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  #91  
Old 06-06-2020, 06:35 PM
icuker icuker is online now
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When I was younger and poorer it bothered me with Mossman. Now older and various guitars and it don't bother me much. Structural damage, yeah, but surface stuff ain't no deal to me. I won't be around all that much longer to look at them anyway....funny how age can change perspective.
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  #92  
Old 06-07-2020, 06:28 AM
PetesaHut PetesaHut is offline
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Originally Posted by Primdmit View Post
Hi, everybody! I’ve noticed that when i get a dent or a scratch on my guitar it always upsets me so much that i sometimes lose my interest in playing for a day or two. And the more expensive my guitar the more upset i am. And it almost always happens at home in very stupid situations. How do you take your dents and scratches? I think it’s almost impossible to play every day and not to get one. Maybe i have some kind of scretchadentophobia?) Or maybe my guitars are like my babies.
I am OCD with my guitars, one is used and has a minor ding if I didn't point it out, you would never notice it. All the others are new. I play at home, mainly in my guitar room. I am super-careful with my guitars. I keep them like new, I enjoy the new pristine look of them. I don't find it a big deal being careful with them

If I were a gigging guitarist, I would take a completely different approach. My gigging guitars would be workhorses. They would be in environments where it would be unreasonably to try and keep them ding or scratch-free. I would most likely buy used instruments in that situation. I would still take care of them, but I wouldn't be OCD about them.
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  #93  
Old 06-07-2020, 07:02 AM
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My new $7,500 guitar was made with a thin coat of nitrocellulose over the pickguard. It took two weeks to trash the finish. Richard Hoover of SCGC says that they love to see their older guitars with wear on them as it tells them that their guitars are loved and used. That is what they make them for.
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  #94  
Old 06-07-2020, 07:14 AM
DaveKell DaveKell is offline
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Originally Posted by dtpolk View Post
I think everyone takes it differently. A smash up is a different story.
I used to think that way. I too was always one who tried my best to keep guitars as pristine as possible and always was very disproportionately upset over acquiring a new ding. A few years ago I inherited a Kazuo Yairi commissioned build DY90 from a wealthy friend. He had an immense collection of the finest acoustic guitars ever made at the time of his death. His favorite was the DY90 that he had the longest. He went to Japan in 1982 and met Mr. Yairi to build it with the only specs being the tightest straight grain top and most dramatic pink and green abalone inlays. Since 1983 when he received it it had been maintained in perfect condition. Every time I visited him he wanted me to play Morning Has Broken in a fingerstyle version. As he was nearing the end from a second round of cancer he told me he wanted me to play that on the Yairi at his memorial and then take the guitar home with me.

About 6 months after he passed I was involved in a high speed rear end collision on a freeway while stopped in construction traffic. The guitar was in the most expensive Gator bag lined with two inches of foam and very form fitting. It was on the rear seat of our brand new Ford Explorer. A distracted truck driver plowed into us and the guitar was propelled into the front seats that both broke backwards crushing the guitar. In addition to the new car and my back both being instantly totaled the guitar was severely crushed. I nearly vomited when I opened the "case" to look at it. I'll never know why my friend didn't have a hard case for the prized instrument. I intended to get one but didn't have time before the long road trip.

A member of this forum told me about a restoration genius in Kansas City, MO he was friends with. A guy named Ed Basnett. I shipped the carnage off to him with little hope of the severely crushed sides and half dozen splits in the top ever being mended suitably. Seven months late he told me it was ready to come home. I followed his progress pics on Facebook where he repaired all the original wood, nothing new was added. You absolutely can't find any evidence it was ever damaged. With the exception of the top repairs you have to be very close to spot, Ed miraculously repaired the sides with no visible interruption to the grain of the beautiful wood on the sides and back. He only charged me $1,500 for the work. The at fault driver's insurance immediately compensated me $3,500 for the guitar right after the accident.

That incident forever altered my view of minor dings and scratches as being totally insignificant. The heavenly sound the guitar had before the wreck was actually improved upon by Ed's restoration techniques. I christened him a Bonafide Restoration Wizard and to this day in my 67 years I have never seen a more remarkable example of human craftsmanship. I plan someday to give the guitar to it's next caretaker when their identity is revealed to me. I've told this story on here several times before and am amazed nobody has said "enough already!".
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  #95  
Old 06-07-2020, 07:32 AM
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Wow, sounds like it would be difficult to get through life worrying about such things. I guess I don't know what's meant by "dents" - if I actually knocked my guitar hard enough that it had a DENT, I'd be pretty bummed. But I guess it depends on definitions. If it was just a slight surface indentation, I wouldn't care. If it was structural damage, I would. If it affected how it played or sounded, I really would. In the photo below, there's a small dent in the edge of my desk (looks much larger in the photo than it is, since the whole edge is 3/4") and then a little scratch next to it. Neither of these would bother me in the least. I'd just consider them character.

unnamed by Ray, on Flickr

One of the first things I did after I was sure my CEO-7 was a keeper was to take the pick guard off. I'm a fairly aggressive strummer at times and I'll hit the guitar from time to time on my follow through, so there will be pick marks in time. I just looked and after almost two months, I can't see any marks yet, but the'll be along in time. I had a D-28 as my only acoustic for 25 years and I used to play out a lot (never anymore), so it got a lot of abuse and it showed it experience, but I thought it looked great. The only serious dents had been repaired before I got it and the natural aging I put on it didn't detract from that guitar one bit.

If I ever decide to spend the $$$ on a Pre-War Guitar Co 000 or something like that, I'll get a small amount of relic treatment on it - not really beat up, but a guitar that's meant to sound like an old guitar shouldn't be too bright and shiny in my view.
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  #96  
Old 06-07-2020, 07:45 AM
Pinetreebob Pinetreebob is offline
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Dings and scratches are all part of the lifetime of a guitar, almost a badge of honor in a way. It doesn't mean I have to like it! It always pisses me off when I get a scratch, not matter how minor. What is really bad is when someone else puts it there.
I think I have told this story before about a guy in our jam group. He is, to put it mildly a rough guitar handler. I had just bought a brand new Taylor 312ce and was showing it off when he asked if he could play it. Against my better judgment I handed it over the table to him the first thing he does is bump it against the table...bonggg! I said, "Whoa! Easy there!" He manages finally to get it cradled in his lap and looks it over. Suddenly he starts strumming it REAL hard, as in flailing, string buzzing, almost Pete Townsend windmilling strumming. I couldn't get it out of his hands fast enough! Fortunately, nothing happened to my new Taylor and I have kept it away from him since.
If you look at his two year old Martin, it is not just dinged but dented and scratched all over with stains from spilled drinks. If you turn it over the back is bowed and cracked the whole length. He obviously doesn't care one bit about how scratched up his guitar is.
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  #97  
Old 06-07-2020, 08:16 AM
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Dings and scratches are part of the Universe, part of Life, and part of Me.... Soooo

"Dents and scratches. How do you take it?" As they come.
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  #98  
Old 06-07-2020, 09:52 AM
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I don’t purposefully dent or scratch any of my guitars, and I generally get upset when it happens, but each dent tells a story. My favorite dent is from a wooden toy train, from when my son was maybe 5, that fell out of my shirt pocket onto my guitar.
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  #99  
Old 06-07-2020, 10:26 AM
M Sarad M Sarad is offline
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Every time Iookin the mirror and see 64 years on my face,I get over dings and scratches on my guitars.
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  #100  
Old 06-07-2020, 12:41 PM
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Argh. I hate it.

One thing I've noticed: A standard spruce top shows a ding a lot less than a burst-colored top. I've learn this the hard way -- twice.

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  #101  
Old 06-07-2020, 01:07 PM
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Originally Posted by scotly50 View Post
Getting the Guitar for free likely eases much of the pain.
Very true!
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  #102  
Old 06-07-2020, 01:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Charmed Life Picks View Post
Argh. I hate it.

One thing I've noticed: A standard spruce top shows a ding a lot less than a burst-colored top. I've learn this the hard way -- twice.

scott memmer
You're right about that Scott! I briefly owned a CEO7 but I bought that used. I just recently got a brand new E10SS and it was glossed to a mirror finish. A week later there's already several swirls and marks and I've been super careful. I think it just goes with the territory.
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  #103  
Old 06-07-2020, 01:54 PM
ascotia ascotia is offline
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I've managed to keep my Taylor in all-but-flawless condition since I picked it up in November 2018. I realized after I bought it that there was scratch less than 1" long on the back of the neck near the headstock. It looks like someone took the blunt end of a needle and indented the wood, but you can really only see it in the right light. I decided not to make a fuss about it because I love the guitar so much and it's barely noticeable.

It would really upset me if I myself did some real damage though. I don't even want to get arm sweat on the body of the guitar so I always make sure I have a towel under my arm or that I'm wearing long sleeves before I sit down to play. I rarely make direct skin contact with the body. I've also hit the tuners on the buckle of the case a few times when I was putting the guitar away, causing a couple of scratches. Other than that, she still looks like the day I brought her home.
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  #104  
Old 06-07-2020, 05:41 PM
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This is my favorite guitar:



It's a 1943 Gibson Southerner Jumbo. I'm the second owner. The first, a young US soldier, bought the guitar in late 1943 in NYC and took it to WWII.

Since I have owned it, I have taken it across the US and to another 10 countries. A year ago, I spent 2 weeks teaching guitar in European refugee camps. I'd walk in each morning, lean the guitar against a tree, and urge every person in the camp to play the guitar.

Play your guitars. Let others play them. Value each mark that indicates that someone used your guitar to try to create beauty.
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  #105  
Old 06-08-2020, 08:41 AM
Gatorwampus Gatorwampus is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mycroft View Post
I don't like it, but it is inevitable if you use the instrument, so I accept it and move on.

Life is to short to sweat the little stuff...
Exactly right. After the weekly campfire gathering (6 feet apart of course) I noticed a couple of new dings on my Eastman. Considering that I actually fell off my chair at one point, I am not complaining. My Guild D30 actually looks better, but it doesn't get out much. Bottom line, if you enjoy playing your guitar, and lug it around with you, it will acquire some dings. At the age of 70, I have a few myself, but find that I am still fully functional.
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