Gig bag disaster!

[Steve A.]

Of course I know not to trust a gig bag when transporting a guitar and I know better than to step on an occupied gig bag laying down on the floor taking a nap.

Background- I have *way* too many guitars and they were hanging on my walls or sitting in multiple guitar stands. So I decided to get a bunch of cheap gig bags and put my guitars in them as that would take less space. Plus many of these guitars were apart for repairs and I could put the parts in the front pocket to keep everything organized. I have many corners filled with guitars in gig bags resting against more guitars in gig bags.

So last night I took my Squire 50's tele out of the gig bag to play it and discovered that there was a groove under the G string on most of the frets. You could feel the groove very prominently running your fingernail across the fret. Snap! Evidently this guitar must have had some heavy guitars resting against it.

Turning lemons into lemon meringue pie I got my tools out to level and recrown the frets. 4 hours later it plays very well, with the action lower than it had ever been. Fortunately the frets were very large to begin with so the frets are bigger than most of my teles. But I would have liked it better had I started off with undamaged frets...

Steve A.

P.S. I have my fingers crossed as I start looking at the other guitars in gig bags.

P.P.S. When storing guitars in gig bags leaning against other guitars in gig bags it would be a good idea for me to put a piece of cardboard over the strings...

[Leo_Gnardo]

When storing guitars in gig bags leaning against other guitars in gig bags it would be a good idea for me to put a piece of cardboard over the strings...

Even better, between the strings and neck.

[Audiotexan]

And you are loosening string tension just a tad while being stored I hope...

[Steve A.]

And you are loosening string tension just a tad while being stored I hope...

No, I haven't been doing that. Should I detune them to D- or even lower than that? These guitars aren't exactly in storage- I never know which one I'll grab next to take for a spin...

Steve A.

[Leo_Gnardo]

No, I haven't been doing that. Should I detune them to D- or even lower than that? These guitars aren't exactly in storage- I never know which one I'll grab next to take for a spin...

Steve A.

Half a step would be plenty. And makes it easier to slip a slice of cardboard between strings & frets.

[Audiotexan]

Guess I should also have mentioned that it's more important on acoustics.. but important for any type of 'medium to long term' storage.

[Brock Little]

My last "Gig bag disaster" involved an open bag of leads, pedals, spares and chord charts... and a non-house-trained puppy. The worst part was only finding out when I was ten minutes away from leaving the house for a gig. I just took the amp and a lead.

[Steve A.]

Half a step would be plenty. And makes it easier to slip a slice of cardboard between strings & frets.

Sounds like a good idea but wouldn't I have to paint my guitar black to fit in with the detune crowd?

[g1]

Sounds like a good idea but wouldn't I have to paint my guitar black to fit in with the detune crowd?

No, just your hair and your nails.

[rjb]

My last "Gig bag disaster" involved.... a non-house-trained puppy. The worst part was only finding out when I was ten minutes away from leaving the house for a gig.

Better than finding out ten minutes after leaving the house.
At least puppies grow out of it.
Try living with two territorial tom cats vying for alpha-dom.
"No, that's my guitar. Pssssst."
I thank my favorite deity for UV flashlights and miracle protein-eating enzymatic cleaners.

[Brock Little]

Better than finding out ten minutes after leaving the house.
At least puppies grow out of it.
Try living with two territorial tom cats vying for alpha-dom.
"No, that's my guitar. Pssssst."
I thank my favorite deity for UV flashlights and miracle protein-eating enzymatic cleaners.

Well, I'd have been happy if the pup had left me something that could be cleaned up with enzymatic cleaners and a quick rinse. No such luck.
I'm not a cat person, so I'm not sure how you deal with a) a cat, b) two cats, c) two male cats, d) two male non-desexed cats. Bugger the enzymatic cleaners - anyone who thinks it's acceptable to piss all over my house gets cut!

[Steve A.]

The damned irony in this "gig bag disaster" is that I had designed a rack for guitars in gig bags last December but had only assembled the prototype without glue so it wasn't fully functional. (I had the fittings to build a second one, too.)

In any case I finally assembled the rack the other night using a free tarp from Harbor Freight to capture any glue drips. Here is the thread from last December...

http://music-electronics-forum.com/t35093/



Steve A.

P.S. I'll be putting new frets in the damaged tele so it'll be better than ever. I releveled and recrowned it twice but that wasn't time wasted but time invested in learning guitar fretwork. Some of my guitars have been releveled and recrowned 3 or 4 times and are now in my "to be refretted" pile...