Theres nothing like hearing war stories from others to get a little perspective on things. Yes, I have learned to love the scratch and it probably wont be long before there's a few more on it with the shower of drunken musicians I hang out with. By the way, the Lowden comes with D'Addario EXP(?) strings that cost about 20 dollars a set. Whilst I normally despise cheaper D'Addario strings, I must admit that these will blow Martin SPs away. Thanks to everybody for the comments. Allan from Copenhagen.