How long since you dinged an instrument?

[Bob Borzelleri]

I have a Resonator guitar that I bounced a steel off of the first week I had it (going on 2 years ago, now). Other than that, the last time I banged and dinged something was the head of my 4001 Ric bass and that was in the late 70s (small paint chip).

Every night when I hang up whatever I decided to play for the evening, I thank the stars that I made it another day with no damage done. :mandosmiley:

[makemeasammich]

I've been lucky enough not to (knock on wood), but a long time ago my friend somehow managed to crush his violin under a garage door. The circumstances under which it happened were quite suspicious, namely the fact that it was not in its case and that he hated playing the instrument (his parents forced him to.) hmmm.... :))

[Bertram Henze]

the fact that it was not in its case and that he hated playing the instrument (his parents forced him to.)

Sounds familiar to me. But we had no garage, so the curse of my youth hangs on the wall now, with one string left, no bridge, no bow and the square root of minus one scratched somewhere on the side (I was more interested in maths at the time). Therefore, instead of one short crunchy sound I enjoy the sight of its slow decomposition every day.
And if you call that sadistic, you haven't heard me playing it :cool:

[Steve Ostrander]

I don't think I've ever dinged an instrument. I'm very careful with them. I know some folks subscribe to the theory that "It's just a tool for making music", but I don't. My view is that an instrument is an art object created to make music (art) and should be treated like an art object.

Someone knocked over a friends' Nat'l Reso guitar and blew the cone out at a gig. I saw it coming and was powerless to stop it. Made me sick, but it didn't seem to bother him that much. Cost about $125 to have the cone replaced. Could have been worse, I guess...

[acousticnotes]

Been a while. But mic stands and music stands seem to always get me. One time I shined up my guitar all nice (phone rang) quickly went to put it back in the case and while doing so the metal latch ran across the back! :crying: Still makes me sick. :mad: Of course it was a telemarketer!

Joe

[Matt DeBlass]

um... see my response to the "beater" thread.
My mandolin is still pretty shiny, but all my other working instruments have a battle scar or two. Fortunately it's not a frequent ocurrence, but enough pubs over enough years...

[Doug Edwards]

what time is it?

[Rick Schmidlin]

Last night,maybe:confused:

[woodwizard]

I'm trying to forget :(

[Coffeecup]

A few weeks ago. The strap slipped off the peg on my guitar which crashed down more or less front first onto a friends brand new polished timber floor. Thankfully there was no damage to the floor and at the time I thought there was none to the guitar. Somewhat later I noticed a small split near the edge of the front. The guitar repairer was happy that it wasn't serious and recommended running a bit of acrylate glue in to seal it, not the regular super-glue but something more liquid. I was puzzling where to find some then realised that the nail repair glue I carry with the guitar fitted the description.

The strap peg doesn't seem to be a brilliant design. It's one that incorporates a jack plug but the problem is that it tapers in such away that it pushes the strap off. As mentioned a while back on another thread I use an O ring that seemed pretty secure but maybe that is starting to stretch. I now have that plus a heavy gauge paper clip but am looking out for something better.

[Jim MacDaniel]

It's been many years since I dinged one myself, but one of my dogs gouged the cedar top of a Spicer mandolin I had a few years ago. Seems he didn't like my playing, as it appears he attacked the mandolin to make me stop -- but I guess it was my fault as he gave me several warning barks first.

BTW, I'm looking forward to Tim, "Destroyer of Mandolins", to check in on this thread. ;)

[Tim2723]

Jim, I don't ding them.

[robertson]

I let a girl play my Gibson Allan Bibey.... I wasn't paying attention
she handed it back and it was scratched like crazy where the
pick guard would be. Deep scratches, I guess she had a ring or
something on. Lesson learned.:mad:

[Matt DeBlass]

I'm curious to see what, exactly, Tim manages to do to them.

[Tim2723]

I don't ding them, I crush them. I honestly don't think you'd want to see that.

[Ben Milne]

Fortunately I've never had a moment like This Unfortunate Guy (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/news/virtuosos-trip-destroys-priceless-stradivarius-781531.html). From the day i picked up a fiddle when i was 4 or so, I' have always had the importance of vigilance of looking after a musical instrument. (the virtuoso violinist probably did too, but evidently bad things still happen to some).

I guess knowing what my parents sacrificed to buy me instruments, lessons and consumables made it all the more important. Having a Dad that made mandos certainly gave me insight into how delicate and intricate instruments can be. I even tore my GF a new one when i saw what happened to the back of her electric guitar when she repeatedly wore a big belt buckle... good thing i saw it about a week before she got her new Gibson Firebird... needless to say she treats the Gibson with respect.


Awesome sig line BTW Tim.

[James P]

Two months. The bass player's cord was under my stand. He pulled on it and it toppled my Eastman guitar and Mowry into an amp. I caught the Mowry but the guitar suffered a ding (going on dent) inside the cutaway. It's nothing my wife can't fix if I ever get around to bothering her to do it.

[Michael Eck]

Every time I ding an instrument an angel gets its wings.

Heaven must be getting full by now.

[allenhopkins]

Ding 'em all the time. Seldom any serious damage; I do try to be a bit careful, but the odd scratch or nick shows up regularly.

Had a rehearsal with my band-mate Bonny tonight, and she said, "I tripped at home carrying my guitar (in its gig bag), and haven't dared to open the case." Well, about a third of the back binding of her Martin M-36 was loose. I also saw a big crack in the back, which apparently occurred when Bonny loaned it to another performer, who knocked it off its stand. Bonny is the opposite of a "gear head," and often pays no attention to what's happening to her instruments. I gave her quite a lecture about getting things fixed when they break, and after Sunday's gig, I'm going to confiscate the Martin and take it to the repair shop. She'll have to rely on her back-up Gibson J-200 for awhile. We'll do the Sunday gig in Syracuse with a couple little pieces of blue tape holding the back binding on.

[JeffD]

Never.

[bonny]

A couple of years ago with the instrument in my lap I'm leaning over unplugging a mic with a stiff connection at the cord. It's not coming out so I start pulling on the mic as well as the cord. When it finally comes loose I slam an EV RE20 into the top of a $6000 Azola archtop bass guitar. Left a dime size screen pattern in the finish.
I knew it was stupid while I was doing it but it was almost like I was watching someone else.......

[Ben Milne]

One story that would relate to this thread is about the chap who bought my Dad's #13 mando. In june at a family get together my dad was packing a gigbag w/ Epi-LP into the car to take home for repair.

It belonged to a mate of my brothers, Dan who had bought the matt black ltd edition guitar new but within a week it had a fall and copped a knock from behind the headstock and split the neck etc. Word is the repair has so far been a success and is looking solid good news for Dan.

When I happened to ask Dad where #13 ended up (he's always had a superstition about 13 and it was on the hook for a little while.)
It turns out that Dan had bought the number 13 mando. (unsure of the chronology of sale and Ding)

Here's hoping that the only bad luck Dan has is the damage to his LP knock(not too hard) on wood.

[Ben Milne]

A couple of years ago with the instrument in my lap I'm leaning over unplugging a mic with a stiff connection at the cord. It's not coming out so I start pulling on the mic as well as the cord. When it finally comes loose I slam an EV RE20 into the top of a $6000 Azola archtop bass guitar. Left a dime size screen pattern in the finish.
I knew it was stupid while I was doing it but it was almost like I was watching someone else.......

Ouch! thats a big mic with a bit of weight there... lucky it wasn't on a more delicate instrument!!

[CelticDude]

So far I have not dinged a mandolin. However, both guitars have dings on the head, mostly 'cuz I'm used to a mandolin length, and forget how really long the guitar neck is...

[Dfyngravity]

Well I have had two "dings" put on two of my mandolins in the past, neither of which were put there by me.

1st: My 3rd mandolin, Janish A5, my brother flicked a quarter at me for some reason or another while I was playing on the couch and it hit my mandolin just above the top f-hole and left a nice little "ding".

2nd: My 5th mandolin, Eastman 614, again I was playing in my favorite spot on the couch and my girl friend was doing laundry and laid a pile of close just out of the dryer next to me. A pair of pants that were on the top had a belt attached to it, as the pile of close were laid down the pair of pants rolled off and the belt buckle hit just above the tailpiece leaving a nice "ding".

So two dings out of six mandolins...not too bad...but I am sure a few more will occur over the years to come.

[chasgrav]

I put some belt buckle rash onto the back of a 1930s-era Gibson A- about twenty years ago. I've been super careful since then, and can't think of any real damage I've done to any instrument. Funny, though, because I've never been very turned off by normal wear and tear on an instrument.

[D C Blood]

My worst occured while the mandolin was out of my reach. I had bought John Duffey's F-7 back in '68. Then I loaned it back to him later that year when I went to Vietnam for a tour in the Air Force. After I returned a year later, went to get the mando back, John told me about Ed Ferris dropping a beer bottle through the top of it. John repaired it and you couldn't even see it had happened, but he said he almost killed Ed over it. Other than that, I do have a tendency to run into microphones on stage, but no serious marks...

[Matt DeBlass]

I've always found microphones more a danger to me than my instruments. It seems inevitable during pub gigs that some drunk will wander too close and bump into the end of the boom stand of my vocal mic, often making it hit me in the face. If you count a singer's mouth as an instrument, mine gets quite a few dings!

[Rroyd]

Not lately, but years ago an acquaintance wanted me to try his 30's National set up to play with a bar. We were standing in a small room behind the stage at a fiddling contest, and he handed it to me to play a tune or two. Just as I picked the first couple of notes, the strap, which had gotten turned upside down in the exchange, popped off the end pin, and the guitar went straight down to the concrete floor. There was no visible damage, so I breathed a sigh of relief and handed it back to him. He took it willingly and didn't insist that I go ahead and play it. I would see him once every 3 or 4 years, and he would say, "Do you remember. . .?" (He didn't have to ask.) So about 25 years later I ran into him at an event and he was sitting on a large block of wood, playing his latest, which was a Mike Auldridge endorsed resophonic of some type. He wanted me to try it, and I reminded him of the last time, but he insisted, and told me to sit down on another block of wood so we wouldn't need to worry about the strap pulling off. I sat down and he handed me the guitar, and then he said, "You'll need this" as he flipped the bar in my direction. . . .

[Jake Wildwood]

Hmm... I barely ever ding mandolins, ukes, etc. due to size... but I'm constantly dinging my "first guitar" -- a dreadnought size. The thing looks like it was in a wreck, half of it from me, and half of it from friends and "relations"...

Especially since on the way back from Ecuador customs opened all my nice packing up, tore off all my tape from the case, removed bubble wrap, and then put it back in the case loose, with a string broken, before putting it in the belly of the plane...

Needless to say, they put in their share of "dings" -- along with cracks, a broken neck pocket, etc.

But my other instruments? Not bad if I do say so myself!

[CES]

My Kentucky, which was an ebay nightmare, has several places where the finish bubbled a little, I rubbed it out of curiosity, and now there are a couple of places on the top that need buffing, and I think I'm just going to try out the speed neck approach for the gouges there...none of which were really my doing. That thing's like the gift that just keeps on giving...

My favorite guitar has some pick scratches on it from a couple of particularly aggressive jams (unhappily discovered the next day), and there's a short piece of binding flecked off (not completely through, but like someone took a razor to the outer most layer) after (I think) an altercation with a door facing...hence I now have a beater.

Otherwise, I'm actually pretty careful, so no major damage to date...