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Finish and neck damage by dropping

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   Forums Archive -> The Vault: 2002-2003Message format
 
Bee
Posted 2002-08-27 9:49 PM (#218783)
Subject: Finish and neck damage by dropping


Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 1

How's that for an eye catching topic! It's really not as bad as it sounds.

About 3 weeks ago I safely packed up my Custom Legend into it's case. In my haste to go pick my boys, I did not latch the case! I picked up the case and my beautiful guitar spilled to the floor. In 30 years of playing, I've never done anything like this--I was in shock for a few seconds, and ready to put a G string tightly around my throat.

Luckily, the floor was carpeted, but I did put three nice quarter inch nicks in the cherry sunburst face. Now, my low E has also developed a buzz whenever I use a capo, because it is too close to the neck.

Two questions:

1. Should I try to do anything to repair the nicks? They don't affect the sound at all.
If so, how? I would like to avoid them becoming the dreaded cracks I've had on my other Ovations.

2. Do I mess with the truss bar myself to try and get the E corrected? There is no visual damage or twisting of the neck. Other ideas?

Thanks for the great site and board!
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snowlock
Posted 2002-08-27 10:43 PM (#218784 - in reply to #218783)
Subject: Re: Finish and neck damage by dropping



Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 162

Location: Pennsylvania
Man, I've done some dumb things and damaged guitars, but never had the urge to put a G-string around my neck... Ohhhh...I get it!! Sorry...couldn't resist. :D

Seriously though, having a guitar drop to the floor from the case makes me cringe--probably one of my worst guitar fears. But to have it happen to a Custom Legend! Ouch.
Dropping it probably just knocked the neck out of alignmemt, as much smaller influences can easily throw it off. So I wouldn't fret about the neck (get it? fret, neck?). Just have it checked out by a trusted and experienced guitar tech. You could probably take it into a good repair shop, and take it back out in less than 15 minutes with the neck problem fixed (assuming it's just an alignment issue).
As for the paint, again, ouch. I'll let the others step in on that issue though.

[ August 27, 2002: Message edited by: snowlock ]
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Bailey
Posted 2002-08-28 1:01 AM (#218785 - in reply to #218783)
Subject: Re: Finish and neck damage by dropping


Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005

Location: Las Cruces, NM
Bee

IMHO and this is just an opinion. The nicks and dents that you get on your guitar as time goes by are the memory joggers, like, that's the time I forgot to latch the case. Unless you are a dealer or collector, I wouldn't worry too much about them. If you put too much stock in the pristine appearance of an instrument, you miss out on what it was built for, and that is playing music. That doesn't mean you should abuse it, of course, but some nicks and scratches are bound to appear over time. I suspect Willie Nelson's Martin will be worth a fortune when he retires.

Bailey
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Jiminos
Posted 2002-08-28 10:50 AM (#218786 - in reply to #218783)
Subject: Re: Finish and neck damage by dropping


Joined:
April 2002
Posts: 196

Location: Shelton, Washington, USA
Bee, I'm sure the neck is a quick fix. As for the dings....

Not long ago I bought a new Elite Special. The day I picked it up, I had a gig. That night before the first note of the first song, my partner turns to say something to me and bonnnngggggg. He slammed several of the tuning pegs from his vastly inferior thing with strings into the face of my vastly superior musical instrument. I was tempted to put the g-string around his neck.... but you know how people talk! Did it hurt? yup. Did I get it fixed? nope. Why not? It's part of the guitar's bio now.
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cliff
Posted 2002-08-28 11:04 AM (#218787 - in reply to #218783)
Subject: Re: Finish and neck damage by dropping


Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842

Location: NJ
Jim;

You need to edit your previous post to read "....my now deceased ex-partner...."
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Bailey
Posted 2002-08-28 5:20 PM (#218788 - in reply to #218783)
Subject: Re: Finish and neck damage by dropping


Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005

Location: Las Cruces, NM
I speak from similar experiences.

I had just bought my beautiful, abalone trimmed, Yamaki copy of a Martin D something, and I went to a bluegrass festival featuring the Country Gentlemen with the guys I was playing with at the time. I was playing mandolin so I let our guitar player carry my new guitar, as soon as we got there we did some jamming while waiting for the show to start. When they announced the show was starting my guitar playing friend, who was imbibing some, ran towards the show area and stumbled and did a perfect pole vault over my new Yamaki. Talk about heart stopping experiences, that guitar had just set me back a good chunk of change. To mine and others amazement, it wasn't even scratched or bent in any way, I developed a deep reverence for quality construction and kept it safe for the remainder of the festival, and it still is in excellent condition 25 years later although it has its nicks, scrapes and scratches.

Bailey
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