Guitar woes

[khaosworks]

Disaster. I'd not touched Lilith, my Baby Taylor, since I came back from Singapore, since I had filker0's Cort to play on, but when I took her out today in anticipation of using her at Worldcon next weekend, I discovered to my horror that the head had essentially snapped off. I've been bad about loosening strings when I've been carting her all over the world, so that might have been the cause of that.

I brought her down to Music Warehouse on Broad Street and they told me that I needed a luthier - but the number they gave me was a guy in Jefferson, 14 miles north of Athens. After some frantic calls to people, I talked to telynor, who kindly agreed to ferry me down to Atlanta for the weekend so I could look for a luthier in the area and attend the Three Weird Sister's release party.

I paid about $350 for Lilith when I bought her during OVFF 2001, so I've had a good nearly 3 years use out of her - the Jefferson luthier whom I spoke to opined that it might cost about $200-$250 to fix her, which may not be cost effective, since a Baby Martin might go for about the same amount. So right now, the things that need to be figured out is (a) whether she can be fixed; (b) how much it'll cost; (c) whether it'd be better just to buy a new guitar and if (c), then (d) where I'm going to get the money.

I may be guitar-less at Worldcon *sigh*

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Ouch! That is unhappy, indeed. *sympathy*

If you decide not to repair her, the wake is superb. Drink one to her from me.

And if she receives a Viking funeral, consider this a request for photos.

[bardiclug.livejournal.com]

I doubt it was string tension that caused the headstock to snap off. Sounds more like external damage. Stepped on, something leaned against it, something like that.

Sorry to hear about your guitar woes... that is certainly no fun to come across a week before you need it.

Headstock snapping ...

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

... is about the most common failure when travelling with a guitar (or bouzouki/cittern etc.).

The neck is long and has the weight of the tuners at the end, when a guitar case is thrown around, or falls over, unless the headstock is adequately supported (packed around with socks or bubblewrap) then usually there's a support at the top of the neck with the heavy headstock hanging loose in midair above it and it effectively cracks at the weakest point, which is somewhere around the nut or thereabouts.

It sounds like the crack could have happened that way, and then leaving it at tension has just caused the crack to open up ... but once the crack occurred it was just a matter of time.

Some advise slackening the strings, some just detuning a little, and some say leave the instrument tuned properly. I usually don't detune, but I never slacken all the way (moving bridges can move, necks can flex etc.)

[catalana.livejournal.com]

Oh how horrible! Usually right before flying with my guitar I have at least one dream about it getting crunched by baggage handlers. (The most notable is when I dreamed it was wedged on to a baggage carousel *standing up* and I could see it was ready to fall but couldn't get to it. Of course, the case is sturdy so it might have been fine, but I didn't think that in my dream. *grin*)

Anyway, I really hope you can get this sorted out - what an awful thing to discover right before you need it!

[lonestarslp.livejournal.com]

Poor guitar! That hurts just thinking about it!

[spiritdancer]

Two things to consider, which might be of help (or not, but I'll still mention 'em):

1) I'd contact the last airline that you flew with (particularly if she was checked baggage). They _might_ cough up some money or pay for the repair, even if it's been a while (as tarkrai about the hole in Moira a few years back ... IIRC, he found it about a week after he got home, as he hadn't opened the case until then).

2) Daniel commented that you might check with Taylor - since you bought her new, you _might_ have warranty coverage (tho', granted, it sounds like this wasn't a failure due to construction).

3) if you have renter's insurance, the guitar might be covered under that (a homeowner's policy normally would; ours has a specific exclusion of the guitars due to the number/value of the ones about the house - we've gotten separate coverage for the instruments, and some artwork about the house).

And the Cort has flown before; I now make it part of my standard baggage claim "stuff to do" to open the case/get out/play _any_ instrument that has gone thru checked baggage (you've heard our horror stories, I'm sure ...)

Good luck!
Melissa

[misshallelujah.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness, that sucks. :( Hope she can be fixed without too much fuss.