Broke Guitars

    You can't collect more than a few guitars and NOT have a broke guitar story.


    Share some!


    I have three:


    1) Had a 90's Ernie Ball MusicMan Axis Sport that was candy apple red. Cracked just looking at the finish. So I got the bright idea to strip it back to wood and shellac it.
    While I was doing this, it rained. I had the parts in a big black bag, neck wrapped in t-shirt. Neck took the rain and held it against the neck. Axis Sport necks are "unfinished". Oops.
    Swelled up like a puffer fish. 2 years in a Kiln and the frets popped and I still had to hammer it onto the body. Only good for slide. So after 5 years I decided to have the neck fixed.
    MusicMan took the old neck, replaced it with a new Super Sport neck (lefty even though the guitar was a righty) and put on a compensated nut. The only lefty compensated nut on a 90s Axis Sport! ;)
    Not as good as the original, sadly, but good enough (9/10) The body? It was a right-handed body and I carved that naked baby up for lefty reach up the neck.
    I now have a totally unsellable guitar (unless Van Halen signs it) but it plays fantastic and sounds even better. Like a 60's casino P90! I pimped the body up with rock-history stickers. Looks like a Pinnate.


    2) Had a Parker PM20 Pro. Leaned against a wall. It slid 1 foot along the wall into a table. The headstock must have had weak grain and cracked at a tuner and sent a piece of wood across the room.
    Took me an hour to find it! Had a local luthier fix it with a wooden peg stacked through it like a vampire. Ugly. I didn't pay for cosmetics. Too cheap a guitar to be worth the price.


    3) Traded a GIbson SG for an Akai DPS24 (man, that was a bad deal, I miss that unit) and since it was a righty, gave it to my brother in NYC. He had it, probably knocked it over. It's a Gibson, so the neck broke of course.
    My brother, being an egg-head about guitars, and too ashamed to admit to me he "broke" the guitar, didn't know you can fix guitars and threw it away. Somewhere, in the Canarsie dump in Queens long island, is a Gibson SG that can be fixed. Along with 50+ years of NYC garbage and innumerable mob hits. Being a right-handed guitar, and a bad swap, I think it got what was coming to in, no?


    Seeing I've probably had about 30 or so guitars in the 20 years I've been spending on electric guitars (acoustic before that) that's about a 10% break rate. I now treat guitars much, much better.
    People who buy my used guitars are amazed at the great shape. So an old dog has learned a trick!

    About three years ago I purchased a mint condition 1987 Kramer Stagemaster. Been wanting one for many years in condition this good. When it arrived I could hear something rattling in the box. The head stock had been broken completely off. I was sick. The seller could have done a better job packing but FedEx was obviously rough with it. I could have sent it back, let the seller refund me, and he collect the insurance but I decided to get it repaired. There was one particular individual on the Kramer forum that everyone recommended, Vince Michael Guitars. It ended up taking almost a year to get it fixed but he did a such great job that you cannot even see where the break occurred. It stays in tune and plays perfectly. I’m glad I saved it because I’m sure FedEx would have just thrown it in the dumpster. It’s now one of my favorite guitars.


    Trey

    Never broke a guitar dB. I really baby them, like my own children. I did have a wannabe tech really ruin this gorgeous HM Strat that I owned. He removed the original electronics, replaced a Dimarzio pickup for a Chinese one. Sold it down the line for a $400 profit after I did all kinds of upgrades, including a new Kahler Spyder bridge.

    Recently was cleaning a Gibson Les Paul...... set it against a chair for a second got up as I was getting up I saw the guitar spin and land just right for the head-stock to go flying off. Typical Les Paul injury. (Replaced with PRS McCarty 594 .... What A Les Paul should be built like)


    Also owned a Tacoma Chieftain acoustic. Had to stop playing for a few years to let a wrist injury heal up correctly and forgot to pay attention to the guitar... string tension and humidity. Sure enough I open up the case and had huge issues. Cracks down the front and almost all braces were loose. Would have cost more to repair than the guitar would ever be worth. (Replaced with a Taylor 612CE First Edition and a Taylor 816CE)


    Had one of the first Ibanez RG550's. Was out playing at a friends house with no strap locks on and down she went and off went the neck. Broke the neck and snapped the neck pocket. Never again did I play without strap locks. (Replaced with 1988 ESP Horizon Custom)

    I have a really nice Lowden acoustic. Some years back I was a session player, playing with this well-known pop star over here in DK. Everyone bicycles in Copenhagen, and as the pick up point for the tour bus was just a few blocks away, I decided to cycle with one electric in a gig bag over one shoulder, another electric in a hard case in one hand, and the Lowden in a soft case on my back. The trip was arduous, even though it was just a few blocks. Anyway, I arrived safely, as did the guitars. I parked my bike in one of the many cycle stands and proceeded to make my way to the bus on the other side of the lot. There was an iron rail, a little under three feet high, blocking my path. I could’ve walked the extra few feet around it, but I judged it was low enough to swing myself over. Sure enough it was, but I forgot that the soft case that I had the Lowden in on my back hung lower than the top of my ass. Crack! In my panic, I put down the two electrics and opened the acoustic case; the body was cracked almost all the way around the sides. Gutted! By then, other band members had come over to see what had happened. I put the acoustic back in the case and stood it up against the rail while I explained to them. A sudden gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew the guitar so it fell face down onto the asphalt. Crack again! Opening the case revealed that the headstock was now almost completely broken off, hanging on by the thinnest shaving of wood.
    Needless to say, I wasn’t playing acoustic at those shows, lol!


    I got the guitar fixed by a local luthier. He had two price brackets; one obscenely expensive, but with almost invisible results, he assured me, and one less expensive but with no refinishing. I took the cheaper option. Still cost me over £300/3000DKK. Plays ok to this day, and probably sounds just as good as before!
    You live and learn