Official Luthiers Forum!

Ok, I'd bet money that this has not happened to anyone else here.
While setting up this latest 12 string, there was a lot of nut work going on. Pulling the strings out of the nut slots weakened them a lot. And I broke one. Not too uncommon. When I went to remove the bridge pin to pull the string out, I realized that the broken end of the string had stuck itself into the top of the guitar just above the bridge. Clear through the finish into the wood. Like a javelin. I had no way of measuring the depth but I'd guess it went in .015-.020". (Glad it wasn't my eye it lodged itself into )

So tomorrow is finish repair day.
It never ends...

I've seen it happen - twice. Fortunately for me, both times it happened to
co-workers. Once at Bryan Galloup's and once at Elderly's.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I thought I was a bit paranoid to have the same fear, since when strings break they never seem to whip around. But now that I have to wear reading glasses to do anything on a guitar, I feel a bit safer--only my face is at risk.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Thanks, Paul, for the heads up.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

That really stinks! Sorry that happened to you, but I'm sure you'll do a near invisible repair.

My worst Murphy moment was back in the day when I was using KTM-4a, and was using a heat lamp to help cure the finish between coats. I had this beautiful cedar-topped dread on the workboard, fine tuning the finish on the top. I was almost done compounding the finish (by hand in those days) when I lifted up my head, hit the heat lamp, and it came crashing down on the top right by the soundhole. It left a couple really nice dings in there, and took out a small chunk of the cedar on the soundhole.   I had to fix the dings, replace the missing chunk, and refinish the top. Figures. Murphy and I go back a long ways...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Funny I was thinking yesterday about jobs that just seem cursed. Like where everything that can go wrong will, and then new inventive things start to go wrong. Things that defy the laws of physics and gravity. Sorry that happened to you Paul but sometimes the guitar repair gods throw some lightning at us to keep us humble.
Best, Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

I was preoccupied with budget hearings at work and drove away from the gas pump which was still connected. The safety disconnect worked, but the hose whipped through my back window.

Seeing as I'm a self-proclaimed idiot, I'm sure I could flabbergast you folks with some of my stupid moments........but I won't, they are just to embarrassing.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

<using my best Forrest Gump Impersonation voice>

It happens

 

sorry it happened to you. I feel your pain.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Paul, Mr. Murphy visits me fairly regularly.
I was drilling a hole for the little screw for the truss rod cover. The peghead already had been buffed out. (It already sounds disastrous, doesn't it?) Simple enough process...until the bit breaks, and the spinning snag of what's left in the chuck plows its way through your pretty lacquer job, deep into the peghead overlay.

Sorry that he visited you as well.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Hi all - I'll enter the forum with this: I unknowingly spilled a whole
10 oz. bottle of CA glue on my wooden bench top. I was in other room
for a while when I smelled the heavy fumes. It had been a very busy day
and the bench was full of junk - including a guitar. I flipped the
bench top, but some of that day is preserved under there as a reminder
to clean more often, and be more careful with glue.

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Tom Krebs

There`s something about bringing a G string up to tension that scares the heck out of me too, every time.

I close my eyes and make a squinty face.

Matt

i've managed to break an octave g on just about every 12 string i've worked on. when i order 12 strings sets i always order a like number of single octave g's to cover my ineptitude. fortunately i've never had one penetrate me or the guitar.

Paul, At least it didn't lodge itself into your knuckle. No need to ask how I know this is possable..

I'm with Matt on going all squinty faced when tuning up.
Just a natural reaction after you've been bitten a few times.
Murphy's law lives. It keeps us on our toes and can save our fingers.

Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] I was drilling a hole for the little screw for the truss rod cover. The peghead already had been buffed out. (It already sounds disastrous, doesn't it?) Simple enough process...until the bit breaks, and the spinning snag of what's left in the chuck plows its way through your pretty lacquer job, deep into the peghead overlay.
[/QUOTE]

My brother-in-law suffered a variation on this. Unfortunately, the ragged spinning end of the drill bit dug into his finger, and he had to make a visit to the local hospital's emergency room. Still makes me shudder to think about it.

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John Cavanaugh
Saint Paul, MN
"What could possibly go wrong?"

I had a octive string go completly through a 1/2 inch of my forearm!
Lance

Murhpy's law is operative in my house at the moment. That's all I'll say.

[QUOTE=McCollum] I had a octive string go completly through a 1/2 inch of my forearm!
Lance[/QUOTE]


Ouch.

Ouch ouch.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

[QUOTE=Rod True] Seeing as I'm a self-proclaimed idiot, I'm sure I could flabbergast you folks with some of my stupid moments........but I won't, they are just to embarrassing.[/QUOTE]

Aw, c'mon Rod, do tell.

I'll repeat mine from last year --

Didn't think I had THAT much CA on the pieces I was holding together with my fingers on the bench. I was home alone, and the solvent was just out of reach. Luckily a scrap of bracing was within reach so that I could jockey the solvent close enough to reach it.....

New mantra - always keep the solvent in reach when using CA.

And the time I lost my fingerprints and a bit of blood on the belt sander. That piece I was thinning got thin quicker than I expected and scooted right under the fence.

New mantra 2 - don't use fingers to hold small workpieces on the belt sander. Double-sided tape is my friend.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I often have saw blades go through fingertips. It's always the same but hurts differently each time for some odd reason!

Craig

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www.handcraftinlay.com

I have a pair of matching scars on the ends of my thumbs from feeding stuff into the bandsaw.......

I regularly take the skin off various parts of my hands on the sander (It's my new weight loss program!!)

I was fitting a barn door preamp to the top bout of my own keeper & beater and the dremel slipped.......a nice skitter across the side and a chunk out of the binding AND cedar top....

Ah well, at lkeast it wasn't for anyone

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

I was fretting a new guitar and using "superglue"around
1983 -the glue was thin -I carefully applied it to the fret slot-bent down to eye level and started to hammer the fret in-The glue shot out -EYE LEVEL!!
My glasses saved me from a shot in the eye!!

Whew-i still recall that everytime i put glue in a fret slot!!!
Mike

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Mike Collins

Ouch to all of these.
This Murphy fellow has a vile sense of humor.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com