Dings and dents

[rattus77]

Hi all i disassembled my tele yesterday for a general spring clean and restringing and lo and behold the neck fell on the body denting and chipping the paint in the process doh!. Am i worrying to much about what i done or is it part of owning a guitar dents and dings giving it individuality. I was horrified at first but now im thinking it adds character to the guitar.

[Highway_61]

Read my "chunk missing from my CV" thread.
I'm very happy with this guitar, bare spots and all.

[rattus77]

Cool i was really annoyed when it happened but it still plays well and its not the end of the world eh?

[Highway_61]

No, not the end of the world at all. I think I'm even "closer to" my guitar because of it. You know: companions who have both been battered a bit by life. Kind of crazy, I know, but I do feel a bit that way about it.

[rattus77]

I guess it makes the guitar more part off me now strange eh?

[beep.click]

Originally Posted by rattus77

Am i worrying to much about what i done or is it part of owning a guitar dents and dings giving it individuality. I was horrified at first but now im thinking it adds character to the guitar.

Sooner or later, something happens. If you can have a good attitude about it, consider yourself fortunate!

Dents and dings probably bug me more than most, but only on some guitars. My Ric bass has a couple nasty blemishes, but I bought it that way, and I don't even think about it. My black Strat, however -- that bugs me. After a dusty gig in the desert, it was laying on something, and my friend grabbed it to hand to me... except he didn't LIFT it, he DRAGGED it... so now the Strat has these streaks/scratches, from the desert dust. I think that one still annoys me, 20 years later, because it was a totally avoidable episode.

[rattus77]

That would annoy me too. But at the end off the day i dented my own guitar and i will live eh?

[Twang Tone]

Originally Posted by rattus77

Hi all i disassembled my tele yesterday for a general spring clean and restringing and lo and behold the neck fell on the body denting and chipping the paint in the process doh!. Am i worrying to much about what i done or is it part of owning a guitar dents and dings giving it individuality. I was horrified at first but now im thinking it adds character to the guitar.

That's nothing. Wait 'til you drop your soldering iron on it...like I did!!

Thanks,

[rattus77]

I just hope that never happens

[beep.click]

Well, as much as I likes 'em purty -- if they've been with me a while, and we've bonded -- they're just good old friends, and how they look is how they look.

[Ricky D.]

This is heresy around here with all the meticulous perfectionism of the build threads, but...

If that chip contrasts with the surrounding finish, you can use a colored marker to make it less visible. If the problem is surface scratches on a black finish, some careful work with a black Sharpie would make that just about invisible. Not perfect, but maybe better than nothing.

[Martinussen]

Rattus - your Tele is just developing its personality, so don't worry about it. However, if someone asks, make up some story about how it got dinged when you were fighting 3... no, wait, 4 guys to defend a woman's honour. That sounds a whole lot better than the old "I was cleaning it and it went off..."

[MulliganChebichev]

Its the first ones that hurts the most. But like you said it adds character and makes it more personal.

[JimmyJam]

I don't mind a chunk of the body. The neck is a whole different story, if I can feel it when I play.

[DamnYankee]

Originally Posted by Twang Tone

That's nothing. Wait 'til you drop your soldering iron on it...like I did!!

Thanks,

Did that myself last night.

[robb3566]

If it's just cosmetic, doesn't bother me at all. I accidentally shot one of my basses with an airsoft gun...made a pretty big dent, but I just touched it up with a magic marker.

[boris bubbanov]

I guess I'm glad I dropped the cheapest body I own, a Squier 51 body, not one of the others from USACG.

But I had just finished levelling the finish for a final topcoat. And. It is enamel, not lacquer so there's no real way to drop fill the chips - the finish would've been harder later, but the color and top coats wouldn't have bonded..

I'm just gonna strip back down to the armor. I mean the factory polyurethane.

[Nobster]

About 30 years ago I arrived at a club and was walking through to get on the stage and get setup with my then quite young and pretty tele in a cheap hardcase in my hand.

There were people around and at the time I was probably thinking I looked pretty cool with my dark glasses, leather jacket, boots and attitude. Anyway the case suddenly went light on me - to my horror several hinges had just disintegrated and the case opened from the bottom! the tele dropped out heavy end first onto the hard floor with a nasty whack and bounced around. I was left scrabbling around like an idiot. In those days you didn't have "spare" guitars.

There's been many accidental knocks and dings since then but that one makes me smile when I think back.

I few years ago I decided to take a new tripod stand along to a gig and afterwards took care to place the same old tele carefully in the stand while I was packing cables. The guitar had just been refretted and setup and was looking and playing sweet. Then I pulled a cable and it got caught under the back leg of the stand: the stand tipped forward and the tele went flat on it's face on the stoney hardstand behind the stage, dinging the fretboard. She's still number one.

[teleftcaster]

Originally Posted by Twang Tone

That's nothing. Wait 'til you drop your soldering iron on it...like I did!!

Thanks,

+1 ......

[superbadj]

When I was considering my first electric guitar and first tele purchase in 1990 or so (I was 16), I had my eye on a MIJ (1985) '62 Tele Custom 'burst. Beautiful guitar.

I played and played it in the store. It was a bit out of my range, but I HAD to have it. So I went to re-hang it on the wall, and as I turned to walk off after hanging it, I learned the lesson right then and there about wall hangers and the skinny tele headstock.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM.

The sucker just slid out and fell straight down, landing on its butt before clanging over on its side. Tore a small chunk out of the binding on the bottom, and barely into the wood. Made a few scratches/dents/etc. I was unbelievably embarrassed, and sorta heartbroken.

I decided to take her home. I've had her ever since, and still think it's a great guitar. The gouge is on the back, so nobody really ever sees it, and for me, now, it's shared history.

[DMace]

Man, I can trace the dings and dents and scratches on my 1997 '52RI to times in my life. It's great. Guitars with wear - wear that's acquired naturally, through gigging and playing- have genuine character, a history, just like the player. Embrace it.

[MandyMarie]

Originally Posted by DMace

Man, I can trace the dings and dents and scratches on my 1997 '52RI to times in my life. It's great. Guitars with wear - wear that's acquired naturally, through gigging and playing- have genuine character, a history, just like the player. Embrace it.

I could have made that very same post myself, my friend. A great big +1!

[zosofan]

Dents and dings don't bother me one bit, it adds a little something.
Unless (like someone already pointed out) its on the neck where I can feel it when I'm playing.That drives me nuts!
Eric

[z-clay]

Just play it and think of it as a tool. Tools get their share of dents and dings but they still get the job done.