, and dropped it squarely on the cedar top.

I couldn't speak, the owner was about a half inch tall & beet red, and we all just stood there for what seemed an eternity. Finally, I just said "Oh well, now I don't have to worry about that first ding any more."

The setup was free and included three sets of spare strings...

If you're an Ovation-fancier, never, I repeat never, prop it against a chair when you're not playing it. Always put it on a stand.

Around 1996, I had a US Elite (the one with multiple soundholes) that was an absolute beauty. When a friend called one afternoon, I propped it against an armchair while we talked. In one agonizing moment, I saw the guitar fall forward and crash resoundingly and sickeningly face down on the hard wood floor. O's are quite rugged but the headstock was visibly chipped and dented. Stupid!

I don't own anything nice enough to worry about a ding.

It's got personality now. :)

Let me get some popcorn and settle in for a long thread... My ding stories would overload the forum, so I'll just share one.

Bought an 00-28 shortly before a deployment. Came home on mid tour leave, and the case was empty. Found the guitar in my son's room (then 15), leaned up against the wall. Strings green with corrosion from hormones or something, 2-3 slight impressions in the top along with some light scratches, some scratches on the back, and quite a few spots of what I assume was sneeze or cough residue.

He's lucky he wasn't home at the time of discovery. He still talks about that being the angriest he'd ever seen me... We've all dinged guitars. It's inevitable. This was something completely different...

I'm still amazed he survived that incident.

To follow up on my denting rant, I got my Taylor 314ce 2 weeks ago from Groove City guitars. I took it back to get it set up because the strings were buzzing, the repair give adjusted the truss rod and dented the headstock. It's sad when you get your guitar "repaired" and end up with more damages.