It'd Beer-Thirty

[doanepoole]

The following is a true tale (told in brief), and may not be for the weak at heart.

I'm picking with a couple work buddies, and we're pickin, having a couple-three beers and having a good time. Anyways, as the evening goes on, the jam host, who has several guitars, begins to feel the effect of the brews (all of us probably did, truth be told). Nature calls, so he gets up to use the bano. Out of the chair, turns around, and d@mned if all of our jaws didn't drop as we watched, in slow motion, the guy put his foot straight through the top of an Ovation he had laying on the ground... (no Ovation jokes, please, even a bad instrument deserves a happy life). It was ugly.

Anyway, learn the lesson from this guy...KEEP YOUR INSTRUMENTS OUT OF HARMS WAY!

[doanepoole]

P.S. Pretend I posted that title as "It's" versus "It'd"...as you can see, Beer-Thirty was just a couple hours ago.

[Sellars]

OUCH!! I would not be able to forgive myself if I would do such an unfortunate thing

However, I would be glad that it would be my own mandolin and not someone else's

[Scotti Adams]

..I have good buddy who left his...one he built...out in the rain all night....it was never quite the same after that.....yea...the brewskies were flowing..

[Mando4Life]

My bro's wife did the two-step on his old Martin Backpacker...didn't fess up for a few weeks. #Had him thinking humidity did it. #I think he was more concerned about his HD and custom 6-string.

[Keith Wallen]

During break at a jam/practice the banjo player stood his banjo up on the seat of the couch and when we came back into the room the guitar player sat on the banjo..... There was a huge cracking sound and we all thought it was destroyed but when he jumped back up it had just knocked the bridge over. Very lucky because it would have been a huge loss. The banjo is the serial number next to Terry Balcom's R&T banjo made from the same piece of wood and it sounds killer. The beer was a flowing and if it was in pieces when he stood up I think there would have been a fight......

[BenE]

The banjo player in the band has a bad habit of sticking his banjo neck in the ceiling fan when he takes his banjo off. Thunk...thunk...thunk....Really gets your attention!

[jlb]

Don't forget the havoc that excited dogs can wreak either. I've seen some pretty close calls at jams because of dogs runnin loose, and people not being careful enough with their instruments.

[sunburst]

Yeah, I used to leave my instrument in a chair, in the corner, on the table, places like that. Never had anything bad happen, but one of my pickin' buddys has a pre-war herring bone. Even in situations of relative sobriety, whenever we take a break from playing or jamming, the bone goes in the case. The Leaf case that is. I started doing the same thing and now it's just habit. Take a break, put it in the case!
I have several stories about instruments saved by cases, but the point is made. And by the way, it doesnt have to be a "bone", "ftathead", or "Loar" to deserve going in the case whenever there just MIGHT be danger.
There...I feel better now... I'll step down from the soapbox.

[mandofiddle]

I hear ya Sunburst. The first thing I do at home when I stop playing mando is hang it on its wall hanger. The first thing I do at a jam or gig is put it in its case AND latch it. Make sure to latch it! You don't want to pick it up and have the mando fall out...

[blammo]

I was playing a gig a few months ago, one of my first gigs with my acoustic upright bass. We run the sound from the stage, & the mixer is behind me in the corner, on top of an "X" keyboard stand. While we were tearing down afterwards, I leaned it up against the mixer & the wall. (foreshadowing)

I was in a back room stacking up mike stands when I heard a loud crash of glass breaking, a loud "gasp" from the entire bar, and a sound remarkably like that of an acoustic bass dropping to the floor. I came out & apparently our fiddle player had picked up the mixer & moved it, while the bass was still leaning against it. It took out a couple of pints of Guinness on its way down…(we share similar tastes, that bass & I)

Fortunately all that happened was the bridge moved a few inches to one side, & the soundpost didn't budge. #Well, that, and our fiddle player quit shortly afterwards.

Can't blame anyone but myself though, now the bass goes on its side when I'm not playing it, & in the case as soon as possible.

[Russ(String-Alley)]

the non-player just looks at things like this as funny, in a el-kabong kind of way.....
the players look at it in horror....even if its a cheap axe, I think it comes out of respect for the instrument. I know I could never intentionally smash or break stuff like the Who(or insert your choice of gear smasher here)used to do even if its a non playable wall hanger.

cheers all ( well why not....its beer:30) make mine a Chechvar please!
Russ

[earthsave]

It drives me nuts when people lay their instrument on the floor or sit it in a chair or prop it up against anything. Put it back in it's case and close and latch the lid. It only takes 15 seconds at most and it'll save a world of potential hurt. At least put it in a stand with a neck restraint.

[wah]

At my birthday party last year the living room was filled with people playing. Guitars, bass, banjos, mandolins, dobro, fiddles - must have been close to 20 people. The weather outside was not good so we were kind of crowded inside. I was playing jug so my '60 Gibson A5 was sitting in its' stand over by my congas. Suddenly there was a crash and the sound of breaking glass. Annie had bumped into the congas' creating a domino-like effect of falling drums, instruments, cases and the glass door of a bookcase. I ran over and picked up the A5 - it was untouched (insert big sigh of relief). The glass was the only thing that was damaged but I was very careful with my mandolin the rest of the day. Only around four of us had stopped playing - the song must go on. Annie is a yoga instructor, very health concious, she may have been the only sober person in the house.

[garyblanchard]

the non-player just looks at things like this as funny, in a el-kabong kind of way.....

Russ

Thanks for the Quick-Draw McGraw flashback. I didn't play back when I first saw those cartoon but I think I'd flinch now-a-days.

[KYGirl]

A couple years back we were pickin' with a friend who had acquired a Gibson F5L about a year prior. #Just as the jam was getting good a very unfortunate event occurred. #His strap came loose from his endpin and his piece crashed to the concrete, leaving a very ugly crack across the back. #Needless to say, it put a heck of a damper on the rest of the night #OUCH!!!!!!

[Dru Lee Parsec]

I'm picking with a couple work buddies, and we're pickin, having a couple-three beers and having a good time. Anyways, as the evening goes on, the jam host, who has several guitars, begins to feel the effect of the brews (all of us probably did, truth be told). Nature calls, so he gets up to use the bano.

Oh thank goodness. I get it. "Bano" is Spanish for "Bathroom. I thought he had to pee so he was getting up to use the BANJO.

[mando-in-kingwood]

I have a 30 year old Guild D-35 guitar.........it was set in a guitar stand after I finished playing, and I was talking to several people when out of the corner of my eye I saw a 4 year old take a single finger and push the guitar from behind straight forward so that it crashed out of the stand onto the floor. My heart stopped !

Fortunately, no damage (other than to the 4 year old.......just kidding).

PS......I also have 2 mandos........which I always keep in the case!!

[levin4now]

On the Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza album, Frank Wakefield tells a story about his (or his first F5 he had. #Apparently, the owner had left it in a chair and the neck broke when someone sat on it. #Frank found it in a dumpster. #Had it fixed.

Think i got that story right.

Oh yeah, I THINK it was a Loar, but then again I may be mistaken. #Surely someone here knows the scoop.

[sunburst]

I've heard more stories than I care to believe about Frank Wakefield's mandolin. I hope some of them aren't true.

[mandroid]

How DO you get the ~ over your N anyway? and where do you find the umla?