#1
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Dents and scratches. How do you take it?
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.
Last edited by Primdmit; 06-01-2020 at 09:32 AM. |
#2
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I’m definitely not a fan either! My Martin has several places where the clear topcoat is coming off just from wear around the edges, and anytime a new piece flakes away it makes me sick feeling! We had a bonfire a few weeks ago and my kids wanted me to play guitar, so my 8 year old goes inside and gets my HD-28 out of the case and carries it outside, down a flight of steps, across the concrete driveway, through the yard..... he handed it to me and I almost threw up!! I was afraid to look it over, I figured he’d hit everything in the way out (bull in china shop child) but he did good and didn’t hurt it at all. Still had a mini stroke though! Lol. I thinks it’s just because they’re a part of you, and something we cherish.
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#3
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I am building a guitar for my niece's husband. I am making it less than pristine looking, not sloppy but no mirror finish and there might be a divot or two (we will see, it is not finished yet). It takes much more time to build it flawlessly. And it is to be a stage guitar. I do not want him to worry about whether it will get scratched or dinged. No trailer queen, I want to pulled out and played. I can see people looking at their guitar as a work of art and that they do not want to see it in less that new condition. But I see an instrument as a tool, a tool to make music. That is primarily my focus. If they look pretty as well, all the better.
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Fred |
#4
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A couple of years after I got my custom guitar, and I was concerned over a little ding or two, my luthier showed me one of his rather expensive guitars that had been returned for some repairs. The guitar in question had been used by a working professional, and she had literally worn a hole trough the back bigger than a silver dollar. This was extreme buckle wear! Actually, that was not what she wanted repaired. It didn’t concern her, but it was a lesson in proportionality for me. His take was that he was glad to see his guitars used, not preserved as display pieces.
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-Raf |
#5
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I think everyone takes it differently. Lookat Tommy Emmanuel's guitars. He doesn't seem to mind. To many, dents and scratches tend to add to the character of an instrument. A smash up is a different story.
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#6
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I also hate when it happens, but not much you can do after the fact. I think most of us get over it and move on.
I did hear a tale one of my band mates had about a guy in a previous band. they did an outdoor gig one evening. At one point a mic fell over, and put a nice dent, (like only a mic can) right behind the bridge on a Standard Strat. The owner didn't notice it till the next day,. he went nuts. ransacked his own music room, broke a flat screen tv that was in the room, and as the grand finale, tossed a mic stand thru a window. His wife almost called the police on him, she thought she was next... Rumor has it, he's not picked up a guitar since that day.. (last summer sometime, July or August I think) So,, if you don't do THAT, then I guess you are doing OK! |
#7
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I take care of my instruments but I know it's different for some pros. I was recently watching this great video of Bryan Sutton and Billy Strings. Billy was playing his incredible Preston Thompson dread and when the light hits it you can see how gouged the wood is above and below the soundhole. It made me uncomfortable to look at it! But, he's a pro and that's how he makes his living.
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#8
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Quote:
Nice comment! Thanks! |
#9
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I try to be reasonably careful, at the same time I'm not obsessive about it. I'm a little bummed when I find something really noticeable but it doesn't stay with me very long. Little scratches are a fact of life. It certainly does not affect my desire to play. I accept the inevitable. Nothing stays new if you use it.
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#10
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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... |
#11
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yea! Obviously this guy has issues.
My bud also told me he called the person who hired them "You owe me 400 bucks" (roughly the cost of a new body from fender) Needless to say, that was the last gig they did. |
#12
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Oh, don't get me started.
I am that way about everything. Cars and guitars especially. I think it's a form of OCD. I wish I could just not worry about it, like my wife does. She shrugs things off. Meanwhile I'm driving around parking lots choosing parking spaces based on whose door might swing far enough to ding my car. |
#13
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The first time I got a significant ding in a guitar was when two of my sons knocked my then-new Blueridge off a stand while wrestling in my office, leading to a dime-sized chip in the finish on the top of the headstock. My first reaction was to yell at them, and, as I was doing that, I thought to myself, "this is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things." So I just told them to be more thoughtful and left it at that. That was a less expensive guitar, but ever since then, I've been able to not care about dings, even as my guitars have gotten nicer. Anything you use regularly is going to show some wear eventually, no matter how much you baby it. My mindset is that I'm going to use the guitars I love, travel with them, play them outside, let my kids play them, share them with friends, and have fun with them. A ding here and there is not a problem. If something breaks, I'll get it fixed.
I picked up a ten-year-old OM-28V recently. It seems to have been well taken care of, with the exception of an apparent temperature change mishap that left some subtle finish cracks at different places on the top. But it plays like a dream, so I don't care.
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Martin CS-00-18 (2015) Martin OM-28V (2011) Northfield Model M mandolin |
#14
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Willie Nelson approves of this thread.
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#15
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