How precious are your Guitars? Road worn or pristine.

[KevinB]

My degree of caring is inversely proportional to the hotness of the girl.   

[tadol]

My degree of caring is inversely proportional to the hotness of the girluitar.   



Tad

[flintsghost]

I guess I don't mind a little wear and scratch now and then but I much prefer it be done by me than somebody else.   Things happen and dings, dents and scratches show up.   I  and pretty careful with my accoustics whether they are Larrivee or whatever.   

[rpm60912]

As a rule, I like my guitars in "pristine" condition. I think, I can live with myself if I know I take the utmost care of all my guitars. If it gets dinged or scratched, I do get momentarily upset with myself, and move on and write it down as "more character / mojo." It gets more difficult if another person does the dinging - but like I already mentioned - I do get over it.

I expect my Parlor Walnut to see more road travel and more use --- and therefore more "character marks." It's my practice daily guitar; and since I'm at least the 3rd owner, it has a couple of tiny imperfections that in my books would not qualify it as mint. Fine with me.

Tonight, I used my Taylor GS and played duo with our keyboard player at church, I can't get over how I've had it for 2 years now and it's still in showroom condition.

I appreciate all my guitars pristine, character marks, used / worn and all  ---   I like em all. I'm hooked.

ricky

[obe-wan]

I think having little ones takes away some of the "preciousness". Our children become our priority, guitar time is harder to find, especially when stored in the case. My kids constantly come up to me when Im playing and have a strum, sometimes with an unidentifiable substance that once apon a time was a food group covering there chubby little digits. Ive also picked up my guitar to discover a rattling sound, only to flip the guitar over face down and watch half a dozen odd M&Ms tumble onto the floor.

Obviously I would like to avoid the guitar falling and doing any kind of structural damage, but if I was so protective over it, it wouldnt get played.

Which reminds me, Ive gotta get a case for my Bass Guitar.......

Cheers, Scott.

[BenF]

Sounds like my house Scott!!!

I have found the hercules stands that grab the neck to be very useful.  Guitars can get knocked a little without falling over.  It holds them at just the right angle for the M&M game too.

To be honest, my kids are pretty good, it is my cats that are bad for knocking the guitars.  They also go searching for the M&Ms.

[Queequeg]

I don't get obsessive about my guitars or other material possessions.
I bought my baritone as something of a factory second. It has some finish blems on the top. I love those blems. Essentially they are $1K blems. (that's how much additional money I would have had to shell out were it perfect. ) What's not to like?
I take good care of my guitars but little nicks and such are nothing to get upset about.

[jbrummer]

I got my first Larrivee a few weeks back and, like most new owners I assume, was rather obsessive about my precious new "baby" . . . within minutes of getting the guitar out of the case, my 3 year old was in the case riding it like a ship and my 5 year old was spinning the tuners on the guitar as if he thought a gumball was going to pop out the sound hole any second  . . . I love my new guitar and play it as much as possible, but my kids and my wife are what really bring music to my life.

[BenF]

my 3 year old was in the case riding it like a ship and my 5 year old was spinning the tuners on the guitar as if he thought a gumball was going to pop out the sound hole any second 

Doesn't it just make you want to scream when you pick it up and it is tuned to EADskippingropeBE.

[prof_stack]

Except for the 1940 parlor, my guitars are pretty much sheltered from the real world.  They go back in their case when not in use.  My tabby likes to jump in the open guitar case while I'm playing and the 7-month rottweiler is a wrecking ball in any room she is in, especially if she wants to play with the cats.  So, yeah, my guitars are precious.

[drmar120]

Dings and scratches happen, and I don't get too worked up about them. Normal wear and friction on the wood, I think, actually give instruments more character. The lived-in look is good.  But I do try to keep my guitars in as nice a shape as regular playing allows. The one time I really let vanity prevail was when I bought my Avalon, which had a silver-dollar sized spot of severe pick rash on that lovely cedar top. It just bugged the heck out of me. It happened that a semi-custom pickguard from Terrapin covered it up almost perfectly. And it looks great with a nice tortis pickguard, besides.