A sad story

[PBBPaul]

Here?s the story...

 

In 1982 I wanted to expand my guitar vocabulary and buy a 12-string acoustic guitar. I went to my favorite local music store and played this Ovation Glenn Campbell signature model that I really liked but it was $300. I didn?t have the money. I went back a couple of days later with a scrounged up down payment but found out that it was already being held for someone else (for whom; is another story altogether). I looked around and found a used Ibanez 12-string hiding in a corner. I played it and fell immediately in love. I?d never cared much for Ibanez guitars before, but this one... It was a beautiful guitar ? Natural Blonde, Flame Maple back and sides, Spruce top, nice inlays and binding. But the sound... The feel... It spoke to me. I bought it for a mere $175. I was 19 years old and played that guitar all the way through my otherwise failed college experience. I?d sit at the beach by myself with that guitar and play to the waves for hours. I used to manage a coffeehouse where I sometimes had to play for up to six hours straight on Fridays. I played that Ibanez. I wrote practically every piece of music I?ve ever written on that guitar. I learned almost all of my chops on that guitar. I played that guitar at gigs and parties, played it well, played it poorly, played it drunk and high, forgot where I put it a few times... But it always came back to me. I?d pick it up and it would sound incredible. It?s as if I had nothing to do with it. My Ibanez 12-string was dropped, kicked, had gallons of beer spilled on it, was picked at by small children and abused by every bad player for miles but that cheap guitar always came back to me looking beautiful and sounding otherworldly.

 

Fast forward 20 years...

 

I?ve been playing in the same band for 12 years now. I have a dozen really nice guitars by Paul Reed Smith, Gibson, Gretsch, Hamer etc... About a year ago I decided that even though I play in a great band, I needed a fresh and challenging musical experience. I picked up my old Ibanez; it spoke to me and I decided to once again go out and do some solo gigs. I had my old guitar re-fretted and a new bone saddle carved, did a few reasonably successful gigs. Life was good.

 

Here?s the sad part...

 

Tonight I did a gig at a local cafe just a mile or so down the road from my house. We had a full house, it was fun, I was nervous as hell as usual. I did the gig, socialized, packed up, went home. As I was unpacking my van and carrying my guitars into the house, the case holding my beautifully cheap Ibanez slipped out of my fingers and fell to the garage floor. Earlier in the evening I thought ?It?s only a mile down the road. I don?t need to use the heavy-duty hard case. I?ll just use this soft one...?. My best 12-string friend is now in need of some serious (if even possible - the back is crunched at one point) repair work. My wife says ?Ah don?t worry about it. Just get it fixed and be done with it.? How do I explain?

[Jotown]

Sorry to hear that Paul.

 

That's also why I never use gig bags.

 

Jotown:)

[Tedly Nightshade]

Well it's the top and the neck that make the most music. Have your old friend taken care of, you'll never regret it.

A lesson learned.

[jlh]

I agree, get the old friend fixed. At some point it really does become a friend and not just an instrument. A really good guitar repair artist can do incredible things. I speak from experience. Best of luck.

[Nollykin]

I cant say I've had experience, but get that guitar fixed. It sounds like a true old wonder, you just cant part with them.

 

Nolly

[Dave da Dude]

Absolutely! Get the guitar fixed. Would you let an old (human that is) friend lie in agony with a broken leg?

 

I have three pieces of advise.

 

Get it fixed.

 

Get it fixed.

 

Get it fixed.

 

If in doubt, refer to rule number one.

 

Dave

[Gato]

Originally posted by PBBPaul:

My wife says ?Ah don?t worry about it. Just get it fixed and be done with it.? How do I explain?

I don't understand. Your are sad 'cause of your guitar's accident or your wife lacks of comprehension.

[Eric Worthington]

Last night's gig: we're in a small place (no stage), but always a good crowd. We're in the middle of a song, people are dancing, having fun, when I hear a big crash. I look over, and see that a stand has fallen over--at first, I just see the tripod feet sticking up, with the rest of it in the crowd. I thought it was the guitarist's mic stand. No. It was his triple guitar stand. He was playing electric, while on the stand was a mandolin and an acoustic guitar.

 

The rest of us kept the song going while he went out and picked up his stuff. We didn't really have a chance for a proper inspection until the end of the night. His Jeff "Skunk" Baxter signature model Epiphone acoustic/electric, that he uses at every type of gig and has recorded with, has a crack along the neck, about five inches long starting at the nut. Of course, by then the drunks are gone.

 

Expensive gig.

[Nollykin]

Originally posted by Eric Worthington:

Last night's gig: we're in a small place (no stage), but always a good crowd. We're in the middle of a song, people are dancing, having fun, when I hear a big crash. I look over, and see that a stand has fallen over--at first, I just see the tripod feet sticking up, with the rest of it in the crowd. I thought it was the guitarist's mic stand. No. It was his triple guitar stand. He was playing electric, while on the stand was a mandolin and an acoustic guitar.

 

The rest of us kept the song going while he went out and picked up his stuff. We didn't really have a chance for a proper inspection until the end of the night. His Jeff "Skunk" Baxter signature model Epiphone acoustic/electric, that he uses at every type of gig and has recorded with, has a crack along the neck, about five inches long starting at the nut. Of course, by then the drunks are gone.

 

Expensive gig.

Owch.... That one hurts

[Dak Lander]

http://www.daklandermusic.com/pics/yamerdent.jpg

The Cat's still alive....

The beast is about due for refretting so I'll get it all done at the same time. In the mean time, I've been playing it for several years with no effect on the sound.

[fantasticsound]

Sorry to hear your stories, boys.

 

Mine goes like this..

 

In 1995-6 I worked hundreds of contract gigs for Opryland productions, as a mixer. I'd set up sound and backline, including drums. They had a Horizon endorsement for cables and DI's. The Horizon DI's are cheap shit, and to make things worse, half the problems are caused by poor solder joints you can't fix without drilling out rivets. I used to bring my Takamine FP-360SC dreadnaught to test DI's on site.

 

One night, after the gig, I used a pressure bar to secure my pack that was too short to span the width of the truck's box. I positioned the bar against a rolling case, without laying it off the wheels. With 6 feet of space behind the pack, I put the Tak in it's gig bag on the floor of the box for the 500ft. drive back to our warehouse.

 

When I heard the pack break free I knew the guitar was in trouble. Sure enough, the rolling case had hit the bottom of the guitar, forcing the headstock into the back door. The headstock popped off like a soda can tab. It was a year before I could afford to do anything about it.

 

The silver lining to the story is, the luthier I brought it to convinced me, instead, to purchase a Blueridge guitar to which he installed an L.R. Baggs pickup. It sounds infinitely better than the Tak ever did, acoustic OR plugged in. (And it was less expensive, 5 years later, than the Tak at cost!)

 

Eventually, I had a friend at Mars fix the Tak, but it pales in comparison to the Blueridge.