First Ding

Chris Tarman

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Tonight the phone rang and when I got up to get it, I smacked the butt end of my newest Mainland (mahogany soprano) into the corner of the arm of the (Mission Style) recliner. It hit hard enough to actually BOUNCE and hit it again... TWICE! It left 3 small depressions which decrease in size, like when you skip a rock across a pond. I think the dents are just in the gloss finish, but the first and largest one might actually go into the wood. They are right at the bottom of the body, just above the jack for the pickup.
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I am strangely ok with this. I am one of those who sees dings and dents as inevitable, and as signs that the instrument actually gets played. This is a close-up of the wear on my '77 Jazz Bass. I bought it in '99 and it was in almost MINT condition. All that arm wear is from ME, baby!
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Aloha Chris, Sorry that happened. Good your ok with it. When I dented my uke under the bridge I was'nt so ok with it. Now I kinda look at like you do. Still a bummer when you bang it up, after being so careful 99% of the time.
 
At least it's in a place where only I am ever likely to see it.
A note about the wear on the bass: Although you can't really see it in that photo, the whole area where my arm rests is a different color and "luster" than the rest of the bass. I believe I have worn down to the undercoat! I'm quite proud of that!
 
Argh! I have a ton of Yo-yo's...expensive metal ones, and for a few years I never threw them over anything but the finest cashmere and angora. One day I threw one outside and inevitably it bounced right off the concrete. My wife looked horrified as I returned it to my hand only to laugh and say "I bought it to use it right".
It took a while, but dings, they are badges of honor in my book now.
 
dings happen, and why is your pickup cap on backwards?

Is it? You mean on the uke? That's how Mike at Mainland installed it. Or do you mean the chrome pickup cover on the bass? In which case it is NOT on backwards.
 
dings- battle scars - they happen. I dinged my mainland headstock the first week I had it - I nearly cried!
 
Oh lordy I am clumsy and can be obsessive about any little mark on my pretty little ukulele. Finally I am deciding to just love and play my ukulele. I am coming to terms with the natural course of aging, both for my ukulele and for me.
Roxhum
 
If ya play em, you'll ding em. Thats part of it, and as long as it isn't structural or damages the sound, your golden, and giving your Uke history and charicter. My daughter used to be devastated when she dinged or scratched her guitars. I finally got her to know it's gonna happen if you play it. The more you have it out playing it, the higher the odds it's gonna get dinged, and worn. She embraces her battle scars now, and her Strat has been showing it's wounds recently and she loves it because it shows her time on it. Before ya know it, her Strat will look like SRV's because she's on it every day from the time she gets home from school to bed time. lol..
 
Aloha Chris,
I don't do that often, but I do get careless and bump it or it slips and then check for damage...maybe lazyness or carelessness or both..then I think, dam!!! wish I would have##been more careful...then again too
late to cry over spilled milk, doesn't change things...it's when I do it again with thinking of the concequences when I'm in a rush or something....Sorry to hear about you damage bruddah, yes I know it sucks for me
too.. Thanks for shaing your story and pictures, for me it's not a deterance as I have no control over rushing or lazyness and carelessness...things just happen for me...Sheesh!! MM Stan
 
Tonight the phone rang and when I got up to get it, I smacked the butt end of my newest Mainland (mahogany soprano) into the corner of the arm of the (Mission Style) recliner. It hit hard enough to actually BOUNCE and hit it again... TWICE! It left 3 small depressions which decrease in size, like when you skip a rock across a pond. I think the dents are just in the gloss finish, but the first and largest one might actually go into the wood. They are right at the bottom of the body, just above the jack for the pickup.
View attachment 18246
I am strangely ok with this. I am one of those who sees dings and dents as inevitable, and as signs that the instrument actually gets played. This is a close-up of the wear on my '77 Jazz Bass. I bought it in '99 and it was in almost MINT condition. All that arm wear is from ME, baby!
View attachment 18247

Bummer... I guess wear it as a badge of honor!!!
 
Is it? You mean on the uke? That's how Mike at Mainland installed it. Or do you mean the chrome pickup cover on the bass? In which case it is NOT on backwards.

I am talking about the first image, the end piece that is screwed on is backwards, if you rotate it around and put it back on, it will fit flush with the washer and will cover up the nut so you can't see it. Mike might have been a little distracted if he screwed it on that way haha. Unless he likes em that way, I dunno. Seems like it would block a lot of the 1/4 pin from going in though.
 
It's kind of funny, whenever I'm looking at used instruments and I see something that is several years old and "mint" I think, "hmmm, must not be a good sample, otherwise it would have been played instead of sitting in the case for ten years!"

I take good care of my instruments, and none of them look abused, but probably every one of them has a ding here or there. I know it's only a matter of time until some little thing happens even to my KoAloha. When I had a custom SG built I had the option of getting a very fancy transparent finish over a flame top - instead, I had the luthier paint it "aged white" even though the price was the same. Much less embarrassing to ding and easier to fix. Sure enough, I hadn't had it two weeks when it slipped out of my sweaty hands as I was putting it in its case after a long rehearsal. It hit right on the metal rim of the case and chipped a bit of the paint off the back corner of the lower bout.

One friend who worked construction was telling about his crazy boss. He'd just purchased a new company pickup and he called the crew together and bashed a good sized dent in the tailgate with a hammer, then told them, "I don't want you guys abusing my trucks, but it's a work vehicle and I don't want you wasting time at $30 an hour because you're afraid to scratch it. It's had it's first ding, now get to work!"

John
 
Yeah, its like when I get new shoes, I almost HAVE to get some dirt on em right away, or else it will drive me crazy
 
I am talking about the first image, the end piece that is screwed on is backwards, if you rotate it around and put it back on, it will fit flush with the washer and will cover up the nut so you can't see it. Mike might have been a little distracted if he screwed it on that way haha. Unless he likes em that way, I dunno. Seems like it would block a lot of the 1/4 pin from going in though.

Ahh.. I think I've figured it out. I took the piece off and switched it around, and had a sudden flash of memory. That piece fell off the first time I plugged the uke in,pretty much as soon as I'd unpacked it, so I didn't actually see how it was attached in the first place. So it was ME who put it on backwards! I had forgotten all about that until I unscrewed it today. But it didn't actually block the cable from going in at all, as far as I could tell.
 
Ahh.. I think I've figured it out. I took the piece off and switched it around, and had a sudden flash of memory. That piece fell off the first time I plugged the uke in,pretty much as soon as I'd unpacked it, so I didn't actually see how it was attached in the first place. So it was ME who put it on backwards! I had forgotten all about that until I unscrewed it today. But it didn't actually block the cable from going in at all, as far as I could tell.

Don't feel bad, when I put mine on first, I put the nut in front of the washer, it looked awful.
 
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