The First Scratch

[Monclova]

You know every once in a while I think about one of the coolest guy I have ever known. His name is Trevor, he was my room-mate in college. I wanted to start learning the guitar and when I moved into my new room ther was Trevor with his brand new PRS McCarty, man that was a sweet guitar. so here I am playing my Gs and Ds learning and all on this old clunky guitar of mine. I started to get good and one day he says you know If you want to you can play the PRS any time. So I did and offten. Then one day I was putting his guitar up and closed the case on the guitar!!! :eek: it scratched the finish and man I felt like POO. here was a 3k guitar and I had put a scratch on it not just any scratch...the first scratch. Man that guy was like oh well no big deal I was going to scratch it any how. I was like WHAT :eek:
You dont want to de bowel me or poke my eyes out, at the very least cut off one finger and he was Like nah.
SO heres to Trevor about the coolest guy ever,
and to first Scratches on new guitars :_drink:

[Slipstream]

Back home we call folks like that "good people". A term not lightly used.

[socialmisfit]

haha the first scratch on my first guitar was the most painful thing ever. then two years later, after many varietys of large steel belt buckles, in various shapes and pointiness, the back of my guitar looks like the grand canyon, and im just like "meh...whatever". haha and yeah, laid back people are really cool...i dropped my friend's really expensive floor tom on the ground from pretty high by accident, and he just said... "dude, you suck, hey, want some ice cream?"

[Asperjames]

hehe, i pretty much gave up on giving my guitar a nice cleaning every night.

[Slashman11]

im old school. i have 30 year old shoes and i believe the more scratches in a guitar, the more charecter. Having a shiny spotless guitar is too ordinary for me. I want a guitar that looks like **** but when you play peoples ears will perk up. im prob. the only one who thinks that but oh well.

[crowbarr]

i agree ACCIDENTAL damage adds character but delibereate damage just sucks...

shiny

lol my main axe is open wood which is matte n now its shiny so its the other way round :p

[Slipstream]

im old school. i have 30 year old shoes and i believe the more scratches in a guitar, the more charecter. Having a shiny spotless guitar is too ordinary for me. I want a guitar that looks like **** but when you play peoples ears will perk up. im prob. the only one who thinks that but oh well.Ya seen Willie Nelson's guitar? Got a hole in it where the pick guard would normally be. Lots of folks think that looks cool. It shows years (decades) of playin'.

[Slashman11]

i agree ACCIDENTAL damage adds character but delibereate damage just sucks...



lol my main axe is open wood which is matte n now its shiny so its the other way round :p


o ya, injuring your guitar on purpose is mean and cruel. with natural marks theres a story behind it. if you damage it on purpose it just feels fake. you have to tell someone "see that scratch there? it was way back in january when i took the pliers and decided to kill my baby..." my guitars don't look too old but im perfectly fine with that. Im not about to go marking them up just to make them look vintage

[Haulinkin]

Ya seen Willie Nelson's guitar? Got a hole in it where the pick guard would normally be. Lots of folks think that looks cool. It shows years (decades) of playin'.


Malcolm Young took out his center and neck pups. So he's got two holes in the body, and I think it's awesome.

Mine doesn't have any major scratches, but it looks like crap just the same. I haven't cleaned it in a while so there's fingerprints all over it. :D

[sumx4182]

i too would feel awful if i scratched a guys brand new guitar...it would be like scratching some 1's Viper or 'Vette...not a good thing...

[t_shirtsnjeans]

I like building my guitars from 'scratch' so that no one notices the added scratches......................... :p

[shiggity]

scratches + dings = Hard Lovin'. This is something almost every guitar loves.

If you find a 70' strat in great condition, BEWARE! This may mean that its a roach and was never Loved!!!

[Shawn74]

I would have to agree. Scratching you guitar deliberatly is like going out, buying new jeans in the 80's, and then shredding them just to look cool. There's no wear and tear there. No love, no stories....no dedication.

Just my opinon

Shawn

[AcousticShred]

My guitars first scratch was pretty big, it was a crack in the finish from a drum stick that was thrown at me by my drummer who was getting mad at me, i dont remember why...

[thaw]

i only have a little TINY scratch on my guitar, and that woz the day i bought it. i woz taking the tremelo off and it swung off and made a small mark on the body. But i'm still cleaning my guitars every night so i guess if i got it scratched now i'd die of depression, lol.
but i did get ink on the back of the neck, but im gonna clean that off with some special stuff.

[Weak as Hate]

My guitars first scratch was pretty big, it was a crack in the finish from a drum stick that was thrown at me by my drummer who was getting mad at me, i dont remember why...

lol, sorry about the crack, but that image is hysterical

[martinedwards]

I was carrying one end of a synth across the front of our church after the service, walking backwards and kicked my mate's Lowden acoustic off it's stand.

this is a £2000 ($4000) guitar.

It was still plugged in to the PA.

MMMMAAAAANNNNN it made a big noise!!!!!!!!

Happily no damage though!!!

My Epiphone acoustic (My 1st ever new guitar) was about 2 months old when I was negociating heavy doors at college when the door swung shut on the (unpadded) gigbag. a 1 inch ding deep enough to splinter the wood , thankfully covered by my right arm when playing.........

I put a large band aid on it, & made a feature of it. That band aid was replaced several times over the years........

[eNDOR]

I'm afraid of playing my step dads 70's(-ish) guitar, since he treasures it very much.
Don't know why I'm afraid, becouse it's so demolished that he wouldn't recognize if I dropped it on the floor or something :D

Fretboard is really omg, scraped so deep that it has gone slightly in to the wood, pickups are fagging yellow :P ect ect....

[elvisdudette]

my first scratch i got on my guitar like the second day i had it and i was soooo mad...i was all dam belt buckle! haha but its not that noticiable anyways and the back of my guitar is really scratched up now and i don't really care, my first ding was when i was playin on my couch and i leaned back and it hit the armrest its only a strat copy so whatever haha...ok funny story time.

my friends brother (senior in hs) scratched his epiphone les paul, and this thing is like his baby, but the scratch is barely noticeable anyways he was all NOOOO my guitar!!!! and he started crying...

[PerianArdocyl]

For some reason, seeing a guitar smashed to bits makes me wanna cry...like in a commercial, these guys (I think this one's new) started playing accoustic and then started smashing it all over the stage. I was like :eek:

Plus it's just hours of hard work and talent on building the guitar down the drain. :hmmm:

[Jimmy_Page]

my friend scratched a cool *****ed up pattern with a key on his bass, its so cool.

[Emixolydian]

My acoustic is beat to ****, and I've only had it 2 years. I think my brothers drop it, and pretend nothing happened, but then I go to play it, and there's a chunk missing out of the back of my neck. Hmm....

I haven't screwed up my strat yet.

[maxx11778]

they add character look at the kirk hammet replica

[Emixolydian]

Your guitar gets twice as good when you smash it against the pavement, and glue the neck back on :)

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for what YOU do with your guitar, based on my advice.

[Strat Kid]

My first was when My teacher knocked his guitar over and I was playing on a chair next to the guitar, it's hardly visible, it's like an inch of white, but that's it.

[Hoopjam]

so on my ibanez.....ive had it for about 2 years now, and it has atleast 20 "kisses" on it (dings, chips...etc) and i beleieve my sis nocks it down, or the cat scratches it. but my point is, these little kisses, are they ok. if i sell it on ebay, im thinkin for less than 50$ but i love it. it sounds good. so does kisses really matter?

[LightSeeker]

For some reason, seeing a guitar smashed to bits makes me wanna cry...like in a commercial, these guys (I think this one's new) started playing accoustic and then started smashing it all over the stage. I was like :eek:

Plus it's just hours of hard work and talent on building the guitar down the drain. :hmmm:

I agree.
I think that people that smash thir guitars on stage are freakin' idiots. I had to save really hard to buy my guitar which isn't really anything special. But those guys just smash guitars worth thousands of dollars. Idiots. They should rather give it to someone that needs it (like me :) )

[FadedCayenne]

things like this make me.....make me.....:sob:

http://www.timsguitar.com/contentimg/brokenheadstock.jpg
http://www.timsguitar.com/contentimg/acoustic1before.jpg

[fendersownyou]

so on my ibanez.....ive had it for about 2 years now, and it has atleast 20 "kisses" on it (dings, chips...etc) and i beleieve my sis nocks it down, or the cat scratches it. but my point is, these little kisses, are they ok. if i sell it on ebay, im thinkin for less than 50$ but i love it. it sounds good. so does kisses really matter?
As long as it sounds good and still plays fine a few dings here and there don't matter.

[elvisdudette]

Your guitar gets twice as good when you smash it against the pavement, and glue the neck back on :)

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for what YOU do with your guitar, based on my advice.

*see's mental image of my les paul being smashed*
:eek: :( :mad:
*shivers*

my les is 9 years old so its got a few scratches already...

[gtrhrcane]

Back home we call folks like that "good people". A term not lightly used.

Ditto.

I've got a good one for this... it's actually related to my ibuprofen woes and how I found out how much is too much.....

Anyways, we'll start with Friday.... I woke up that morning in pain from sleeping on my shoulder during the night. (drunken slumber... take note :)) So, like usual I took a couple Ibuprofen, 3 - 200 mg ers to be exact. Well, it didn't help at all, I could barely use my mouse at work without some hefty pain. Well, I took a few more, and a few more. By the afternoon I probably had well over 2000 milligrams coursing through my 145lb. frame.

Got through the night, took it easy and relaxed. Finally the next day on Saturday I got some more Ibuprofen for the shoulder, still hurting... like it was dislocated or something. Ok, we're done playing around I'm getting the liquicaps, took a couple of those and had a couple beers. Had done it before without going overboard with ok results, just a numbing of the body. Exactly what I was looking for, nothing crazy or anything. I had to get this shoulder to stop throbbing.

All was well, I went to sleep and woke up Sunday morning just fine. Well, almost, I had a couple bug bites. I didn't remember getting eaten my mosquitos but hey, it's Minnesota so I thought little of it. Except, they kept itching. And itching. and itching. and.... you get the drift. And this wasn't even normal mosquito itch and relief... no, this was pure carnal pleasure once the itch was alleviated. I've never experienced anything like it not behind closed doors..... :o So I started to wonder what the heck was going on...

That afternoon, I'm sitting out in the designated play area away from the peoples of the house... ( 3 young women and one of their daughters) minding my own business. I'm still taking Iboprofens mind you, and these bug bites are spreading! All up and down my legs and itching sike an SOB. I'm getting plenty irritated, esp after one of the roomates decides she needs to vacuum her car and let all these bugs in the garage. So, I'm sitting there after that, having a couple brews... finding that the only cure for the itch is to play guitar. It didn't bother me as bad so I was trying to get some practice in.

The mosquitos are thick now, as it's late afternoon in July. I'm swinging at a couple of these Myna sized monsters and I'm getting irritated. Tipsy, mad, itchy and confused, I'm swinging at these *******s like they just egged my house.....SWING > Smack... CRASH!!!! ..... uh oh.... :mad: :eek: :(
In swinging at one of them damn carnivores, I hit my guitar on the back side of the neck, causing it to fall forward, face down, directly on the bridge- concrete. SMACK! I watched in slow motion horror and couldn't do a damn thing about it. Cracked the finish, but idk about anything else right where the neck meets the body. It still plays fine, but I can't do any double step bends and I'm thinking about retiring or selling it.

Moral of the story - Don't mix pain killers of any sort with alcohol of any sort. I had a full week of full blown hives and haven't been right since. I'm not loopy, but I'm really susceptible to allergies and potential allergens.

It was also a big turning point in my view towards drinking, needless to say I hadn't won any nobel prizes with my innebriated performances while drinking, regardless of the level of fun I had.

So there it is, a little long and maybe not that funny.... but that was the time I dropped my guitar.

EDIT : Afterwards I think, maybe not though... I intentionally scratched in the black plastic cover on the back of the body....

This is my f'n axe!! Just in case anyone mistook mine for theirs. :D

[Saorse]

The first scratch on my guitar was hardly a scratch: 'tis was a hole. :rolleye: I had taken the guitar from Da's hands into mine, and as I turned around, a table chair decided to get in the way of my proceedings and did not allow the guitar to continue on its lateral path and... erm... put a hole in it.

I remember my Da's face.

He wasn't amused.

Guess that's character, eh? :p

[vovin]

I spit shine my guitar like 3 times a day. But I am a lil obsessive. I know exactly where every tiny defect is in it. I think I will loose my mind if I get a scratch on it. I was seriously thinking of buying another one exactly the same one for practicing and one for playing around others.

[Mr. Boston]

Clapton sold this guitar at auction for 1.4mil. Don't sweat the first scratch brother.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b383/bostontim123/200_blackie0.jpg

[DaisyRocker]

/\ Oooh, that's gotta hoit! *Tugs collar uncomfortably*

[Mr. Boston]

I agree.
I think that people that smash thir guitars on stage are freakin' idiots. I had to save really hard to buy my guitar which isn't really anything special. But those guys just smash guitars worth thousands of dollars. Idiots. They should rather give it to someone that needs it (like me :) )


Not only that- but a band that can afford to trash their equipment every night- also has a whole road crew, production team etc. How do you think the guitar techs feel, setting up gutiars, tuning, changing strings, etc. just to have the band bash it all up? It's like saying- hey road crew- FU.

Not only that- it necessitates new gutiars for every gig, which IMO would be a bad way to tour. I'd want to find a few dependable guitars if I were to take it on the road.

If I toured for like 2+ years straight, like Metallica did after the black album, I could see trashing your stage guitar on the last night of the tour- kinda putting an exclamation point on a chapter of your life. But doing it every show is dumb.

[haganator]

I just bought a jackson today, and i have a feeling the first scratch is gonna be a b**ch. Ill probably cry.
I also think scratches give character. But that first one always sucks.
In my guitar class at school we were watching a video where someone smashed a guitar on stage and i cringed and was like "wow that was sad" and others in my class were like "no man thats cool"...the type of people that dont have to work for their stuff and get whatever they want from mom and dad...I think as long as a guitar plays good...it doesnt matter how it looks. Look at Stevie Ray Vaughans "number 1" strat.

[HazeX]

I've only had my Ibanez for 3 months now, and the only scratches on it are from where my pinky rests below the pickups. But there are a million little pinky nail scratches there.

Bothered me at first, then I came to Jam Session and was told to quit crying (not really lol) and to love it. So I hugged it, and all is well. :)

[Leo Fender]

I've had my S&P for a bit more then a month now, and I made the fisrst scratch in it... I was sitting in front in church to play a song, and as I sat down, I heard a "TONK". I looked, and I saw that I rammed it against a big stone.. man my heart stopped for a second there :p first I saw a big white spot on my guitar, but it was just a bit of powder from the stone :) so after all, it wasnt that bad, you hardly notice it, and it's on the back of the guitar, so.. :)