# What's The Dumbest Thing You've Done To A Guitar?



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Playing gigs, doing mods, moving, etc., etc. What's the craziest, stupid, dumbest thing you've done to a guitar?


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I remember it well, it was my first guitar, and the dumb thing I did was I bought it, now I have an addiction. I used to be hooked on phonics, but went to a 12 step program.


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## Bruiser74 (Jan 29, 2010)

I put a 24 fret neck on a strat body... for some reason it didnt sound right. lol


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

I bought a Gibson SG a few years back...I couldn't wait to get it home to plug it in...I walked in the house and proceeded up the stairs holding the gig bag vertically as in the pic...gripping it by the narrow headstock end...the store had zipped it up "backwards" with the zipper closed at the body end as opposed to the headstock end as in the pic...

With the gig bag held high as if posing with a trophy fish...I quickly unzipped the gig bag from the floor towards the ceiling...instantly the guitar dropped out the bottom of the gig bag striking the edge of the top stair...and continued on down two flights of stairs...I almost cried...

Then I thought to myself..."well...that was the stupidest move I've ever done"...the guitar suffered a huge compression dent to the edge of the body and a whole lotta scratches...and probably some "internal injuries"...I lost a lot of money on trade-in value...

***Since that incident...I've always made damn sure that my guitar cases/gig bags are laying down flat BEFORE opening/unzipping them...!!!...***

I was holding the gig bag up high as in the trophy fish pic...


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## vds5000 (Apr 14, 2008)

I dropped my phone on my new Kramer electric many years ago - it left a nice sized ding on the body which I never got used to.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Traded a beautiful Les Paul Deluxe in on an SG.

Palm slap to the forehead!


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

I once removed the "Bigsby" from a Raven hollowbody and tried to install it on a cheap little acoustic guitar. I ruined 2 guitars in the process...


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

2 things come to mind. The first was when I leaned my LP in its case against the wall of my house while fishing for my keys to lock the door on my way out, only to have the case fall over and break the headstock almost clean off.

The 2nd isn't as bad. I once removed all the electronics and pickups from a 335 thinking it would be an easy upgrade. Boy was I not prepared for that one!


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

hollowbody said:


> The 2nd isn't as bad. I once removed all the electronics and pickups from a 335 thinking it would be an easy upgrade. Boy was I not prepared for that one!


lol... I will be doing this shortly. 

haven't really done anything stupid or guitar damaging yet, but my wallet cries every time i walk into a guitar store. would have saved a lot of money if I had done more research before making purchases.


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

hollowbody said:


> 2 things come to mind. The first was when I leaned my LP in its case against the wall of my house while fishing for my keys to lock the door on my way out, only to have the case fall over and break the headstock almost clean off.
> 
> The 2nd isn't as bad. I once removed all the electronics and pickups from a 335 thinking it would be an easy upgrade. Boy was I not prepared for that one!


check out this article...

How to change the pickups on a Gibson ES-335 style guitar | MusicRadar.com


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

My buddy snapped the headstock off of my beautifull 87 Ovation Custom Balladeer. You think that a guitar with a round back would stay up leaning on a wall,NOT.
I almost cried. We are still good friends but he does not touch any of my instruments.Good news,Mark Warren in Ottawa( The Fret Clinic) had a special jig made for those(common thing) and made a perfect repair.Bad part is all of its value was gone when i sold it.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...nothing as tragic as a headstock breaking off, but i do recall taking the p90s out of a 60s or 70s sg, with the intention of...re-winding them, i think...i was in an altered state at the time.


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

I tried to strip the glossy finish off of an old Ariana 12 string with plans of refinishing it. The stripper did nothing but mess up the finish so I burnt it in my fire pit. I've since found out from members on this forum, that I could have used a heat gun to strip it to the bare wood. Luckily, I'd only paid $30 dollars for it way back them. I still have the hardware and a DeArmond pickup that it came with. Is that "dumb enough" for you.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

Jim DaddyO said:


> I remember it well, it was my first guitar, and the dumb thing I did was I bought it, now I have an addiction. I used to be hooked on phonics, but went to a 12 step program.


the opposite...i sold it (well...them)


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

In 1971, I spray painted my Fender Mustang fluorescent orange. You should have seen it under a black light after a few Js.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

Kinda humbling reading this thread. Nice to know you're not alone in your own stupidity!

For me, there were two separate incidents, first one about '74, second in summer of '80. The first involved my second guitar - a 4 pickup German electric that I spray painted a ghastly bright red thinking the original finish was too dinged up (we pay extra for "relicing" now). I bought a decent mid-70's vintage Japanese LP Custom copy a year after joining the armed forces. It had a slight crack on the back of the neck, so I gave it the "Pete Townsend" treatment during a _rock'n'roll _moment involving youthful energy, poor judgement and too much alcohol.


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## Jethro (Mar 16, 2011)

This one may be hard to believe....the things that you do when you're younger and under the influence ;-)

I had my Strat leaning up against the wall in the corner of my basement. A couple buddies came over for a few beers and we started playing some Darts for a laugh. As we started feeling more and more silly we decided to make the game more interesting and try getting further and further from the board, yet still keep score....LOL. By the time I got to pretty much the opposite end of the bsmt I pretty much had to throw the dart like a fastball. I actually started getting pretty good, although removing the darts from the board became more and more difficult. On my last throw I completely lost track of the dart....the flight came off the dart and fell on the floor in front of me, and all I heard was my Strat suddenly ring like someone plucked a string. We of course all looked at each other in disbelief....I went to look at the strat, and sure enough to my horror, the dart hit the outside edge of the neck between the 10th and 11th fret, penetrated and actually came out the back. I thought "F#@%", what have I done. I ended up getting another friend of mine who had built a few guitars to fix it for me. He took sawdust and mixed it with glue and injected it into the hole and partial split at the edge....he actually used a dart to stuff it in there, let it cure, sanded it and refinished the neck. Now it just looks like a wood knot and I'm still playing her today.

PS. The dartboard is nowhere near my guitars now. lol


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## astyles (Apr 6, 2009)

I inherited a wonderful axe over 20 years ago - a Yamaha RGX 212 - and still used it up until recently to record with. So, seeing as I tend to enjoy writing material that goes beyond my actual playing abilities (it always sounds good in my head however) ... I got typically stuck on a sweeping arpeggio during a solo that, by the 30th take, drove me to throw my teenage treasure halfway across the room where it landed on it's headstock which, naturally, broke in two. Doh, and gasp. The things I've learnt from that episode alone are much too long to list ...


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## Tim Plains (Apr 14, 2009)

Leaned my Stinger up against an amp.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

Was it a stinger to start with, or did just want one that bad? :wave:


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

How about an amp? Did a gig at the local school gym not very far from the drummers house.. 1/2 mile maybe. Set my Deluxe on the top of a pick up truck of gear. I made a turn in the driveway and watched it fall off. It loosened up the glue joint and break the tolex up a bit. 

In same truck I watched the same drummers snare drum pass me on the right headed for the ditch. Good thing it was in a case.


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## gearalley (Oct 23, 2009)

I 'refinished' an American Tele. I also once 'refinished' a Granada SG copy with a can of red latex and a paintbrush...you ALMOST couldn't see the brush strokes...ha hahahaha


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Steadfastly said:


> Playing gigs, doing mods, moving, etc., etc. What's the craziest, stupid, dumbest thing you've done to a guitar?


Played it!


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

OOO! OOO! I remembered another stupid thing I did. I was into fretless bass at the time, and wanted to _only _play fretless. Solution, use pliers to remove the frets from my Rickenbacker 4001. Ouch! Made a major mess of the fretboard. Thankfully I sold it to someone who had the skill to fix it.


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

I found a black '58 Les Paul Custom 3-pickup with original case in 1966 in a music store in Chatham for about $250. I lugged that beauty all over the country for years until a woodworker friend in London convinced me that its cracked and checked finish was an eyesore. So he stripped it and put a clear finish on it, probably de-valuing it by tens of thousands of bucks. Ouch. I wound up selling it to a music store in Montreal in 1976 for about $2000 plus a '60s ES-175. I still get a sick feeling in my gut every time I think of that LP.


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## Hired Goon (Mar 4, 2008)

I once busted an old acoustic guitar over some guy's head at a party. It made a "twang" sound that was rather nice.




(Just Kidding).


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Hired Goon said:


> I once busted an old acoustic guitar over some guy's head at a party. *It made a "twang" sound that was rather nice*.


His head ..or the guitar?

Cheers

Dave


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## faracaster (Mar 9, 2006)

Not a mod but.....
This was back in the mid 70's when I was in High school but.....I traded a CUSTOM COLOUR early 60's 335 for a new Ibanez Destroyer.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

gearalley said:


> I 'refinished' an American Tele. I also once 'refinished' a Granada SG copy with a can of red latex and a paintbrush...you ALMOST couldn't see the brush strokes...ha hahahaha


Well the Tele would be worse than the Granada--that would be a good guitar to learn on--so not dumb.


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## bluezombie (May 7, 2007)

I remember once me and my jamming drummer buddy got particularly baked and we started getting really into our jam.

Needless to say my attempted Ultra cool guitar jump ended up with me smashing my washburn into his chinese cymbal, denting my guitar, my soul and ruining two of his cymbals (the chinese cymbal fell over, and knocked out a few more).

We laughed about it though. Guess we were pretty high


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## Bruiser74 (Jan 29, 2010)

faracaster said:


> Not a mod but.....
> This was back in the mid 70's when I was in High school but.....I traded a CUSTOM COLOUR early 60's 335 for a new Ibanez Destroyer.


OUCH That must still hurt!


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## Bobby (May 27, 2010)

during one of the first gigs i ever got a chance to play,about 14 or 15 years ago,i was having a problem with the volume pot on the guitar(i figured this out after) and was getting no sound at all,while the rest of the band was playing,looking over at me,wondering what i was up to and when i was going to join in rather then fiddle around. i was convinced the problem was with the amp.getting increasingly frustrated/embarrased,and being the well-adjusted young man i was,i punched the side of the cab,breaking my hand. it also created a pretty cool feedback sound,which was the only thing close to music i would produce that evening.

it hurt like hell after,but i didnt worry too much about since it was "only" my right hand,so i could still play 

a few years later,during an argument with my girlfriend at the time,i threw my guitar,sort of javelin-style at the wall(not at her). considering the impact and it going neck-first,i was lucky. it only broke one tuner. i replaced it and still play that guitar today. 

at 15,literally the first time i picked up my new guitar,i had no idea what to do with it. none whatsoever. i didnt even know what the tuning pegs were for,so i was winding away at them and sure enough,one string snaps off. i still dont understand this to this day,but i actually did it again! having broken two strings,i called the store owner in a panic,figuring that id irreperably damaged the guitar. he gave me a couple of strings,and a pitch pipe.

good times.

Bobby


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## baird6869 (Mar 29, 2011)

I bought a few Teckpick metal (aluminum?) picks to try something different..... I hated the sound and feel with my Gibson/Fender guitars but decided they worked really well on bass (I play bass in a band also) and I usually use a pick for 1-2 songs each gig.

In any case, I used the stupid Teckpick and quickly scratched the hell out of the body of my bass. it is a nitro refinish and it is scratched really badly from the top of the body to the bridge PU (I strum hard!). I only used the pick for one song...

Worst thing? It wasn't my beater Squier bass, it was my 1969 Fender Jazz.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Robert1950 said:


> In 1971, I spray painted my Fender Mustang fluorescent orange. You should have seen it under a black light after a few Js.


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## Farbulous (Dec 8, 2009)

I just got a brand new Rickenbacker 660 mapleglo. Brought it home from the post office Friday. On Saturday I had it strapped around me, pushed it around to my back so I could lean down to pick something up off the floor, and it slid around my back and the headstock smacked into one of my pedals on my pedalboard. The pedal is fine, but my brand-spanking new Ric now has an ugly couple of scars just on the back left corner on the top of the headstock. The only good to come out of this was the fact that the damage is superficial and in the finish. I felt miserable for a few days though. Good thing this guitar is a keeper though, because I can't even imagine how much I'd have to knock off the price to sell it with that blem.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

the dumbest thing i've ever done to a guitar is the same thing i do to every guitar i own. i buy it, thus removing much of the chance it had to be played by someone with talent.


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## Vox71 (Mar 25, 2008)

Luckily the guitar (victim) wasn't a very expensive one. It was my first guitar. A strat-styled Profile. It was a weird matte black finish with red pin-striping around the pickguard. I just started playing guitar. Remember a time when you couldn't put it down, and you were young enough that you had all the time in the world to play it? It was the summer after grade 8 (around 1984), and I was playing my guitar constantly. It was a very hot summer night (bet you can't wait for those). I was playing my guitar on the back porch, and the mosquitoes were very bad. I decided to take a break, and go in and apply Muskol to my legs, arms, hands and face. I went back out, and played for a couple more hours. When I came back in my dad asked me what the black stuff was all over my hands and across my right thigh. To my horror, the finish of the guitar reacted with the Muskol, and ended up all over my hands and lap. Totally ruined the finish on the guitar. I was visibly devastated as I took really good care of that guitar. My dad (bless his heart) saw that I was visibly upset, and acknowledged that I was getting better at the guitar, and it clearly wasn't a passing phase. As a graduation gift he took me to Toronto to buy my first pro-level, high quality guitar of my choosing. A bittersweet memory that will remain with me always. However, I wish I could travel back in time and choose a different guitar given my musical tastes now, and knowledge of guitars.


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

Smashed the pickups right into a fibreboard-bodied electric *Czech* guitar called a Jolana Proxima 1 in a fit of rage. One of the most satisfying things I ever did with that POS. It still played afterwards. True old-world crapsmanship.

Shawn.


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## Franky Fargon (Oct 10, 2010)

Rugburn said:


> Smashed the pickups right into a fibreboard-bodied electric *Czech* guitar called a Jolana Proxima 1 in a fit of rage. One of the most satisfying things I ever did with that POS. It still played afterwards. True old-world crapsmanship.
> 
> Shawn.


What! i'm lookin for soviet oddity all the time man.Especially those made in Plastic like "Maria" does your was a plastic one?
Thanks
Frank


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## Franky Fargon (Oct 10, 2010)

sorry i didn't read well, fiberboard body you said...Damn you )


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

2 dumbest thigns really
1) is attempt to "touch up" some chips on my guitar finish (without knowing what I was doing...just dabbed varnish all over the damn thing so it ended up looking way worse).
2) This was a biggie.. Back in the metal 80's when I was a dumb teen, I saw some vids of Yngwie or someone throwing their guitar around their back...so I thought I'd give it a try...except, I played a really big guitar (Gibson Explorer), and to make matters worse I wore it real low. So when I threw it back, it did a terrible nose dive into the floor and broke the neck off at the body.  Fortunately, Steves fixed it. I still have that guitar, but cant bring myself to look it in the eye.


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## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

I haven't done anything dumb on purpose to my guitar, but I did drop it down a flight of stairs at my buddys house. Luckly it was in a hardshell case and slip down after the first bounce. I sure was worried and almost flew like Superman down the stairs to try to catch it.

Diablo, yout story is hilarious, though I highly doubt you thought so at the time.


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

I didnt do this to this strat BUT someone did....
http://kitchener.kijiji.ca/c-buy-an...s-Fender-Stratocaster-1975-W0QQAdIdZ272535349
you gata see it to believe it......
Just because you have the tools, it doesnt mean you have to use them....


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

GTmaker said:


> I didnt do this to this strat BUT someone did....
> http://kitchener.kijiji.ca/c-buy-an...s-Fender-Stratocaster-1975-W0QQAdIdZ272535349
> you gata see it to believe it......
> Just because you have the tools, it doesnt mean you have to use them....


ummm even the case is uked....


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## ThePass (Aug 10, 2007)

The worst thing I've done to a guitar is take it apart.

My first "real" guitar ~ a 1988 Kramer Aerostar ~ has been in a box in the basement for years.

My plan was to rebuild it years ago but I've never had the time. If I left it alone, I would have just dropped a new humbucker in it and have a retro backup guitar I'd use for a song or two with the band.

I should get to work on it.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

Well, I bought this great Gibson Les Paul








It had a few things changed on it like a bridge piece and a pickup cover was removed & the other cover was sanded down...it almost seemed as though someone was trying to get rid of the gold hardware and just lost motivation part way through. I had the guitar for the better part of a year really like it - it's a '95 with the ebony fingerboard. Anyway it had its share of nicks and scratches so I decided that I would try something with it.
I took a chisel...








slowly and carefully so as not to dig into the wood and I just didn't stop


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## Rick31797 (Apr 20, 2007)

3 things come too mind.. when i was a teen, i had a 1966 guild and sanded the finish off it,i still have the guitar.. will never touch the finish on a guitar again.
I also decided many years ago too put a pickup on my 12 string.. the pickup just slides in , but the jack, i go and drill a hole where the jack normally goes, turns out the hole should have been drilled at the strap end..as the jack replaces the strap end.. duhhhh
the last thing i did just 5 years ago, had a mint Dearmond hollowbody electric, decided too put it in a gig bag , too carry it , too a jam.. got out of the car and grabbed the strap on the gig bag and the strap let go, guitar hits the pavement hard.. i take it out and the bottom back edge is not round anymore, flat and pushed the finish in from the binding about 2 inches.. the front of the guitar was fine.. i ended up repairing it , and sold it.. it was still a nice player but heavy.. no more gig bags and no more dumb things.

oh ya somebody take that chisel away from smorgdonkey...ouch......


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## jakeblues (Jan 14, 2011)

Hmmm...that would have to be sawing off the horns of my first electric guitar - a beautiful, red, 3 pickup Beltone I bought at Simpsons Sears in the early 60's (yes, back then, Sears sold electric guitars). Anyway, the reason I did it was to make it look like a teardrop Vox that I thought was very cool at the time....it didn't look like a Vox... I gave it to my brother who was living at Rochdale in Toronto at the time... I guess it didn't matter much there.... who knows what became of it...


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

Rick31797 said:


> oh ya somebody take that chisel away from smorgdonkey...ouch......


HAHA!!
Well, I have to admit that the photos are all part of a 'twist' really - like a lost leader item in a sale. You go to see that item but end up seeing something else. It *LOOKS *dumb, and people who I told about it thought that it was dumb... but here is how the project progressed after that:
sanded:








stained:








and almost done:








Now the edge of the maple cap looks like binding but really it is just bare maple and I have been applying 'wipe-on' poly to the stripped areas. I didn't use a chisel on the edges...too difficult with the curves so I used wire wheels and such.








When it is completely finished I will get some nice photos in natural light.


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## ThePass (Aug 10, 2007)

That Lester actually looks like it's gonna turn out pretty cool!!!

Looking forward to better pics


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Steadfastly said:


> What's the craziest, stupid, dumbest thing you've done to a guitar?


Frankly? The stupidest thing I've done with guitars is let someone else handle them. Had a cased Godin Acoustibass (fretless 4 string) tumble off a fire escape landing to the ground below when someone moved it without my knowledge. The same unlucky instrument was knocked off an instrument stand behind me during a festival set by stage hands, completely innocent of course, but it resplit the top, loosened the neck and broke a machine head. 

Only a select trusted few handle my guitars, like my wife, the builders, one or two friends, but *NOT* bandmates. Sounds arrogant and prickish, but that's the way it is.

Peace, Mooh.


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## MReilander (Mar 16, 2011)

I can't take credit for this one, but I saw it happen and my jaw was on the floor. I was at my buddies house with 6 or seven other guitar players, a bass, and a drummer. We were all a little wobley, and very loud. There is nothing like the sound of seven or eight guys trying to tune up whiel the drummer is fooling around. Anyway, one guy couldn't hear his guitar and was getting upset because we were all just way too loud. All of a sudden we heard a War Cry and see his LTD flying across the room like a javeline!!! It got stuck in the wall, wobbling back and forth! As the guy storms out of the room, another guy walks up to the guitar, yanks it out of the wall, and starts jamming with us. I was quite amused at how cartoonish the whole scenario played out.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

MReilander said:


> All of a sudden we heard a War Cry and see his LTD flying across the room like a javeline!!! It got stuck in the wall, wobbling back and forth! As the guy storms out of the room, another guy walks up to the guitar, yanks it out of the wall, and starts jamming with us.


That's awesome!! Too bad there wasn't a video of it all!!


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## Schectertastic (Jul 12, 2010)

I think it was when we (friends and I who played in high school) just started playing guitar, and a buddy of ours just got an LTD ex350 (the coolest one any of us owned at the time), we were over checking it out and someone said "I wonder what kind of sound it'll make if I use this instead of a pick"....This referring to a huge wrench, which he used like a slide and hooked some of the strings on and broke one. Surprised he didn't dent the guitar.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

ThePass said:


> That Lester actually looks like it's gonna turn out pretty cool!!!
> 
> Looking forward to better pics


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## TubbyTone (Jan 26, 2011)

Robert1950 said:


>


in the 80's I chipped my finish off my Mustang with a butter knife, thinking it looked to much like a grandpa guitar, than traded it in on a Yamaha RGX only got something like $50 for it. later on I find out sunburst was a rare find for the Mustang ? slap to the forhead !!!


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## DavidS (Jul 10, 2009)

I sold a wonderful 1973? Guild D-35.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I started on a classical acoustic.

Without knowing any better, I added all steel strings.
It took a while, but eventually, the bridge blew right off the guitar while I was playing it.
My brother got a good laugh out of the situation.

Undeterred, I epoxied the bridge back down, but didn't wait long enough for it to cure.
I threw the steel strings back on it and the bridge raised a bit, then solidified.
Doh!


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## Maxer (Apr 20, 2007)

Probably the worst thing I did - and I still don't regret it - was take my oldest electric, back when I was still a kid, really, and play the hell out of it when I absolutely didn't know what I was doing. Let's just say I was waaaaaay more physical and energetic than I was talented. My thrashing fingers and pics chewed the hell out of the finish of my '71 Guild S-100 and aged it a great deal in a few short years, even though when I first got it used it was only ten years old but still in very good shape. Still, it was the guitar I grew up with and still have the most respect for. It still magically responds to whatever I do - it's just that now I have a far lighter touch. I've often considered refinishing it but in the end that wouldn't be honest of me. It is what it is - a beater guitar that plays like it's on fire.


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## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

Play it, enough said.


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## DrHook (Oct 28, 2013)

In the mid 70's a friend gave me a Japanese Tele clone...and me thinking *ugh tele*....went and tried to make it into a pseudo double cut with a bucker in the neck. It never played right after that and I tossed it. Fast forward a few years...ok 30 to be exact, and said friend posts a picture on his facebook of that same Tele with him playing it and lamenting how he wished he still had it..I felt horrible and wished I still had it to give to him....and I was embarassed to tell him what really happened to it. Nowadays I have a better appreciation of Teles and usually have about 4 on hand, but I wish wish wish...I could have made his day and given his back.


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## ThatGingerMojo (Jul 30, 2014)

I sat my Les Paul into one of those cheap guitar stands, turned to grab something and heard BANG. The guitar fell flat onto the fret board, the whiplash factor snapped the headstock forward cracking the wood, leaving the headstock flopping around. The tension of the strings broke it off. I quickly took the tension off the strings, grabbed my case and raced it to Cosmo's music in Richmond Hill, ON. I felt like I was driving an ambulance, I was so scared, my baby was lying, dying in its case. I was in tears...my Les Paul...NOOO!!!!!

I got it Cosmo's and the repair guy looked at me, saw my panic and laughed his ass off. He just shrugged it off and said its no big deal, he can fix it good as new in three days. I couldn't believe it. He called me in three days later and said I could pick it up. He glued the headstock back into place, sanded out all the imperfections and waxed it up really nice. He put new strings on it, gave it a fresh set-up. He handed it to me and I actually felt like i was holding a new guitar.

He told me to plug it in and wail for a bit. Not only did he save it, he made it stronger than ever, and I swear that tone is just a little sweeter. He saved my babies life.


Wanna know the real kicker, with the new strings and set-up, he only charged me $45. Now that is service. Would I take any guitar to this dude. Ya damn right!


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

another couple stupid things i did

smashed 2 of my fav guitars in a fit of rage a few yrs ago, during a argument over money

back in 83 or 84 i traded a really sweet westbury deluxe for the shittiest kramer vee ever made on planet earth.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Threw down my gigging PRS Soapbar SE after being frustrated, trying to learn a solo of a song that was added to our setlist, two days before the gig. I really regretted that coz it was my favourite guitar, at least at that time.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I don't think I've done many things to a guitar I would call stupid, but the one that comes to mind was monkeying with the intonation on my first real Les Paul without the slightest clue as to what I was doing or what the impact would be.

I threw it all out of whack and was going crazy trying to "keep" it in tune.

The positive was I was obliged to learn the basics of action and intonation or take it to the local TV repair / music store (lived in NB and that was a long time ago) for a set up.

I went with plan A.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

That would have to be leaving one of my ES 330s on an unsecure display stand right beside a high traffic area in my bedroom. I got up in the middle of the night to take care of an uncomfortable need to pee, jumped out of bed and heard a thump behind me. On returning to bed I saw the guitar on the floor with the headstock laying beside it. It was so surreal, I just put it back on the stand and the headstock on a table beside it. As I went back to sleep I was thinking,"Wow, that was a real bad dream".

In the morning I had this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and purposely averted my eyes from the guitar as I made coffee, sat down at my computer and turned on the morning news. Then I turned my head and realized,"Yup I guess that really happened. Huh...".
I was truly in such shock and silent panic, I had to keep looking back at it to believe the break was real. Reality took all morning to sink in as I walked around like a grieving zombie.

I could only afford a repair with no finishing but it is still my favourite player and the repair is just fine, if a little ugly to look at.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

I sanded the finish of my 84 (or 87) ibanez rg570 in a tool and die shop.

The plant manager nearly killed me once the toxic dust cloud settled.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

adcandour said:


> I sanded the finish of my 84 (or 87) ibanez rg570 in a tool and die shop.
> 
> The plant manager nearly killed me once the toxic dust cloud settled.



guitars have toxic stuff in them?


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

cheezyridr said:


> guitars have toxic stuff in them?


MEK, daaaammnnn. That stuff makes the news...


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## Steve C (Nov 3, 2008)

1979: Drilled two holes in the headstock of a Daphne Blue 1961 Stratocaster to install the Kahler...yeah, I know!


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## Steve C (Nov 3, 2008)

If JOHN LENNON were on this fourm - "I took me '58 Rickenbacker to a bloke in 1962 to have him paint it black...he used a paint brush and lorry paint...I should have known better with a ...
oh well Yoko will get a few Yen fer it someday."


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## stringer (Jun 17, 2009)

Steve C said:


> If JOHN LENNON were on this fourm - "I took me '58 Rickenbacker to a bloke in 1962 to have him paint it black...he used a paint brush and lorry paint...I should have known better with a ...
> oh well Yoko will get a few Yen fer it someday."


Selling it to Johns son Julian probably.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

LOL @ stringer. 

You made me spit coffee on my keys.


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