Stop scratching the back of my guitar!!!
 

Hey guys...

Ive had a bit of a problem with scratches on the back of my guitarz...
I know the simple answer is just to not wear a belt or cover you belt with a tshirt(doesnt always work)

But during a gig sometimes my band members swap guitars and what not and end up using mine and scratching the back of my guitarz..

Any thoughts or suggestions on how to prevent it? Or fix my existing scratches?

You're never going to prevent it unless you put a really ridiculous covering on the back of your guitar.

They do sell such coverings but they make the guitar stick to your clothes.

The easiest way is to stop babying your damn guitars and treat them like the tools they are instead of your unborn children. My guitars all have their fair share of dings and nick and even on the expensive ones as long as its not something huge, I couldn't give two ****s.

I understand that's gotta be frustrating. I guess just don't switch guitars with band members, or like Guitarbizzare said, get a cover.

Yeah i guess i could get over it...it just my acoustic Maton is so damn beautiful!....ahh
thanks

I know how you feel - but after the first few scratches appear you have to accept your baby is now growing in character! Enjoy it.

You let your bandmates use it? I won't even let my jam buddys touch my mexican tele.

You could shorten your guitar strap so your belt is right under your guitar. You don't need the body right against your belt. Lower =/= "cooler". It's easier on the wrist anyway if you have the body higher.

Yeah I made the mistake of sharing my instruments around and they all got wrecked :/ I don't do that anymore.

YES. absolutely.

there is very little more annoying than being at a jam with people who are overprotective about their 'babies'. but it goes both ways, if you've got a some sort of crazy vintage piece then yeah i can understand being protective. same goes with the behaviour of your bandmates, if they're all drunk and smashing things around then step up and address the issue in the moment. don't wait until a few days later to remind them to be nicer with your gear. but if they're just really getting into the music and grooving along then belt rash is gonna happen eventually.

when someone shows me the 'baby' they've had for years and it looks exactly the same as any number of guitars still on the wall in a music store my first thought isn't 'wow, that's a really nice guitar'. my first thought is 'wtf is wrong with this guitar that it never gets played?'

dings and scratches are called 'cosmetic' blemishes for a reason. they don't affect the tone or playability of the instrument, only its look. the better an instrument is the more likely i am to play it and the more likely it is to accidentally get dinged or scratched, it's a measure of it's use. i really don't buy the idea that an instrument should always look the way it did in the store.

hell, i'm still waiting for the day when i finally start breaking through the layers of gloss on my strat and begin wearing down the paint under my right wrist. figure i'd have to start wearing a bracelet for that though.

Yeah but some people spend A LOT of money on their instruments and so they want to try and protect them as much as they can... it kinda sucks if you spend like 5 years savings on a guitar and then just see it get scratched up and ruined. I can understand why people are protective of their guitars, especially if they've put a lot of time and effort and money into them.

But then on the other hand some people just take it too far - there's no point having a guitar if you're not going to make the most out of using it.

exactly.

i guess it depends on the person, for me if scratches happen from playing the instrument with a lot of energy then whatever (even on my $1400 one). on the other hand if it gets dinged up because someone didn't pay attention when they put it down and it slipped and fell, then that's not cool.

either way the issue needs to be addressed at the start of any musical session. if some gear is supposed to be off limits then let everyone know before things get going. trying to address it during or after the fact is going to cause hassles.

On Conklin's website they had a guitar of the month feature. This guy spent thousands on a custom 8 string or 9 string conklin with a crazy burlwood top, and part of his SPECIFICATION for the guitar was that it had to withstand him JUMPING ON IT during his stage shows.

Itshorses for courses. If I buy a completely custom guitar to my exact specs, its around 5 grand or more from most makers. THing is, I'm still speccing it for my playing style and tone. I'm not speccing it out to baby it and never use it, so eventually that guitar is going to be a little scuffed and scratched. It may even suffer a fall or something if for example a straplock fails. At the end of the day, those things happen to working instruments.

THe only instrument thats going to be in perfect condition after years and years, is the one thats never ben played in its life. And who wants to do that?

Pretty sure you can play a guitar without wrecking the **** out of it - unless you make jumping on it and smashing it against things part of your playing routine.

You can play an instrument with care. I'm just saying that sometimes people spend a lot of money on their guitars and so they want to look after them. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Personally, I agree in that an instrument should be played and not babied. I was just pointing out that it is understandable that guitarists would want to keep their instruments in good nick.

Good nick is fine, but you're never gonna stop damage or scratching and stuff. **** happens. Stuff gets knocked by accident. Rigns and bracelets make tiny dents over time.

Only way you're gonna stop it entirely and still manage to play, is if you play like a robot. No dynamics, because if you hit the strings harder, you might scratch it with the pick. No moving around onstage because you might tap a mic stand or something. No stage clothes unless they're made of super soft fabrics and contain no hard pieces, even plastic ends on boxer short laces.

Its just not practical, and you're never going to put on a show for anyone in the world that they'll enjoy seeing, if you're that ridiculous about your gear.

Hell, the act of putting your guitar in the case means the gloss finish brushes against the fibers of the inside. Thats gonna cause small scratches unless your case is lined with some kind of super-fiber.

AAARRGGHHHH my damned piano has fingerprints on the keys, someone keeps smacking my drums and people keep shouting at my microphone!!!!!!!!

And my violin has rosin on the fingerboard!

There's a difference between being afraid of a fingerprint on a fretboard and just wanting to keep your gear looking clean and sharp.

I don't polish my strat everyday, but I do avoid wearing bracelets on my right hand to keep it looking neat. I don't view that as obsessive or robotic. I just view it as loving my instruments and respecting them enough to take good care of them.

seems to me there are two views on expensive instruments.

is it the purchase of a quality instrument?

or

is it a financial investment?

cool guys... i gues im getting over protecting my guitar...my electric is banged up and looks awesome that way! but its just with my nice acoustic maton belt scratches look awful...!

Yeah, scratches look terrible on acoustic guitars. At least with electric guitars, scratches do the whole "rugged" look...

then maybe try getting your bandmates to understand the emotional value of the instrument for you. they're probably just seeing it as 'another' acoustic guitar.

Maybe you can slap a little patch of gaffer tape on the weak spot?

Tell that to Tommy emmanuel.
YouTube - Tommy Emmanuel - Pegao
YouTube - Tommy Emmanuel- live

or willie nelson...

http://images17.fotki.com/v324/photo...onAfter-vi.jpg

That just reinforces what I said about beat up acoustic guitars looking ratty and uncared for.

and it just reinforces our position that a musicians sound comes from their hands and has absolutely nothing to do with the look of their instrument.

**** Yeah.

Where did I disagree with that? All I said was that I considered taking care of my guitar to be a sign of respect and love, and that it looks like beat up guitars have not been cared for/about in the slightest.

I think both are equally possible. If you look at emmanuels or willies guitars, they're actually in immaculate player condition. The fretboards are clean the action is good and the frets aren't worn down at all, they're nicely crowned.

Emmanuels guitar gets beat up because of his playing style. Willie's too, but neither of them are actually in bad condition. In fact, they're in very good states of repair as regards everything but the wear on the finish. They care for their guitars, or at least their tech's do. Much better than the local prettyboy guitarist who's rich parents bought him an RR1 for christmas and a Mesa Halfstack, who plays it badly for years upon years without learning a damn thing about it.

Those kinds of people piss me off. They're so enamoured with image that they keep their guitars in absolutely pristine condition, but the care only extends to the finish! I've seen people play guitars that look absolutely factory new on the body, but you look at the fretboard and not only is there inger gunk all over it from years without a clean or an oil, but the frets all have flat tops and the aaction is either too high or WAY too low (For those tin eared bastards who just lower it without actually listening to the insane amounts of buzz.)


I'd rather have my guitar look like it was found in a dumpester, but play beautifully, than have it subjected to any of that ****.

I agree completely.

The only point I was trying to make was that from just LOOKING at a guitar, I like seeing that an instrument is clean and looks like it has been respected and cared for. I never said a word about playing style...

I say let it get scratched. Let your guitar go through what you go through, i say it adds character to the guitar.
My acoustic is scratched and worn and chipped; i see it as a sign of my love for it.