Official Luthiers Forum!

So I get a call from an old friend the other day, who wants me to make a nut for this guitar he's building for himself. Anyway, he comes over yesterday to have me make the nut. It's an electric, a tele reproduction, gorgeous neck, BRW fretboard, swamp ash body. Fantastic looking in the white. A fine example of an electric guitar.
After I make the nut, we're hanging out and talking about a reso he would like me to build for him, and we get into the subject of Jerry Douglas etc. While we're talking, I'm showing him my wood collection, and hitting a couple pieces with naptha so he can see the figure really pop. He's all excited about his project, and the Dobro I built that he's playing etc. Before we realize it, it's almost 7 pm so I have to kick him out. (I was hungry, and he some place to go to) On the way out to the car, he shows me the new install he did of Sirius radio in the car. (Pretty cool radio thingy) and then I realize forgot to get the AKUS dvd that I'm lending him. So many distractions... So I go get the dvd, and then he heads back to the car and leaves while I go inside to do some more work.

All of a sudden, I hear this noise....like someone is taking my plastic garbage cans and slamming them and skidding them all over the place. I run out to see what happened, only to see my friend's car out in the street, stopped. Out in front of his car, was Tele case , laying there all mangled. Yes, he left it on the trunk, and never put it in it. He ran over it with both wheels, right over the neck section.

Both of us had our hearts up in our throats as we looked at the crushed case. It was one of those plastic Fender cases. He was pretty much in shock, so I opened it, and low and behold, the guitar was unscratched.

He said "I can't believe it!".
I said "Dude, the case did its job."

He's going to go buy another case today...

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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."

I dreaded clicking on this thread.......

Phew, I'm GLAD all his hard work has stayed intact!!!

yikes!!!!!!!

what a scare!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

That is very scary indeed. Glad the guitar stayed in tact. What brand case was that Don?

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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

Wow, That is amazing it held up with no damage!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

That is truly amazing! I waas dreading reading this myself, thinking it may have something to do with power tool mishaps. Darn good case!

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

[QUOTE=Rod True] What brand case was that Don?[/QUOTE]

Plastic Fender case.

My heart is pounding! WOW.

I once dropped my tele face down on the asphalt from a van, I opened the back door, the case started sliding, and opened up on the way down. Not a scratch....

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

[QUOTE=Hesh1956] Wow what a testimonial for Fender cases!!![/QUOTE]

Oddly enough, it was one of those cheapo plastic molded cases, which seem to have just enough strength to withstand crushing in just the right places. At least this one did.

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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."

Good news, Don.
The bad news is that guy could never get a job driving for FedEx/UPS. Isn't the crush-guitar-test the first one potential drivers have to pass?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

[quote]Isn't the crush-guitar-test the first one potential drivers have to pass? [/quote]

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

I was relieved to find the word fatal was only being used metaphorically.
In a trade where people are using power tools every day I would be
careful about the use of the word "fatal". A broken guitar is quite
insignificant in relation to it's literal use.

On a lighter note - even if it had no case at all, it's a Fender style guitar.
Chances are it would have had a few finish chips and possibly needed a
fret dress to get the gravel chips out.    

The "left it leaning against the trunk" accident is a surprisingly common
scenario. I've seen and repaired several victims of this oversight. One was
an Orville Gibson mandolin (yes, one built by Orville himself) that came in
to Bryans when I first started there. Given that it was the owners son who
did the damage, that could have been a near fatal mistake....

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

a friend had his les paul reversed over by his buddy - it was in his gibbo case and it was fine - thank god for small european cars!!

 

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www.theguitarrepairworkshop.com

Makes you wonder just how much abuse the carriers commit to actually
destroy a guitar

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Christopher C. Cordle
North Muskegon, MI

http://www.yardsaleunderwear.com
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.cordle

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] Isn't the crush-guitar-test the first one potential drivers have to pass?[/QUOTE]
No. They just want to know that you can hit the target on the first try. The actual damage part is taught in their Advanced Training Program.

Don, that's especially good to hear, because your friend was building it himself. You don't want to get even a scratch on your new project (baby) until the finish is cured, let alone turn it into kindling.

Don last week at a Blues jam a guy pulled up, got
out a Strat, Fender Deluxe and a pedal bag and set
them behind his car...then he noticed a better
parking spot. He got back in his car, put it in reverse
and almost backed over all three of them! Only my
bandmate shouting at him stopped him. The amp
was knocked over onto the guitar with the rear wheel
climbing over it.
Fortunately no serious damage.