Worst thing that's ever happened to one of your mando's

[Chris Travers]

Fortunately, I can't say anything has happened worse than a string breaking, as of yet. Please, share your mando-misfortunes. I thought this would make an interesting thread.

Chris

[Chris Travers]

Anyone?

[Nolan]

Worse thing I ever heard was a guy with two Loars who had them both run through with a firepoker.
Me personally... broken head stock scroll.

[blacksmith]

The worst thing that's ever happened to one of my mandos was me playing it. Go ahead, you can ask it.

[Howard33]

I handled a banjo and didn't wash my hands before picking up my mandolin once. Damn thing sounded off the whole night.

*Ok, weak attempt at humor aside. I find myself banging my mandolin against everything. So far, it's not been hard enough to crack it, but its happened often enough that my next purchase is going to be a hard case instead of the little gig bag I have it in.*

[Jim MacDaniel]

My dog ate my mandolin.

Actually, he just bit it, and it was sort of my own fault. Jack is a very sweet dog, and usually tolerates my playing, but when I play chords he'll start barking at me. One time as he did so, instead of stopping, I kept chopping away to tease him a little -- but then he lunged at me, putting several dings in the soundboard with his canines.

[Howard33]

My dog ate my mandolin.

Actually, he just bit it, and it was sort of my own fault. Jack is a very sweet dog, and usually tolerates my playing, but when I play chords he'll start barking at me. One time as he did so, instead of stopping, I kept chopping away to tease him a little -- but then he lunged at me, putting several dings in the soundboard with his canines.

Everyones a critic.....:whistling:

[John Rosett]

In 2002, I bought a brand new Weber Yellowstone custom mandolin. Just a couple of months after I got it, my band was playing an outdoor show at night. We were standing on a big gooseneck flatbed trailer. My mandolin was on it's stand while I was playing guitar, when a large vase full of flowers fell over and dumped about a half gallon of water onto/into the mandolin. Fortunately, the vase didn't hit the mandolin. I shook all the water out and toweled it off and it was fine.

[Rick Schmidlin]

I had a Prucha F in 2004 and I knocked the back of the headstock and a chip the back point came off.

[mrmando]

I've had pieces knocked off two headstocks courtesy of the Postal Service (with a little help from inadequate packing jobs by the folks who sold me the instruments). I had a bridge base cracked and a ding put in the top of a Gibson EM200, and a big-time crack put in a Jonathan Mann, both courtesy of UPS -- despite good packing jobs. And I had the tuners bent and a couple of big skid marks put on a Rigel, thanks to someone who volunteered himself to help tear down the sound system after a gig -- and promptly dropped a speaker on my instrument.

The worst thing I've ever done to my own mandolin was drop a fiddle bow on it, and the button of the bow put a small ding in the top of the mandolin. No biggie.

[jramsey]

I've been waiting for this thread, I've got a good one... So, I won this beautiful mandolin at the '08 RockyGrass mando competition. The first professional instrument that I've ever owned (I was playing a Washburn before I won RG). So I'm back in my college town of Johnson City, TN the week after IBMA having a wonderful time and playing a few gigs with some old friends. My girlfriend's band, Spring Creek, was in town playing the Down Home, and I was going to hitch a ride back to CO in their van. I played a Monday night gig at a local bar that I used to frequent with one of my closest picking buddies, and Spring Creek stopped by to see us and sit in. I remember thinking how wonderful that mandolin sounded that night, it was perfect. Cut to the end of the night, we're packing up and I, being the wonderful boyfriend that I am, grab Jessica's bass and take it to the van. She in turn grabs my mando and heads for the vehicle that we're traveling in. The back door of the Blazer we were in was locked, so she sat the mando down to come and get the keys, and you guessed it, forgot all about the mandolin until we backed over it leaving the venue. My best friend behind the wheel and my girlfriend in the back seat. Absolutely devastated, my girl immediately knew what it was and started crying, and then I knew. Jumped out and saw a crushed TKL rectangle in front of the car. Ran to some light and opened up the case and the mando looked OK. I picked it up and strummed it and realized that the neck had been cracked right behind the nut. I got REALLLLY lucky. If that mandolin had been 10 inches to the left of where it was sitting, it would have crushed the body and I would have had a $10,000 pile of firewood on my hands. Sent it to Gibson, they did a wonderful job with barely any cosmetic damage, and I got it back in about a month and a half. Moral of the story...Calton, insurance, and never let your girlfriend load your mandolin.:grin:

[JEStanek]

I took a mandolin to have a set up and bridge adjustment done (lower the action) and while reinstalling the bridge the man sneezed and his thumbnail marred the top. He then tried to touch it up but went through the finish to bare wood. He then tried several times to match finishes but ultimately stripped the top and resprayed the finish (the original was hand applied). He's a competent repairman with decades of experience. Much of this was my mistake. I should have originally had him send it back to the builder to repair (as he offered to do but expressed his confidence in making the repair) but it seemed like such a small thing. All this took longer than 4 months. My point of bringing this up is if someone damages your instrument have the original builder repair the work. What a frustration.

Jamie

[mandroid]

Once on a bicycle tour, I got a small "Leo" Travel mandolin to bring with me ,
one campsite in southern Germany was Flooded out , overnight.
and everything got wet, when the stream rose to put my campsite under several inches of water.
( de-tensioned the strings, minor warping, It's still quite playable, took it on another trip thru western Ireland and Scotland. )

Another occasion : I put the backpack with the Martin Backpacker in it, on the roof of a friend's car and after a couple blocks it fell off the roof ..

... went back and picked it, backpack and all, up off the road , it didn't even go out of tune..

:redface:

[JeffD]

I left a mandolin in the car one hot summer day. Kerploing.

[mrmando]

I forgot about the screwdriver that slipped while I was trying to do something to the bridge on my old Kentucky 5-string electric -- putting a highly visible ding in the finish. Klutzes shouldn't attempt repairs that they're not trained to do.

I recently got in the car and started to back out of the driveway -- then noticed my mandocello case was still sitting off to the side. Thank goodness I didn't leave it directly behind the car.

[Chris Travers]

Wow jramsey! That was a close call! Glad it turned out OK.

[blawson]

Can't top Jordan's or Jim's stories, but I put a nice deep divot in the soundboard of an MF5 when the case lid closed as I was (foolishly) pulling the mando out one-handed -- a case-latch tooth took a yummy little bite.

The nice thing is that after the first one, I wasn't nearly so uptight about subsequent (more minor) dings.

[jramsey]

Wow jramsey! That was a close call! Glad it turned out OK.

Thanks crazylotrfan, I even kept the girl, too.:grin:

[allenhopkins]

Coffeehouse in Brockport NY, probably 1973. My old trio, Flower City Ramblers, doing our bluegrass interpretation of the Stones' No Expectations (arrangement courtesy New Deal String Band). Drunk in the audience objects to our tempo -- "You're playing too @#$%^ fast!" My brother John on guitar, ever the diplomat, gives him the finger in mid-chord. One thing leads to another, I put the ol' F-2 down to get between 'em, drunk punches me in the face, knocks me down into the mandolin, and the headstock gets fractured across. Cops are called, I don't press charges, talk to drunk later at my lawyer's suggestion, he says he'll cut my throat (not a credible threat). Five minutes later his girlfriend calls me and offers to pay for the repair, which she does. I eat the reduction in the mandolin's value ($450 to $250, at that time's prices), later trade the F-2 on my current F-5.

Worst incident in 40+ years of playing, and it happened in a coffeehouse...!

[farmerjones]

Cat walked behind my mando leaning up against the couch, caught it with her tail. Broke the neck right out of it. What was i to do? I slacked the strings, wooped out the durabond, a clamp and a coaster, and glued the baby up. Took the clamp off a couple days later, and tuned it back up. Since changed strings several times but not then. This was my 40 dollar Roque, and it's plays as good as ever!
The other day i saw a tiny nick at the very top edge of the peghead, on my 615. I'm really much more upset about that.

[F-2 Dave]

The second worst thing was watching my mandolin fall over on to the floor of a friends house, thus breaking the scroll off of the headstock.
The worst thing I did was to take it to the local 'professional luthier' to be fixed. Went back a week later to pick it up. He was afraid that glue alone would not hold so he drilled into the headstock and into the piece and attached them with a short pin. He was about 1/16th of an inch off. For the last 25 years I've seen it everytime I look at my headstock. It looks like it was done by monkeys. On the bright side, I suppose it serves as a constant reminder to be more careful where and how i set it down.

[mandozilla]

I guess I've been fortunate regarding mandomishaps. I've had 2 A styles and 3F styles and other than normal teeny weeny bumps, none of them has suffered much...I never took any extraordinay measures to avoid mishaps and I never obsessed (still don't) over them...I just enjoyed making music with them. :grin:

HOWEVER, a long time ago I had a very nice D-35 strapped on me...standing on a hard tile surface...and the strap came loose at the end pin...and faster than you can say Jack Robinson, down she went and struck that hard surface...the guitar emitted a loud bell like sound and I emiited a loud s**t! :))

Wind up is it left a deep 3" crack on the beautiful Brazilian Rosewood back and, to me anyway, it never sounded the same again....after that I developed my lackadasical attitude in these matters because Stuff happens. :mad:

:mandosmiley:

[f#54]

Results of a 3ft. fall to a concrete floor

[Jim MacDaniel]

Ouch! I'm sorry to see that F# -- is that a fresh injury?

[f#54]

Yes sir it just got out of the hospital last friday after being sick for a month. Im so happy its back. Its sounds as good if not better really. Little more distressed tho:)

[Bobbie Dier]

Results of a 3ft. fall to a concrete floor

Oh that's bad.

I had the same fall onto a concrete floor. I had the mandolin strapped to me and tripped over the stand of a propane cooker. I fell on top of the mandolin on the concrete. I was really lucky I just cracked the scroll of of my headstock. I had a few bruises too but I didn't notice them for a few days. Lesson learned... never walk around in the dark with your mandolin strapped to ya.

[Randi Gormley]

Put my bowlback away nicely tuned -- for 20 years. Of course, now I know a little bit more about the brand, the twist and bowing of the neck should have been expected, but the little torque that developed apparently affected something inside -- at least that's my interpretation of what the luthier tried to explain to me -- and she'll cost something like $800 to fix. For that kind of money, I can get a real instrument. sigh. She looks pretty, though, from the outside. Anybody really hang their unplayable mandolin on a wall?

[Mike Snyder]

100+ heat in Kansas summer. The case was never left in the sun. She was fine at the end of a late night jam. Sunday afternoon, I went to clean the instrument, actions about half an inch at the 12th, 16th inch gap at the back button. OK fine. But this happened TWICE, to the same instrument. Pretty near 12 months to the day. The builder took it the first time, it came back beautiful. Action like butter, all scratches buffed out, couldn't be better. A year later, they gave up and sent me my present ax as settlement of the warranty. I am just glad I wasn't holding it when it cut loose. Ill bet she popped pretty good.

[aphillips]

Hmm... the poor thing got bought by me!

[mandroid]

Wet sweaty shirt messed up the Brown Varnish on the back of my Gibby '22 A..

[MikeK]

The day i got my Loar LH-500 i was standing in my living room and the strap broke and it fell on the hardwood causing a 2 inch or so crack from the top of the F-hole, fortunately it was an easy repair

[tango_grass]

Opened my case the night after a small gig. and there was a 2 inch, highly visible pick scratch on the upper F hole. :(
It's still there. I guess I can have someone touch it up....

[Mike Snyder]

Please tell me, guys, what straps are breaking and coming loose so I can avoid them like the PLAUGUE. I've never broke a strap in my life.

[D C Blood]

OK...my story, and I didn't even know it happened until much later because I was literally, a world away at the time...In 1968 I bought an F-7 from John Duffey, that he had "long-necked" and otherwise modified. Several months later, that same year, I went on my first tour to Vietnam (USAF), and I left the mandolin with John, to use until I returned. Some time after I returned, in Aug '69, and had regained possession, John mentioned to me that Eddie Ferris, the Country Gentlemen bass player, had dropped a full beer bottle through the top of the mandolin. John said he 'bout killed him over that...fortunately he was able to repair the damage with very little evidence and the story ended well (except for me stupidly trading it away a couple of years later)...

[Bigtuna]

Last night at a jam, someone bashed their headstock into my mandolin leaving a nice pencil eraser sized ding on my top. I can't even begin to tell you guys how frustrated I am, seeing that this is the second instrument of mine that has suffered a careless ding from someone else all within the last month.

[AlanN]

Man, that's bad. I always cradle and hug my mandolin when around others, but sometimes, bad stuff happens.

Hey D C, sounds like ol Boom Boom went boom boom on your boom box!

[Dave Hanson]

At a session after a wedding a few years ago some namless b****** cracked the back of my Fylde, I only realised it had happened when I was re-stringing it the following day, nobody ever owned up to it.

Dave H

[D C Blood]

Other than the one I already described, the only thing I've had problems with is microphone bumps on stage...Oh yeah, I did have a run-in with a banjo one time on a headstock. (usually though, banjo incidents involve my head, rather than the mandolin's...

[CharlieKnuth]

Worst thing happened to me was coming home from vacation finding 2 mandolins, an octave mandolin, mandocello and guitar gone from the house. The thieves left the Gibson 5 string in the middle of the floor.

Worst thing I witnessed was seeing Tom Rozum's new Gilchrist F5's endpin come loose as he had it slung across his back and go crashing to the floor. The instrument was not playable and the headstock looked like Bill Monroe's from several year's past. I don't know which was worse - the mandolin or the look on Tom's face.

[Chris Travers]

The thieves left the Gibson 5 string in the middle of the floor.

Gibson 5 string Banjo? If so, I wouldn't blame 'em. :)) Just kidding. Man! having stuff stolen stinks!

[CES]

The guy who had my Kentucky before me...came to me off Ebay with the fretboard separating from the neck and a chip in the nut, and with the truss at near max adjustment despite the hefty bow in the neck...guy disappeared along with his "100% money back guarantee." It may well be my first attempt at a neck replacement, as the box actually has opened up nicely and sounds great...of course, then I may be saying that I'm the worst thing to ever happen to my mandolin ~:>

[Timbofood]

I let a guy use my D-25 at a festival and apparently he had just taken a bath in bug dope! I spent 2 days buffing that top to get it where it is now, still not quite right but, live and learn.
Saddest Mandolin thing, Giving Mr Halsey back his baby after having the distinct pleasure of "Whuppin' it" for the last 8 months! I know where he lives so, I can go visiting still. Glad to have him back in the area!

[AlanN]

Worst thing I witnessed was seeing Tom Rozum's new Gilchrist F5's endpin come loose as he had it slung across his back and go crashing to the floor. The instrument was not playable and the headstock looked like Bill Monroe's from several year's past. I don't know which was worse - the mandolin or the look on Tom's face.


I bet Tom don't do dat no more.

Same thing happened to Wakefield. He had a Duff slung across his back and was hob-nobbing. Strap came undone, Duff headed south. Bad.

He don't dat no more, either.

[Tim Saxton]

I got a real bad one for you all. I still feel real stupid about it.

I was at as buddies house jamming and swapping licks. After we were done is girlfriend came down stairs and we all were chatting. The subject came up of how you can never have too many mandos, guitars, mics etc..... I placed my mando in the case on top of the work bench and closed the lid. Finished up the chat and grabbed the case. Took 2 steps and the mandolin popped out of the case, rolled over, and fell to the ground landing on a fireplace mantle.

The mandolin was cracked open all the way around the sides crossing over from the top to bottom binding. You could open the mandolin by hand at the tail piece and look inside. Plus, the top cracked from the lower bout to the bridge. The top cracked crossed under the tone bar. The top needed to have the tone bar removed or the top replaced. Neither happened. The top crack was cleated and reglued. It seems to be holding fine for now. You can see a visible crack. It's cool. Gives me a story to tell.

As for the side crack, it was glued up and refinished, It looks wonderful considering the crack was over 1 foot long.

Repair took over 6 months.:mandosmiley:

Tim

ps: Lesson learned- Always double check you case latches!!!!!

[f#54]

And I bet you remember the sickening sound it made when it hit the floor, I do. Hb

[Pete Martin]

A Calton case breakding the peg head scroll off my Gilchrist.

[8ch(pl)]

I let a friend of mine play my Samick and he put a Capo on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AWWWWGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!

[Steven Scott]

While at a big music bash with my Snakehead, I fell into a fish pond; right up to my neck. the Snakehead was completely submerged. My buddies said " give us your mando" and left me in the pond. They dumped the water out like it was a pitcher. I went home soaking wet and wondered what to do about it. Got a call from a friend who repairs instruments (he was not at the party but heard about the pond incident within hours) with a suggestion. He told me to take the strings off, put the mando in a box with a lot of silicon (the white stuff), seal it up and leave it for a month. A month later, I opened the box, the mando was perfect - the silicon had soaked all the moisture from the wood.

[mandroid]

I only got small packets of drying silicone, how did you happen to have a box full?

[chordbanger]

One of my mandolins was in a house fire, but it survived.

[Ken Olmstead]

I was jamming around a camp fire once on my old Yellowstone. While I was playing the strap slipped off the endpin and down on its headstock it went! My reactions were quick and I caught it on the way back up. Not a scratch! Weber's may take some time to break in but they are built hay-for-stout!! :))

[Mark Walker]

Other than a few battle-marks from microphones or neighboring instruments, mine's done okay.

I still have heart palpitations when I think about the time I showed it to one of my cousins - setting the case and mandolin on the trunk of my car. We went into her house for a lemonade, and when I left I totally forgot about the mandolin being on the trunk lid. My next stop was about four miles away - over both gravel and paved roads. As I was driving into the driveway, one of their kids said, "Do you know you have an instrument on the back of your car?" :disbelief:

I looked into my back seat and shuddered when I realized there was no mandolin there! How that Silver Angel - in a TKL case with those little metal 'buttons' on the bottom - didn't slide off the trunk and splatter her all over the road is beyond me! Must have had its own Guardian Angel looking over her! :)

[Doug Hoople]

Learned the hard way that you never put an instrument in the case without latching at least one latch.

I was playing one day and laid my Weber Y2K down in the case when I was done, thinking I'd come back to it.

Was at the neighbors the next day. I lived on a boat at the time, and my wife and I took the dinghy to visit. My neighbor said, "Go get your mandolin! Let's jam!" So we dinghied back home and fetched the mandolin. The top opened up right in the gap between home and dinghy, and the next thing I knew, I saw the Y2K floating tailpiece up in the San Francisco Bay.

Things might have been all right if I'd been smart, unstrung it, rinsed and dried it, and set it aside for a month, but no... Being really stupid at the time, I was amazed and overjoyed that it still played. We carried on to the neighbors and jammed into the evening.

It was only in the morning that I realized that I should have had the strings off first thing... the soundboard was warped and had come adrift from the sides, a fact that only became apparent to me from the horrible scrunching sound of the first strum.

[Chris Biorkman]

A Calton case breakding the peg head scroll off my Gilchrist.

Ouch. Caltons don't have enough room around the headstock. It makes me a little nervous housing my Ellis in one, but I'm pretty careful.

[mandozilla]

the strap broke and it fell on the hardwood causing a 2 inch or so crack from the top of the F-hole, fortunately it was an easy repair

Always use a monkey strap if you're gonna sling your mando like a rifle. :grin:


Tom Rozum's new Gilchrist F5's endpin come loose as he had it slung across his back and go crashing to the floor.

Always use a monkey strap if you're gonna sling your mando like a rifle. :grin:


Same thing happened to Wakefield. He had a Duff slung across his back and was hob-nobbing. Strap came undone, Duff headed south. Bad.

Always use a monkey strap if you're gonna sling your mando like a rifle. :grin:



While I was playing the strap slipped off the endpin and down on its headstock it went!

Always use a monkey strap if you're gonna sling your mando like a rifle. :grin:

:mandosmiley:

[Chris Travers]

Mental note: Always use a monkey strap if you're gonna sling your mando like a rifle. lol!

[JeffD]

I had to gate check my bowlback mandolin once. Picked it up at my destination and the case (one of those Eastman bowlback cases) was marked up with black skids and smudges, like it had gone through the ball return at the bowling alley.

But no cracks or dents in the case, and the mandolin was absolutely fine, totally unscathed. Steve Perry - those cases you sold me are fantastic.

[thirdstation]

SCENE: A SUBURBAN LIVING ROOM SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE NEW YORK CITY. A COUPLE IS WATCHING A REALITY TV SHOW ABOUT A FAMILY WITH TOO MANY CHILDREN. SWEET, SWEET MANDOLIN MUSIC FILLS THE SPACE DURING COMMERCIALS.

HUSBAND: "I hate this show. It's on all the time. Can we watch something else?"

WIFE: "No."

HUSBAND: "I feel myself getting dumber."

WIFE: [SMILING] "Then stop playing that banjo thing."


PHONE RINGS. WIFE GETS UP TO ANSWER IT. HUSBAND SEES HIS CHANCE TO CHANGE THE CHANNEL TO SOMETHING MORE INTERESTING, LIKE SOMETHING WITH EXPLOSIONS AND STUFF.


HUSBAND: "Honey, can you toss me the remote?" [RESUMES PLAYING SOLDIER'S JOY]

WIFE: "Oh, fine." fwingggg!!!! CRACK!!!!

SCENE: Fade Out.

--

So that's how I got the ding on the side of my mando, where the binding would be if it had binding (it's a Breedlove Quartz OF so, no binding).

-Mark

[Chris Travers]

Awww man! That stinks! Breedloves are so beautiful!

[Santiago]

If you asked my wife the worst thing that ever happened to my mandolin was me! (She loves me, but not my mandolin playing, which started long after we were married.)

[Trip]

My first cheap Fender mando had been signed by David Grisman (so it had sentimental value)and I was loading up after a night of partying/jamming for my 1 block ride home and as I backed up felt some resistance and jumped out to find my mando case behind the back tire where some helpful friend had carried it out and sat it in the shadows behind the car...cheap standard shaped case got a pretty good road rash, but the mando was unharmed.........I have seen a close friend set my FlatIron F mando down at a party and I watched it slide over and got as nice ding....not a big deal now, since I have now worn all the way through to bare wood from dragging my pinky.....the worst was, my fiddler had a drunk girl climb onto stage and she fell onto a 300yo fiddle that was very valuable and broke the neck and back....never quite the same again, even after a quality repair

[Mike Snyder]

Always use a rifle strap if you're gonna sling yer mando like a monkey.

[Steven Scott]

Hey Mandroid: About the silicon, as I recall I found it in bulk at the local drug store (or possibly the hardware store - its been quite a while and the old memory isn't what it used to be).

[Steve Williams]

Once I was playing at a private party, and for some unknown reason saw fit to prop my A-Jr up against a speaker while on break. A drunk lady happily wobbled by and booted it halfway across the front room...nothing quite like watching Sheraton Brown go whizzing across the floor at 90 mph to help make your evening... :crying:

[Timbofood]

Actually I think what you are referring to is called "Silica Gel" is a dessicant and can be found in quantity at craft shops that do things with dried flowers. Or get in good with a shoe sales man and start collecting the little packets in a great big tin.

[Patrick Bouldin]

I've been waiting for this thread, I've got a good one... So, I won this beautiful mandolin at the '08 RockyGrass mando competition. The first professional instrument that I've ever owned (I was playing a Washburn before I won RG). So I'm back in my college town of Johnson City, TN the week after IBMA having a wonderful time and playing a few gigs with some old friends. My girlfriend's band, Spring Creek, was in town playing the Down Home, and I was going to hitch a ride back to CO in their van. I played a Monday night gig at a local bar that I used to frequent with one of my closest picking buddies, and Spring Creek stopped by to see us and sit in. I remember thinking how wonderful that mandolin sounded that night, it was perfect. Cut to the end of the night, we're packing up and I, being the wonderful boyfriend that I am, grab Jessica's bass and take it to the van. She in turn grabs my mando and heads for the vehicle that we're traveling in. The back door of the Blazer we were in was locked, so she sat the mando down to come and get the keys, and you guessed it, forgot all about the mandolin until we backed over it leaving the venue. My best friend behind the wheel and my girlfriend in the back seat. Absolutely devastated, my girl immediately knew what it was and started crying, and then I knew. Jumped out and saw a crushed TKL rectangle in front of the car. Ran to some light and opened up the case and the mando looked OK. I picked it up and strummed it and realized that the neck had been cracked right behind the nut. I got REALLLLY lucky. If that mandolin had been 10 inches to the left of where it was sitting, it would have crushed the body and I would have had a $10,000 pile of firewood on my hands. Sent it to Gibson, they did a wonderful job with barely any cosmetic damage, and I got it back in about a month and a half. Moral of the story...Calton, insurance, and never let your girlfriend load your mandolin.:grin:
Hey Jordan, wow, what a story. I ran over my laptop once - I am the original inventor of "Data Compression!"

Hey, I really enjoyed our lesson the other day. I've reviewed the tape many times and have incorporated almost all of it in my daily routine.

Let me know when you're in DFW again let's do another.

Thanks again,
Patrick Bouldin

[Patrick Bouldin]

I was jamming around a camp fire once on my old Yellowstone. While I was playing the strap slipped off the endpin and down on its headstock it went! My reactions were quick and I caught it on the way back up. Not a scratch! Weber's may take some time to break in but they are built hay-for-stout!! :))
I wasn't so lucky with my Weber. Right before a church performance I was placing on the hercules stand and didn't notice that it didn't go all the way in. I let go and it came down on the concrete on the headstock. Split the headstock within 1/4" of the tuning peg. Off to Weber Hospital it went, they did a GREAT job.

[John Malayter]

I borrowed a mandolin from a friend, he did not play it and bought it as a keepsake 'cause he made way more money that he needed, I guess.

Anyway, I had it for about a month and I didn't really like it so only played it a few times. It stayed in the case under the dining room table the rest of the time.

Well, I finally got it back to him, had a cup of coffee and went about my way. Several weeks later my main player was getting a fret job so I called my buddy and asked to borrow the mandolin for a week or so while mine was in the shop. He of course said yes and I headed over.

When I got there, he slowly opened the case and pulled out the mandolin. Now remember he DID NOT PLAY so to him it was a show piece he would pull out when he wanted to impress someone. Anyway, he slowly turned the instrument over and showed me its back and it had about 9 holes similar to what would happen if you used it for bb gun practice :disbelief:. None of the holes are through the wood but.........

Anyway, my knees buckled and I knew it had to have happened when it was in my possession as you see at the time my daughter was 3 and a couple times I had caught her with some "tools" ripping the frets out of her toy mandolin.........

Anyway, now I have a 2nd mandolin and the moral of the story is to keep your mandolin secured at all times.

[MikeEdgerton]

I borrowed a mandolin from a friend, he did not play it and bought it as a keepsake 'cause he made way more money that he needed, I guess....

It's Deja Vu all over again. Didn't we have a whole thread on this? :cool:

Yes we did. This good read is here (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46466).

[Chris Keth]

There are some painful stories there. I've been playing (trying) for only about a week so I don't have any real accidents yet. I do have a day full of flyfishing boo-boos to tell about though. I weas in Yellowstone with my Dad and Grandpa fishing when I was about 10 and we were packing up from the morning at the truck and we stowed all our stuff and got out of our waders and made a sandwich. When we finished we all got i and backed up and heard a crunch. We got out and there was a case that held my Dad's favorite flyreel- a Hardy Brothers reel from England that is very well amde and rather valuable and had considerable sentimental value- laying in pieces. We checked it out and, miraculously, the case was completely destroyed but the reel itself was perfectly fine. He still uses it.

Well we went to a different place for the afternoon and when it started to get dark we went back to the truck. I was in the passenger seat pulling off my waders and my rod was leaning in between the windshield and the open door and the wind picked up and crunch. The rod- Dad's favorite heavy rod- was splintered in 4 pieces. He still give me #### about it, telling me that he still hasn't found one that casts the heavy nymphs quite as well.

[mandozilla]

The worse thing that's ever happened to my mandolin?

I PLAYED IT! :))

Actually, the first F style I had was a Kasuga (Japan) about 1980...it was OK for learning on but the day came when I had "All I can stands and I cant stands no more!". :mad:

While extremely frustrated one day I did the old 'El Cabong' (Quickdraw McGraw) thing and smashed it up pretty good...I was young and had some anger management issues at the time. :grin:

I pieced it back together and it was playable but it obviously would never be the same again...I still have it to this day. The upshot is, a short while later I got a really, really good mandolin and my anger issues disappeared. :))

:mandosmiley:

[Chris Keth]

While extremely frustrated one day I did the old 'El Cabong' (Quickdraw McGraw) thing and smashed it up pretty good...I was young and had some anger management issues at the time. :grin:

I can't imagine giving a little tiny mandolin the Pete Townshend treatment looked quite as cool as him throwing a guitar headstock first through his speaker cones. I could be wrong though. ;)

[mandozilla]

I can't imagine giving a little tiny mandolin the Pete Townshend treatment looked quite as cool as him throwing a guitar headstock first through his speaker cones. I could be wrong though.

I was nuts but I sure didn't have "the Summertime Blues". :)):)):))

:mandosmiley:

[journeybear]

I got my first mandolin, a nice plain A pumpkin top, as a gift from my mom when I was 15. Took me a while to get anywhere near good on it - heck, it took me a while just to figure out how to tune it (rather slim resources in the late 1960's compared to now) - but by my senior year I was making some progress.

I went to the beach one day with a bunch of friends, and brought it along. We were hanging out on the sand near the jetty, and a friend sitting on top of one of the big rocks asked if he could play it. I tossed it up to him - I did what? :disbelief: - and of course it fell, of course on a rock, and cracked the back lengthwise - three connected cracks, about halfway between the seam and the side, not quite edge to edge but almost. That piece hung loose, and rattled a bit. It still played all right, so I left it like that. Some eight years later through a friend I met George Youngblood, a fine luthier just then starting out. The sides had bowed out from not being held in place all that time, so he removed the back, filled in the gaps in the cracks with veneer, and glued it back on. Nice neat job, considering what he had to work with. :whistling:

I left it behind once when I was working for a travelling circus, in 1972. Or rather, I had just quit, and then realized I had left it in the bunk truck. :disbelief: I had to hitchhike 100 miles or more from Somerset PA to Newcastle PA where the circus' next date was, follow the signs to the fairgrounds, and hitchhike back. As I was walking through downtown Newcastle to get back to the interstate I managed to get razzed by five black teenagers - I was rather the hippie at the time, big ol' white-boy afro - so I was fair game for being picked on. One of them blindsided me, got me pretty good on the cheekbone. Being outnumbered, I used my brain. I swung that mandolin case around me, so they backed up. Then I scooted out into the traffic, so they couldn't get at me, and proceeded to walk right down the middle of the road! They were yelling and cussing but weren't going to come after me there. After a couple of tense minutes a car pulled over and the driver told me to get in. No harm was done to the mandolin; in fact, it helped save me!

A few years ago I was playing my late lamented F-12 :crying: at the daily Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square here in Key West. Suddenly the strap came off the tailpin, and she took a nose dive onto the bricks. Cracked the scroll on the headstock, almost came clean off. Talk about your heart skipping a beat; glad that's all that happened. My local luthier glued it back on, no problem.

The absolute worst thing that ever happened to one of my mandos was having that F-12 stolen, :crying: but I think that's a different thread. That story has been posted elsewhere anyway.

[JFDilmando]

Ok... I have to share this... an IMPORANT lesson. Just received my long awaited Monteleone Grand Artist, and took it to some friends in Texas to jam. Outdoors, bar-b-q, great evening, but starting to get warm, and buggy. Saviour arrives with spray can of insect repellent, and helps everyone with mosquito avoidance... Next day, I take my beloved Monteleone from the case, and it looks like something from another planet.. all finish is like a gummy bear, sticky, smeared, soft... simply ruined. John took it back, and painfully scaped all finish off, and refinished. I paid him, but he HATED that job. BTW, Heritage insurance balked, cause I sent it back to John prior to approval, but came thru like the good outfit they are... Moral ... DON'T carelessly use insect spray around you instruments.... painful lesson...
John D

[Charley wild]

The worst thing that has happened to any of my mandolins is I sold them! I've had four Gibson A's and an F2 and I just wish I had one of them back. I also miss my Alvarez F5 copy. But an "A" isn't out of my financial range and everybody needs an "O" type mandolin, right?
I've been very lucky. The F2 is the only one I've played in a band with and had no problems.

[cedarhog]

The worst thing for some is the favorite thing I did to my mandolin. I started collecting signatures on the back of my Weber in black sharpie not all mando players but my favorite musicians; to date I have on the back:

Sam Bush, Don Rigsby, Chris Thile, Mike Marshall, Mike Compton, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Jacob Jolliff, Lou Reid, Larry Sparks, Kevin Prater, J.D, Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Dan Tyminski, John Reischman, Rhonda Vincent, Stuart Duncan, James King, Josh Williams, David Pugh, Barry Bales, Frank Wakefield, Marty Stuart, the Dawg, Steve Bond, Hunter Berry, Peter Rowen, Jakie Kincaid, Doyle Lawson, Sierra Hull, Anthony Hannigan, Alex Hargreaves, Tim O'Brien, Roland White, Del McCoury , Buck White, and Ronnie McCoury. Its getting crowded on the back but I am still holding out for some....I wish I would have seen Butch play and had him sign the back before he passed.

Many strummed or picked the mandolin a little after I asked for them to put a little mojo in it.:mandosmiley:

[Laird]

Until reading this thread, I never thought to get upset about the dings I've managed to acquire in my mando. Just seemed like part of owning one. Heck, you should see my car!

[Mike Bromley]

Once I was playing at a private party, and for some unknown reason saw fit to prop my A-Jr up against a speaker while on break. A drunk lady happily wobbled by and booted it halfway across the front room...nothing quite like watching Sheraton Brown go whizzing across the floor at 90 mph to help make your evening... :crying:

Drunks and mandolins don't mix. Period.

My F9 got a little warm and the top seam split from tailblock to bridge. Nice little popping sound. Blah.

[Mike Bromley]

DON'T carelessly use insect spray around you instruments.... painful lesson...
John D

Deep Woods Off Distressing. DEET is kinda like jellied acetone. Mosquitos (and Manditos) beware!

[Pete Martin]

Calton Case broke the headstock scroll on my Gilchrist (see my avatar).

[D C Blood]

Getting coke sprayed on the finish won't help it either. Had a mandolin (Scotty Jackson F-5) at a party a few years back and some idiot shook up a coke and sprayed it around. Sort of like road rash...

[journeybear]

Drunks and mandolins don't mix. Period.

Hey buddy - whashu tawkin' 'bout? I likes muh mandlin jush fine, see? You trine start sumpin?

< Hic!>

Now, I could tell you about the guitarist I used to work with, who regularly put away nearly a quart of Jim Beam in a four hour shift nearly every time we played ... but that's really stretching the topic. However, if anyone wants to know how we ended up in the Crime Report feature of the local paper, email me. :whistling:

[Capt. E]

Getting sold.

[rnjl]

I had a cheap Asian mandolin when I was in high school, in the early 80's, and one night at home I heard a cracking sort of sound which woke me up in the middle of the night. The next day I saw that that mysterious noise was a SMI: Spontaneous Mandolin Implosion, with the top basically caving in and the whole thing folding up. Hey, $100 was a lot of mando in those days, I thought!