Does it annoy or worries you, if you find some small dents/ scratch on your guitar?

[HighGain510]

Well that's certainly awkward...






Jamie

HA! The difference there is I have seen you PLAY your PS, Jamie! Sorry, I'm not trying to offend the collectors or anything, I appreciate the "art" guitars too but I'd still play every one of them. To me it doesn't make sense to treat the guitar as solely an investment piece that cannot be played for fear that the thing won't be worth as much to someone else down the road. Then again, I'm 30 so if I'm dropping $8K+ on a guitar like my PS, it's definitely not so I can put it in a display never to be played!

All of that being said, it's not like I can or wish to tell folks how to spend their cash so if you have the money to be able to buy guitars that are never to be played, hey, more power to ya!

[Herr Squid]

I know Paul says he'd rather they be played than be treated as a museum piece! In fact I once accidentally mashed my headstock into the ceiling right in front of him and he was mightily amused.

There's honorable wounds and stupid ones.

If I ding it being stupid, I'm pretty upset with myself and can't bear it. I once sent my Modern Eagle back to the PTC because I chipped the top with a wicked little pendulum made of a leather strap and a Schaller straplock. I couldn't stand looking at it, and of course they fixed it up as good as new.

On the other hand, if I pick it up and discover a ding that I hadn't noticed before, it really doesn't bother me that much.

And sometimes things just get weird. Sometimes I induce feedback by putting the tip of my headstock on the frame of a speaker cabinet. One fine afternoon I got it all wrong and was kind of grinding it into the steel grill on the front of a new FRFR monitor... I lost some paint and got a good lesson.

[Steve59]

I try to be careful with mine but they have developed character over time. The worst one was setting up at church and my strat fell over into my Taylor. I have a rather deep depression about three inches from the soundhole. It stings less now that the damage is over a year old but it still twinges when I look at it.

[docbennett]

I try to be careful with mine but they have developed character over time. The worst one was setting up at church and my strat fell over into my Taylor. I have a rather deep depression about three inches from the soundhole. It stings less now that the damage is over a year old but it still twinges when I look at it.

If that happened to me, I'd be experiencing exactly what I've highlighted above...except it would be ME, not the guitar.

[John]

Initially, yes. But I get over it soon enough and continue to play the crap out of my guitars.

[helmi]

I know there meant to be played, and mine are, but YES, it annoy's the fudge out of me!

[maxtuna26]

I was a complete newbie when i started out playing guitar. My axe back then was a Norman acoustic with super thin satin finish. I was so bad in picking that i literally made 100 dents near the soundhole. Weirdly, i missed the pickguard with almost all my downstrokes. Those scars kinda reminds me to play properly all the time, even till now. Then I got my PRS SE Custom 24. I never did ding the finish, but there's one time i used a wrong cloth to wipe the body down. Then I noticed "brush-like" scratches beside the tremolo bar side of the bridge on the top. It's like on the second day it was in my possession. I felt so bad for that, and ever since then, i kept the microfibre cloth stored well, reserved only for the guitar body cleaning. belt buckle rashes were inevitable and i've learnt not to care about it anymore. if clapton can accept belt buckle scars on his guitars, so can i The headstock tip has a bit of the paint nicked off, but it's only the very tip of the tip so no biggie. I've also accidentally dented the top once with the instrument cable jack, but it was only a small dent in the thick poly finish (poly ftw!) no paint was harmed that day. i could accept the guitar being dented as time goes by, just so it wont look like it's always new and freshly produced, but relic-ing is a definite no-no for me. I prefer natural ageing.

[Brian]

The first cut is the deepest...

[Desperado]

I guess some people buy to collect or as an investment and knocks and dings can reduce the looks and value of their guitars.

I'm a guitarist, I just want to play guitars that sound great and play well. A few bumps whilst playing is par for the course, though its always nice to get that first one out of the way on a new guitar!

[DarrenJ1973]

they tell a story about the life of the guitar, they add character, the only issue arises if you need to sell it cos buyers are very finicky about that stuff, even the tiniest most harmless paint chip can cause a buyer to walk away.

[LindseyP]

Well we all love our PRS guitars, but sometimes when you play it dents or scratch appears on your guitar.
How do you guys feel about it, do you worry about it or just leave it alone and ignore it?
Thanks

I have learned to love the "scratch or dent" bin. I call them character marks.

[docbennett]

Well....my formally pristine '99 BRW necked McCarty is now battle scarred. Got a little too enthusiastic last night, and now the teal bottom edge has a finish chip that is a very pretty shade of bright green, to contrast the Teal Quilt.

thought for a moment about PTC. Then I thought for a few more moments about this thread.

Then I poked myself in the eye with a sharp stick, self inflicted a few minor cuts and abrasions, banged my head against the wall for 5 minutes....and put it back on the stand ready to accept more battle scars.

Went from "pristine collectable" to "Great condition, with only a minor finish chip" in a short moment of carelessness. Oh well.

[jfb]

I think if I played out I wouldn't mind much. Since I'm a hobbyist a ding is usually something that happens after I've made a bad decision.

Oh the phone? I'll just lean this guitar against my rotating chair...it'll be fine...it won't fall lover....

[Em7]

belt buckle rashes were inevitable and i've learnt not to care about it anymore. if clapton can accept belt buckle scars on his guitars, so can i

Here's one answer to belt buckle rash (gaining thirty pounds also works).

http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/p...cessor=content

[Em7]

My answer to not playing an expensive guitar because I may scratch it is to purchase an even more expensive guitar.

[rugerpc]

I have some very nice guitars. I play them. I'm not a very aggressive player, so there are not very many pick scratches. None have belt buckle rash because it is so easily preventable. Some have dings and scratches from just being out of their cases and used. It happens.

It makes me sad and upset for a time. How long depends on which guitar and how bad the ding is. But I usually get over it.

What I will never fully understand is this:



Since I first saw this video in December, I have come to understand the objective the owner was after. I just could never, never have this done myself. I can see rounding sharp edges or sanding a neck smoother for faster action. I can see making lots of changes, both reversible and irreversible. But I just don't get willfully mauling a guitar. That's just me and that is not my guitar.

[LSchefman]

Here's one answer to belt buckle rash (gaining thirty pound also works).

http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/p...cessor=content

If you simply slide your belt around so the buckle is on the side, you avoid buckle rash. I also untuck my T-shirt to keep the rivets on my jeans from scratching a guitar. Takes about two seconds to do this and it works. Generally I don't wear button-shirts when I play, it's just more comfortable to wear something knitted like a T shirt or golf shirt, etc.

[crgtr]

As long as it's still playable, I'm fine with natural dings & scuffs.

[Em7]

If you simply slide your belt around so the buckle is on the side, you avoid buckle rash. I also untuck my T-shirt to keep the rivets on my jeans from scratching a guitar. Takes about two seconds to do this and it works. Generally I don't wear button-shirts when I play, it's just more comfortable to wear something knitted like a T shirt or golf shirt, etc.

Buckle and rivet rash are problems when wearing a guitar rock-and-roll style (i.e., in a low-slung position). I haven't played a low-slung guitar in a long time because it's really bad for your hands (I have the carpal tunnel release scars in both of my palms to prove it). I wear my electric guitars with the body resting on my solar plexus. In this position, the bottom of the guitar will only make contact with one's body if one has a short torso and/or is rail thin. The guy in the video shown below isn't fat by any stretch of the imagination, but the lower part of the Strat that he is playing doesn't come in contact with his body because he is wearing the guitar such that it rests on his solar plexus and his right oblique muscle.

[DarrenJ1973]

The correct height of the strap is down to the individual player, the above image is too high for me.

Best way to adjust a strap is to sit in the classical position (guitar on the opposite knee with the hea stock pointing up to the ceiling), adjust the strap so that it is loose but the guitar cannot get away from you/move too much, holding the guitar in this position simple stand up, that is 99.9% of the time the correct adjustment, try it it hasn't failed me yet.

avoiding buckle scratches is easy, don't wear a belt.