Share your guitar denting story

[ikravchik]

Originally Posted by dneal

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.

Yeah I can relate to this. I am very hesitant to let anyone touch my guitars. And then I am jealous if they do

[aknow]

Last month I had just changed nylon strings on my Cervantes crossover.
While I was stretching and tuning, the D string popped from the bridge and took out a nice chunk of the top, just north of the bridge. As I sat there cursing myself out for not taking proper care in (looping) the knot, the same thing happened to the G string!!! taking out an even larger chunk of cedar.
From now on, I think I'll apply a few pieces of tape just north of the bridge to prevent this from happening again.
I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[rmyAddison]

Perfect means unplayed, all my gits have loving players wear and very minor dings, it happens.

When I got my 2005 Martin OM-45 TB, today in the $18K range, I took it to a gig where I was the opening act of a singer/songwriter showcase, and I got to do the sound check. The sound tech, totally by accident, swung a mike cord into my brand new pride and joy.....ding!!!

He was mortified, I was furious, for about 10 seconds, then I looked at him and said I wish the first ding was mine, but it was bound to happen anyway. He bought a round of drinks for me and my ex after my set, and we ended up running the board for the rest of the acts (back then I was pretty stage sound savvy), which got me in trouble with my ex.......go figure.

Dings happens............

[Toby Walker]

I usually have a lot of guitar players come to my gigs. Some are casual players and some are pros. Then, there are the ‘experts.’ You know the type. They seemingly every detail, every nuance of every guitar that was ever constructed. This is a little story of how I nearly caused one of those ‘experts’ to nearly keel over with a heart attack.

One of my favorite guitars to play was a ’90 Martin 000-16. I may have paid $900 for it brand new. I used it constantly on the road, subjecting it to all kinds of brutal conditions from harsh weather to the rigors of performing in smokey bars, parking lot jams and outdoor festivals. Needless to say the guitar looked years beyond it’s actual age.

One evening while I was playing this small nightclub I noticed an elderly man squinting at my little Martin. What caught my attention was that he kept shaking his head from side to side with this incredulous look on his face, as if he couldn’t believe what he was looking at.

During my break he approached me and in one of those too loud for conversation type voices said “My God man, I can’t believe you would bring a guitar like that out to a place like this.’

I said ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, he continued, it’s not everyday you see someone playing a vintage 1936 Martin that’s worth tens of thousands of dollars in a dump like this joint.’

I tried to tell him that he had the year completely wrong but oh no, he kept on insisting it was exactly what he said it was.

So then I took the guitar in my hands and proceeded to rap on the top several times rather sharply with the knuckles of my hand saying ‘Oh, this gal can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin.’ Then, I stuck the guitar back on the stand - not very carefully - which nearly caused it to topple over completely off the stage.

At that instant I heard a loud GASP coming from the man’s direction. He was literally clutching his chest with his eyes opened wide and his jaw practically hitting the floor. Shaking his head he told me how irresponsible I was and that he hoped that I had the guitar insured. Of course I told him no.

I live for things like that.

[kydave]

I was taking some time off playing professionally while I recovered from a broken heart, and I was working a straight job at a family owned car rental franchise. At our Christmas party, when ‘199 was a few months old, I leaned over as I was sitting on a bar stool in the office and the strap came off that button. Fortunately my leg was extended and the guitar didn’t drop straight down, but rather rolled down my leg, getting a relatively small ding in the binding on the lower bout, upper front. Whew! Got that first ding out of the way quickly and painlessly more or less.

42+ years ago...

[Neil K Walk]

One day when I was home alone with my two young boys one of them came to me and asked for something out of the refrigerator and needed me to undo the child lock. I was playing my Martin D–16GT with the strap on it at the time , basically being a Trubador about the house. I didn't want to put it down so I turned it around and slung it on my back with the headstock pointing down to the floor like I was some kind of rockstar.

I should note that I use a boot lace around headstock and I was not using the end pin that came with the guitar. Well, the end pin popped out and the guitar swung by the headstock literally like an axe with the butt of the guitar striking the floor HARD. The sound it made is something that I never want to hear again in this lifetime. While there was damage it could be worse. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. As for the actual damage, the guitar struck primarily on the black Bolteron binding but also on the edge of the soundboard, leaving two 2" long cracks and separating the top from the Kerfing in that area. That happened a couple of years ago and the cracks haven't spread any so I'm content to play it as it is with reminder to be more careful with it.

[kydave]

OK, showing my age - what the heck is a "child lock" on a refridgerater? I have never heard of such a thing.

[oxygenman]

I almost never play anywhere except at home, so I have no excuse for letting something happen to a guitar.

Two years ago, I had a little time on my hands, so I grabbed a D-18 V and propped it carelessly on my thigh. My cell was in my pocket, and when the guitar hit it, I heard a noise but thought nothing of it.

About a week later I took it to a guitar shop to get a strap button put on. The tech removed the instrument from the case, examined it as he always does before taking it into the back, and said, "You know about this, right?"

It had an inch-long gash right where the cell hit it. Now, before I pick one up, I take the cell and my keys out and lay them aside.

That's how I've had to learn almost everything in life.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by kydave

OK, showing my age - what the heck is a "child lock" on a refridgerater? I have never heard of such a thing.

I'm going to take a stab at that one. It's a heck of a great way of keeping a loud, obnoxious kid quiet.

[Matt.S]

It'll pass! I suppose the length of time depends on the cost of the guitar.

When I first bought my Breedlove a few months ago I nicked it changing the strings

When I bought what I considered my new beater - which I actually fell in love with and haven't played my other guitars in probably a month - I was lifting it over a chair in my room off the stand and straight into the ceiling fan... Then later that week my stand tipped over and the neck ended up hitting the computer chair, I braced the fall for the most part but there was still a ding on the neck that I could feel everytime I played. In about a week I didn't really gravitate my eyes to either of the dings.

I guess what it came down to for me was that nothing could be done so I belted out my curse words, poured a stiff drink, and played the thing even harder haha.

[Rickytuk]

I dropped a Zippo on my Lowden, made quite a nasty little dent. I did exactly the same thing with another guitar but the top and finish were a bit more resilient and only made a tiny dent. I need to start using matches!

[glissongs]

I dropped the case top down on top of my $5000 Everett. Put a horrible ding in it. Oh well......

[jaymarsch]

I remember when I first took my brand spanking new custom Wingert E to a small and very guitar respectful music camp and everyone was so careful around my new baby. Finally, when I had a few minutes alone, I set the guitar in the stand and went to find my capo. As I got up, I knocked over my metal footstool and the corner of it put a nice, quick nick in the center of the lower bout. I winced, held my breath, and then sighed and thought - Well, at least it was me and not someone else. I was actually relieved to get it out of the way!

I'm all for playing them and accepting that the bangs and dents will give them some character.

Best,
Jayne

[kydave]

Originally Posted by Rickytuk

I dropped a Zippo on my Lowden, made quite a nasty little dent. I did exactly the same thing with another guitar but the top and finish were a bit more resilient and only made a tiny dent. I need to start using matches!

It's the guitar deities telling you to quit smoking!

[Tarekith]

Not a dent but...

The very first instrument I ever splurged on was a really nice electric guitar in my early twenties. I was playing a house party with some other guys a week later, and ended up talking to really hot girl during a set break (this guitar thing really does work!)

I didn't realize at the time she had a cigarette in her hand by her side until I smelled something odd burning. Brand new Ibanez S540FMTT with a nice burn discoloration right on the top. Oh well.