Scratch That!

[Adare_Steve]

I just (and I mean in the last hour) knocked the face of my precious(ssss) Fylde bouzouki against the corner of a music stand. I quickly polished the mark (with Kyser guitar polish) and it seemed to fade. But, in the right (or wrong) light it's still visible. It's no more than a spot - not a long scratch, or such like. Nor is it the first one I've put on there.

It won't stop me taking it to my weekly session, though - and I'm literally off there now, after I click 'post new topic'.

But, it did make me wonder how others feel about marking their prized assets?

Steve

[Milan Christi]

It irritates me to no end - but it's happened with every instrument I've ever owned. Sometimes more than once. Just last week I put a two inch scratch across the top of my Yellowstone. arararagaggggghhhhh

Thirty years later my old guitar looks "cool" - but it wasn't cool when the strap broke!

I think scratches and little dings make them sound better. (At least I keep telling myself that.)

[John Bertotti]

Sick, just sick, oh and po'd. John

[Dolamon]

Steve - the second time I took my Fylde Bouzouki out of its case, the lid very slowly slid down - the top. It put about a three inch crease in the finish (didn't get through to the wood)and it physically made me ill. It didn't affect the sound - didn't affect the playing and unless I'm playing under very hot lights you can't see it.

(But I still know it's there.) The instrument survived, it still booms in a huge voice and it's snowing in March in Chicago. It'll be over soon - and you'll still grimace for a while whenever you see the 'mark'. In a short while it will just be 'one of those things'. Hang in there ...

[Luthier]

War wounds. It gives the music maker some character. It happens. Play on.

Don

[PhilGE]

This happened within the first month or two of owning my Buchanan OM 500.

I was at a jam playing my mandolin. The OM was in a stand. A very nice fellow and good musician was walking by with a folding chair. It slipped from his hand and bounced - right into the back edge of the OM. The OM was sent spinning forth from the stand - right into another folding chair. Luckily, someone standing nearby caught it mid-air before it hit the cement floor. Like others have experienced, it all seemed to happen in slow-motion.

Talk about a sick feeling.... Lucikly, it only received one very nice ding/crack and one small crunch to the finish on the binding. While easily repairable, it now has "character." Shook me up pretty bad, but didn't stop me from playing out.

[otterly2k]

For me, I guess it really depends on whether it's an instrument I intend to keep forever (e.g. the Martin D28 that I have had since I was 16 y.o.) or one I think I may want to sell in order to upgrade.

For a klutz like me, the reality is... if I play a lot and really enjoy the instrument, it WILL get marks. If I'm lucky, each mark will also represent a fond memory...
KE

[jmcgann]

Instrument stands suck. I have had 2 headstock snapping incidents (yeah, got me twice) from OTHER people knocking into the stand- axe goes headfirst- whiplash effect and bye-bye. Makes the ding look pretty OK by contrast!

I also have had a guitar destroyed by a mime (one day I'll meet you at the pub and tell you the tale)...so now EVERYTHING stays in the CASE when not played, even at gigs where I switch instruments. They just have to wait!

[Luthier]

As an instrument builder and player, the best thing you can do to care for your instrument is place it in its case if at all possible. #Watch out for HEAT and give it lots of TLC and it will serve you well throughout.

Don

[otterly2k]

John-
Destroyed by a mime??!!
I'm sorry, but you can't just drop that casually and NOT share the story!

Inquiring minds want to know!!

[otterly2k]

(Reminds me of a wonderful folksong spoof I heard once... can't remember who did it, but the line "the great mime disaster of '72" has stuck with me....:D )

[BlueMt.]

John, #I think you need one of these for your case.

[AlanN]

If I do it, it sucks

If someone else does it, lookout!

[steve V. johnson]

ASteve, I'm very sorry to learn of the first mark on your Fylde, you have my condolences!

As Otterly sez, I sort of compartmentalize damage. Like many of you, I've played for decades, and have experienced a lot of varied incidents with my instruments, so now dings and stuff are, in general, less disconcerting than before. My Crump zouk would take a long time to replace, so it's heavily guarded, but it has fallen during a cafe session and I found myself in that slo-mo zone, too far from it to catch it, and just wondering, 'Wow, how bad will this be...?' and then realizing that it wouldn't involve structural damage. I was amazed at how cool I felt about it, and in fact, it got not a scratch. It does have dings and marks, but I don't mind that stuff. At the first one, my heart sank, but after that it was a different world. I felt like, 'OK, it's going to be out in the world, and it might get banged up...' I don't ever expect to sell it, so any damage lives with me. But I have pretty good faith in my routines of use, storage and transport (developed by trial & error...!!! <GG>), so I rely on that discipline, as John mentioned.

My one-off 1977 Greven guitar was stolen and actually recovered and returned to me after about three months, and after that, it seems to have so much saved-up karma that it's like Superman. ...But it doesn't really travel much. My Santa Cruz OM PW guitar is just about my favorite (after the Crump), but it has wear marks and some dings... It's been out doing shows in all conditions, and it is a working instrument, so I'm not concerned with anything but structural damage with it. If it was to get hurt, I'd make, borrow, beg, or steal the $ to repair this one and to replace it immediately. Of the rest of the family, the '36 Kalamazoo is sort of like the Greven... at that age it has it's own invulnerability, but I do guard it well. The Lowden 032 probably gets the most careful handling because it is perfect and I got it as 'trade goods' and it has a higher resale value than my others.

When I got a Blue Heron gig bag for my Santa Cruz, I asked them if they heard about damage to instruments that were carried in bags, and they told me that folks get a whole lot more attentive and careful when they use gig bags! That's interesting. Most of the time, around town, I carry the Crump and the Santa Cruz in Blue Heron bags (there is so little room for cases in so many places where we play...) and I have found myself paying more good attention to the instruments' well-being. No misfortune at all has come from using the Blue Heron bags, either.

But one thing has come from all these posts: When it happens, it really hurts! These wonderful instruments can't defend themselves, so when we see them headed for trouble it's a dire moment indeed. And when damage, no matter how small, comes from the hand of another, that is a whole other thing!

In motorcycling we say, 'if you ride, you -will- fall down... it happens to the best of us, and it happens to the rest of us...' And I guess it's that way with instruments. Maybe not... maybe there is someone playing a '20's F4 that has gone from barns to juke joints to speakeasies to radio studios to dance halls to concert halls to country bars to festivals... and has no mark on it. That would be nice. It would renew my faith. <GGG>

stv

[bjc]

A friend bought a new truck and the salesman picked up a rock and handed it him. He said "Go ahead and throw it, the first ding should be of your own doing...it'll ease the pain of the second one..."

[Mandolin-AL]

shouldent have read this I just dropped me Zouk today....
Man it sucks big time ....think i'll go cry now!!!!!!!!

[Adare_Steve]

shouldent have read this #I just dropped me Zouk today....
Man it sucks big time ....think i'll go cry now!!!!!!!! #

I'm with you, Al.

Steve

[jmcgann]

The Mime Incident (AP, Boston, August 1991)

The scene: A corporate gig at a fancy hotel in Boston. The genius behind entertainment decided to have an "ethnic festival" in a circular room. The "Celtic Group" was myself on Zeidler dreadnought guitar and fiddlers Matt Glaser and Johnny Cunningham (RIP). We were set up to play with no sound system in a room to accomodate about 200 people. In the same room was an organ grinder with a monkey, a hermaphrodite on stilts, jugglers, an "Italian" band, a string quartet, and THE MIME (Who shall not remain nameless: ROYAL SORRELL). We knew we were in for an enriching experience.

We play a tune and THE MIME comes over asking to juggle the fiddler's bows (which, you know, can cost thousands of $ themselves). They say no, and I tuck my guitar aside my chair, laying on the floor, seemingly safe from the dreaded aforementioned instrument stands (accident bait).

I proceed to the men's room one floor below. Upon my return, Johnny is coming down the down escaltor as I am coming up and looks ashen- and says to me (read w/ Scottish accent) "John the mime's brrrroken yer gitar anum not jokin!!!" I walk in and Matt Glaser holds his face like the painting "The Scream"- the headstock of the guitar is snapped off but still attached by the strings- jagged wood like shark's teeth- and Matt says "THE MIME ran to get a security guard so you don't attack him".

It seems THE MIME returned to the fiddlers whilst I was indisposed, to smugly say "I work with folk musicians all the time, you know. You don't have to be afraid of me. I'm a human being, just like you!" took a MIME step and landed on my headstock.

THE MIME returns wearing the security guard like a mink stole and pleads "I'll mortgage my house..anything..." I pick up the pieces and leave, distraught. My favorite guitar in the world.

Two days later, I get a call from THE MIME'S LAWYER who puffs from behind a fat cigar "Look...I've worked for this family for years...we're prepared to meet you for half the damages because the instrument was not properly secured in it's case". So much for the mortgage.

Here's the kicker: I sent the guitar to John Zeidler (RIP) to be repaired, and when he opened it UPS HAD DESTROYED THE GUITAR. End block punched in; sides split, back split. Finito. This is a guitar PACKED IN A GUITAR SHIPPING BOX WITH STYROFOAM PEANUTS, NEWSPAPER AND HARDSHELL CASE. It was either hurled from the plane to the tarmac butt first by an angry gorilla, or "fell" from 30,000 feet. Insurance paid to replace the guitar, and in the 6 months I had to wait, I gig with my wife's Yamaha.

UPS auctioned off the Zeidler splinters (isn't it great that they can recoup some of the damage money for themselves?), someone rebuilt it and last I heard somebody in Alabama bought it and resold it. I'd love to track it down if you happen to come across a Zeidler dreadnought guitar that looks like it went through a food processor, let me know.

Oh yeah, the replacement guitar is lovely, but didn't have the "thang" the destroyed one had. Thanks to The Folk Musician's Friend aka THE MIME.

A cautionary tale for all.

[AlanN]

John, that is rich. Poignantly-stated, funny, sad, all those things.

[steve V. johnson]

Brian wrote: "A friend bought a new truck and the salesman picked up a rock and handed it him. He said "Go ahead and throw it, the first ding should be of your own doing...it'll ease the pain of the second one..."

There was a Chevy truck commercial in which two guys return to a new Chevy pickup truck from working, and the non-owner points out that the New Truck has a scratch and the owner-guy say, 'That's ok, scratches give it character. Women love character.'

Miniscule comfort, if any, but perhaps a laugh...

stv