Don't Lend Your Guitar

Recently I was invited to a jam session with my ex-music teacher and his mates. These guys are pretty good guitarists (Spent Penny - Sydney members may know). I was way out of my depth but they helped me by playing stuff I had learned as a student (old 70's - that's YO not music although there was some 70's) some of their stuff so I was attached to the rhythm section.

After a long session they wanted to play some newer stuff so I volunteered to sit out, watch on and take some video (boy have I got a long way to go}.

One of guys saw my red PB LM1-MQ and asked to use it. Being pleased to have an expert play the guitar and give me some feedback I readily agreed.

Well when I got it home I noticed scratches and dents on the back and bottom edge. I have no idea how they got there. He must have had a big belt buckle as they were jumping around a bit. Luckily the cap escaped damage.

I was not happy. So NEVER AGAIN.

Today I dismantled the guitar to sand out the damage. I will find out how TruOil repairs.

The good news was the guy thought the guitar sounded good, played well was and impressed it was home made. The pups had been upgraded to Toneriders. The build link is in the signature below.

Here are a photos of some of the damage.
Attachment 35533 Attachment 35534 Attachment 35532


Anyone else got disaster stories

My guitars all have that sort of damage. Nearly always from my carelessness, not anyone else’s.

Patina. ;)

Real relicing. Embrace it.

I know 2 characters from my past that own 'high end' guitars but won't let you touch them.
What a pair of arse-holes IMO.

cheers, Mark.

Yeah, I understand you're not happy considering the amount of work you put into the guitar. But on the other hand, they are made to be used. Like cars... they are made to be driven. I also love it when my car is washed, polished, waxed and sparkling in the sun, but... it's a car and it will get scratches sooner or later, so instead of admiring it, I'd rather drive / play it.

Hope you can polish out some of the scratches and embrace the others =)

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Real relicing. Embrace it.

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I agree. Sorry to hear that you didn't like the damage, but I guess each to their own. I'm not a fan of relicing but....

My first ever Pitbull ST-1 has been gigged by others and even featured on an album. I've upgraded it a number of times and my once pristine finish has been dented, scratched, dented and fallen into by a 5 and 7 year old too many times than I can count. It's one of my favourite guitars.

That being said Greg, some of my pitbull builds will never see anyone else's hands.

Time for a new kit Greg?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d3f06d6db4.jpg

If you don't want it marked, just keep it in its case and only play it at home. The moment you go out side the house, you have to a assume that it will get marks.

Time to make a new one to keep pristine.

Hm, strangely I get all the marks and scratches at home. The moment I take it out, scratches magically appear... Even though it got better since I'm only wearing two rings, when I was in my wild teens, I wore a ring on every finger. Talk about marks all over the guitar neck...

I bought a Cole Clark Fat Lady a few years ago (when they were first imported into the UK, most expensive guitar I own and my favourite acoustic. Did a gig up in the Lake District and thought it would be a good chance to test out my new guitar and my new mic (Shure Beta 87 - my most expensive mic). Everything set up and taking a breather before going on and some twonk knocks the mic stand.
Cue my slow-motion horror as the brand-new mic plunged towards the top of the brand-new guitar...
But these things happen and after a while you stop noticing.

I like the comparison to cars... my saying with cars had always been “if you can’t afford to scratch it you can’t afford to own it”. The first dings are always the hardest (especially when they’re not by you) but they are the first... a well loved guitar will see many more. I’ve found it’s hard to play well wearing gloves ;)

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Originally Posted by Andy40

...my once pristine finish has been dented, scratched, dented and fallen into by a 5 and 7 year old too many times than I can count. ]

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SAME! My god, they just have to walk in the room and the guitars get scratched. My mandolin has a mysterious crack that I am 100% sure was due to my daughter, but she's really very careful, she's just small. I want her to always feel comfortable picking them up and playing them, so what can you do! Just part of the fun

Well that was an entertaining hour or so watching the comments coming in. Intriguing, seeing as how a lot of time is spent producing beautiful shiny PitBull guitars.

Thanks for the great feedback and also for not using the word “ANAL” which, judging from the comments, some of you may have gone close to using. Hihi

The car analogy was great - EXCEPT I have a mint condition 1996 Landcruiser with 330,000 kms on the clock and not a mark on it. No dings yet- touch wood. It has spent 200,000 of those kms in the outback and Western Australia with and without a caravan. She just gets a good wash and occasionally a polish after each trip. No TruOil yet.

Maybe I just like looking after my stuff.

I only started playing the guitar when I was 60. I played the piano for 4 years as a kid and as usual gave up. Now I look back and think “what a DH. If only I had known then what I know now….”. Yes! That can also be applied to another subject so I better not go there.

Anyway, I took up the guitar as my second childhood project for retirement. And love it. Then my sons gave me a PitBull guitar for my 70th of which I was totally unaware. What an eyeopener that is into the guitars and music. Love it even more.

I jam in a group of 4 each week (mainly 50’s-70’s stuff – baby boomers have shown the way). We have done a few gigs at the yacht club. The rest is regular playing at home most days.

I am currently doing the Paul David’s Next Level Playing for advanced guitarists. “Page 1 – learn the fretboard.” Ugh! How long have I been putting that off. The course is sure rattling the synapses but great.

So I think I am in a situation where there is less likelihood of my guitars getting damaged.
If I had scratched my guitar I may not had been so concerned. But when someone else does it without care or respect for other people’s shiny property I am/was not amused.

If you have got this far, thanks for reading my rambling. Back to the sandpaper.

About to take delivery of an ES-1F so see you on the forum soon

Greg

PS I guess that you have guessed that I won't be buying a PB guitar to turn into a relic.

Nothing wrong with taking care of your gear! I think lots of us are in situations where it is impossible to keep things pristine, but it doesn't mean we're careless - we just have to be zen about the dings

I agree with you Greg.
Different if it is a little kid in the family, but adults should take care with other people's instruments.

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Originally Posted by blinddrew

Cue my slow-motion horror as the brand-new mic plunged towards the top of the brand-new guitar...

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Dude, you need to finish that story. I wont be able to sleep.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Andy40

Dude, you need to finish that story. I wont be able to sleep.

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I was going to take a pic, but there's now so many dings and chunks taken out of that guitar I can't actually remember which one was the microphone hitting it! It was my main gigging guitar for quite a while and also served a lot of open mics until I got a cheaper one for that job.
The microphone survived without a scratch or blemish though! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by blinddrew

I was going to take a pic, but there's now so many dings and chunks taken out of that guitar I can't actually remember which one was the microphone hitting it! It was my main gigging guitar for quite a while and also served a lot of open mics until I got a cheaper one for that job.
The microphone survived without a scratch or blemish though! :)

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Phew!

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

My thoughts:
Feel free to abuse/neglect your own gear, no judgement from me.
If you borrow anything from someone else, guitar or otherwise, you treat it with utmost care and respect.

That was an absolute dick move to scratch up your guitar as though it didn't matter.

As if he scratched it on purpose... the probably rubbed it against his trouser's button or wore a belt buckle. He most probably didn't notice and would be extremely sorry if he did!

I’ve been super careful with my guitars over the decades and they look pretty good. However, I’m working on losing that attitude because I think it affects my playing and has turned me a bit OCD!

I always untuck my shirt so those rivets on my jean pockets, buttons, belt buckles, etc. don’t scratch the back. I’m careful with my picking, and my fingernails to make sure I don’t scratch the top, I always wash my hands before playing, and oh...deodorant from arm - gotta keep that off the finish!

Guitars are tools to make music with, not museum pieces. I’d like to adopt Eddie Van Halen and Billy Sheehan’s attitude - they just got out a chisel, a dremel tool, or whatever it took to make their instruments work, wrecking a bunch of stuff in the process, but they ended up with sweet playing instruments!

The kit I built a year ago had finish issues. It wasn’t perfect, but finally, I put it together and started playing. As long as the wood is protected and it looks ok from 10 feet away, it doesn’t really matter.

Play the things! Forget about the dents and scratches!

Chalk it up to battle scars.

From the photos it looks like tru-oil over a natural finish so rub the tru-oil back, steam out the dings, sand it and recoat the areas with tru-oil.

(It's what tru-oil was designed for. Rifle stocks take a beating and that's what it actually is; a rifle stock finish).

I thought this topic was dead but as it is still of interest here is the result.

The scratches were sanded back with all the mahogany and recoated with TruOil. Yes the TruOil finish is as easy to patch as expected.

Attachment 36794 Attachment 36795

I can now sleep soundly as my apparent anal complex has been eased

I also took the opportunity to re-finish the cap as it was my first build and I was not that experience with TruOil.

Attachment 36796 Attachment 36797

The guitar now plays beautifully just like when your car runs better with a wash and polish. Hihi

It may also have something to do with me installing a bone nut. The correct nut height sure makes a difference.

Great to hear all the differing views on this subject. My take on it is that if I scratch it or it is an accident then too bad. Fix it or leave it. But if an experienced and competent guitarist borrows the guitar and takes no care - "just another guitar" - then I am not happy.

Nice repair job.

Nice work there mate.

Yep, that's looking very fine. :)