Guitar: Working vs Performance

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 11:48 AM

I think it's Jed Marum who has what I think is the healthiest attitude about his gigging guitars I've seen around here-- that intrinsically, it's a tool for work. A beloved and well-cared-for tool, but tools need to be replaced from time to time and STUFF HAPPENS to them. I think his approach is to put the good ones in a Calton case, and let the airlines do what they will. Maybe they are insured, also-- have you looked into getting the Martin insured? Or are you at least putting part of the gig money away against the day you need to replace the Martin?

If it makes you feel any better, I drop my good autoharp on the floor from time to time-- hard, when the strap clip opens up as it sometimes does. I'll sliong the case over my shoulder and start off, and hear the THUD behind me as the whole case goes south. I LOVE that harp, but it's going to crack one of these times, and then? I'll have to love a new one. Cuz other than this strap clip thing, I really like that case! :~)

There are all kinds of tricks you can try to reduce the anxiety over this, but it has to start with taking your klutziness less seriously. It IS a serious problem, but treating it seriously will only reinforce it. No matter how klutzy you are by genetic inheritance, you're only going to get klutzier (and more anxious) the more you worry about it and the less you let the poor thing out in company.

You could try working your way up to resolving this, and get some more of the cheapies to handle in a playful, carefree manner so you can giggle the fears away while talking to the martin safe in its cse, nearby. "Hey, Marty, this may be your last day! "I may bust you to flinders in less than an hour!"

You also could try immediately getting an even better good guitar to lock away "in case" you wreck the Martin, to reduce the apparent importance of the Martin in your mind.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: Scoville
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 11:47 AM

The only pristine guitars I've ever seen were the ones that nobody wanted to hear.

Anyone/any guitar worth listening to is going to have an instrument with some scars. Heck, Willie Nelson's Trigger has a gaping hole in the front, in addition to the soundhole. Get it out and use it. Mine live in their cases or on stands when they're not being used, but they do get used and they do travel (I must confess to taking the Alvarez places I wouldn't risk the Guild--like, outdoors when it might rain--but the Guild has its share of miles on it).

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: GUEST,Sailorboy
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 11:45 AM

There is a story prevelant concerning ramirez spanish guitars where its said that, when a customer came to collect a comissioned guitar, the said luthier used to take the guitar from its case and ding it on the front with his thumbnail then hand it over with the words " now you need not worry my friend" No idea whether this is a urban myth or not. Any takers?

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: Nick
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 11:25 AM

I bought a new guitar a few years ago which, while not expensive, was new and I wanted to keep nice etc etc

First time I played it in the local pub that we used to play in I managed to drop a large metal bar onto it from the fireplace.

I'm not too concerned about where I take it now

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: Jack Campin
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 11:20 AM

I play in a session where one regular brings an extraordinarily crap guitar. It's a twelve-string with most of the courses reduced to single and most of them years old. I can't imagine anybody who would give a fiver for it in a jumble sale. He's got a good one at home but I've never seen it.

He's sitting at a table with other people who have minimally a few hundred pounds worth of kit in use, some a lot more, and none of the rest of us seem to have a problem with the risks. I find his behaviour condescendingly arrogant - "you lot aren't worth me risking my good axe for".

I don't get why people don't use stands. You can put almost anything on a stand to reduce the risk of it being knocked over, and most of them are neither heavy nor expensive. A simple one that will work for any table-high stringed instrument is two heavy spring clips (the sort used for DIY jobs) connected by a length of elastic; clip it on the edge of a table with the elastic round the neck and the soundbox resting on the floor. Total cost about two pounds. Instead of something like that you see fiddles balanced edgewise on ledges, guitars sitting on chairs with the pegbox hanging over the back where anyone could bump it, flutes on tables where they could roll off if anybody stood up in a hurry.

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: Deckman
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 11:14 AM

Come to think about it ... I don't know many beautiful wimmen that would to be kept hanging on my bedroom wall either!

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: Deckman
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 11:00 AM

My answer is to keep my best guitar hanging on my bedroom wall. It's very safe there and yet also very handy. I would draw the comparision between your beautiful guitar and a beautiful woman. Would a beautiful woman want to be kept safely locked away! CHEERS, Bob

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: GUEST,Terry McDonald
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:58 AM

Thanks, Guest - it makes sense now. But I still say play it - that's what it's for. It has no other purpose that I can think of!

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: Roughyed
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:55 AM

I do sympathise. A good guitar is a beautiful work of art and when it is in perfect condition it seems heartbreaking to think of any damage. But everyone above is right. Everything is impermanent and steel strung guitars more than most.

How would you feel if you kept it for decades, took it out of its case one day and found it was unplayable? It'll happen one day whether you play it or not so you and the audience might as well have the pleasure.

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:54 AM

The poor thing probably does want out...I'm sure it does. It sounds so great when I let it out!

Why I'm a klutz: I've always been told I was clumsy. When I was about 10 I went through a growth spurt that put on about 4 inches in about 4 months, and I had another one when I was about 14, when I grew 6 inches in 8 months. I had no clue where my feet or hands were at any given moment, and I was constantly tripping, falling, bashing into things, and breaking things. Consequently, I perceived myself as a klutz, and I still do klutzy things. For example, a week after I got the then-brand-new student guitar, I was putting the guitar strap over my head and somehow the strap detached from the endpin, and I, instinctively, LET GO of the neck. You'd think I'd have GRABBED the neck, but no. The impact split the top in two places, dented in the bout, sprung the binding. What a mess. I did have the presence of mind to immediately loosen all the strings, but the damage was already done.
On top of that, at gigs my partner and I tend to be in cramped quarters; we really try to make open space around me, but I'm always bumping into things. And Leeneia, your insights are amazing--I hadn't thought of those things before, but I do always feel rushed--both at gigs, and at home, and I always seem to have too much on my mind, and I really, really wish the world moved a little bit slower. I'd move slower, but people are always telling me to hurry up as it is!

Thank you all, and please, keep the ideas coming!

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: Wesley S
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:40 AM

Take a look in the mirror Guest. Are you wrinkle free? Of course not. Those lines are like roadmaps - they show where you've been and who you are. A guitar is the same way.

My 1967 D-18 has some scratches and dings just like me. The biggest scratch I put in it was when I ran it into a railing going up the stairs to the stage. Sliced it right down to the bare wood. So it got fixed up and you can barely see it now. But what I remember about the scratch is that we raised several thousand dollars that night for a homeless shelter. So I'm proud of that scratch.

Relax - If you were perfect you'd deserve a perfect guitar. You're not perfect. So just have fun with it. Life's too short to worry about stuff like that. Be careful with it of course but don't let it ruin your life.

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: GUEST,Terry McDonald
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:38 AM

I have no Yiddish - my Dorset is pretty good, but Yiddish, no. It was a serious question!

re the guitar - play it, play it, play it. It's only a Martin, after all. I use my best Gibson all the time, and that's the reason - because it's my best one.

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: Scrump
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:35 AM

Hi leeneia - my guitar stand has a neck holder with a bar that folds across in front of the neck, to stop it falling over if it should be nudged (luckily our cat is a complete guitarophobe, and tends to keep well away from it).

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: GUEST, Grimmy
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:35 AM

I fully agree with leeneia - unless you want to mothball it as an investment, your guitar is meant to be played. It will get damaged. It's the way things are.

I've seen guitars belonging to Martin Carthy, Dick Gaughan and Tommy Emmanuel (especially Tommy Emmanuel) which look like a bomb's hit them. Doesn't bother them.

Play that thing!!!!

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: leeneia
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:28 AM

Me too, Scrump. My guitar is on a stand in the living room, away from sun and the heat register.

After I learned that the end with the tuning pegs makes the guitar top heavy, I started attaching the head end to the stand with a twist of wire. Wouldn't want a frisky cat to knock the guitar over.

Terry McDonald: how do you mean, "what's a klutz?" Where's your Yiddish?

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: Scrump
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:21 AM

Hi GUEST. I know exactly what you mean.

I only take my 'best' guitar to venues where I feel it will be 'safe'. Of course, even in the friendliest location it could still get beer spilt on it or something dropped on it, etc.

But if I have a gig in a pub I don't know, I have a couple of older guitars that I'm less worried about losing or being damaged. Some pubs I've gigged in have been a bit rough, but so far (fingers crossed) I've yet to suffer any damage to my guitars.

That said, I deliberately don't leave my 'best' guitar in its case at home - apart from anything else, I enjoy playing it more than the others, so I leave it on a stand in the corner of the room so I can grab it whenever I feel like it. If I had to get it out of the case each time, and put it back afterwards, I probably wouldn't play it much.

I'm assuming that after a while, I'll probably do something accidentally to damage the guitar, and then I'll probably care a little bit less about doing further damage. It's like when you have a new car (not that I would ever buy a brand new one) and you worry about getting a minor scratch. Then the first time that happens, you stop worrying :-)

Tell yourself that guitar's meant for playing, and get it out of its case right now! :-)

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: leeneia
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:17 AM

I know what you're talking about. I encounter people who seem to feel that their instrument is a piece of fine woodworking, rather than a device for producing sound. From the way they act, you'd think it was a museum piece by Chippendale or Sheraton.

For example, I have talked to owners of fretted dulcimers who can't play a single song, yet they were aghast at the idea of putting anything (label or sticker) on the neck to help them get started.

The first thing to do is to get away from those people.

The second thing to do is to realize that the guitar is not going to last forever. Whether perfect or imperfect in appearance, it is going to deteriorate. So what if you accidentally speed up the process some?

Finally, why are you a klutz? Are people making you hustle too much? Are you not getting enough sleep? Do you have too many things on your mind at one time? Do you need better vision correction? Ask yourself what's the deal with that.

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: GUEST,Terry McDonald
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:15 AM

What's a 'Klutz'?

Subject: RE: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:12 AM

Well, think about it from theguitar's perspective--

"Lemme outta here! I'm tough! I can handle a coupla dings, fer cryin' out loud! Lemme OUTTA here......"

Let it out, let it breathe, let is PLAY. It will develop its unique sound, if you do.

~Susan

Subject: Guitar: Working vs Performance
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 10:07 AM

First, I'm posting this as guest because I'm too embarrassed to post as a member...

Second, though the problem occurs for me with guitar, it could be any instrument.

Here's the issue--I have my "good ole student guitar"--20-years old, sounds ok, plays ok, nice instrument for what I paid for it. It's got some dings 'n' scratches, because I'm a klutz.

2 years ago, I got a lovely (also 20-year-old) Martin. I bought it from a friend, so I paid what it was worth, which really wasn't much in a world where people routinely pay twice as much for a fiddle bow. It sounds great, and plays wonderfully, and, here's the problem--it hasn't a scratch. Consequently, it spends all its time in its case, because (as I said before) I'm a klutz. I only take it out on gigs where I know it will be safe, and even then I'm a wreck about it getting dinged, banged, scratched, etc.

Does anybody else have this problem???? Anybody have any advice???

It's a good thing I don't have any kids...


Thanks in advance,
Anonymously Embarrassed