Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

[B2D]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I don't mind a little wear. The first ding/scratch is always the one that is irritating, after that it doesn't matter.

As for the 'character' aspect, as long as the character says 'I was well-played and well-loved by someone who used this as a tool" that's fine.

I don't like the 'I was dragged behind a truck and abused by a dude that pays $200 for ripped jeans" look. There's a subtle but important difference.

[AlexR]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I have all sorts. Some I have bought old (and worn), some I have bought/made new and kept as well as possible......others I have made with the intention of aging them (where I want to create the closest clone of an old instrument I can), and others I have not planned to be aged, but ended up that way due to a few mishaps in the finishing (like falling off the painting hook!!).

[ibanezrocks]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I don't wipe mine down every time I play or wash my hands before playing, but I also have never really dented or scratched a guitar. I just play normally and I'm not clumsy. I don't care if it's pristine but I'm still going to reasonably take care of my stuff.

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[d1dsj]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I don’t see the appeal of new, pristine looking guitars so I usually get a mace, a few rocks to beat them up a bit and then a tow rope to drag them down the street before I really get started with the Stihl tools out.

Only joking, I like all sorts and oddly there some I don’t mind looking like they’ve been around the block and some I like all minty fresh. I just make sure they are all set up well and wipe the strings down.

[GreatOz]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

For me, it depends, but logistically, 99% of the time, wear and tear is inevitable.

I would try to keep a guitar pristine if it was very valuable monetarily or sentimentally and I would hardly ever play it.

This being said, I personally do not have a guitar like that right now as I prefer instruments that are practical. I get a guitar to play, not sit somewhere. Wear and tear is going to happen, so while it would be nice to keep it looking pristine all the time, it's never going to happen, so I might as well embrace the "relic" now.

TL;DR
I would like to keep a guitar pristine, but that's never going to happen for instruments that get played all the time.

[The_Junior]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

It would annoy me when I would sell a guitar on ebay, and the buyer gives me **** for dents and blemishes that were not described in the listing. One guy wanted a partial refund because one had a small hole drilled where a split switch used to be inspite of a full frontal body image supplied where it can be seen from space. I've even had a few cases when they filed a refund through paypal, and I wouldn't get the guitar back and nothing could be done about it. These weren't boutique instruments or did they sell for a whole lot but they sure had some lofty expectations.

I'm pretty sure their real feelings about wear and tear is mutual to this thread, but some people will use any reason to **** you out of something.

[NegativeEase]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

Do you rock or not? That is the question.

[Mincer]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I know a plenty of players who won't take their guitars out of the house, and have to go through an extensive cleaning and sanitizing ritual before and after they play. A student of mine has a PRS and he is afraid to use guitar polish on it.

[GreatOz]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I know a plenty of players who won't take their guitars out of the house, and have to go through an extensive cleaning and sanitizing ritual before and after they play. A student of mine has a PRS and he is afraid to use guitar polish on it.

I'll be honest, outside of collectable instruments, I don't understand this. The guitar is meant to played.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I take care of them. They get dings and dents, but I have 30 and 40 year old guitars and basses that look fairly new.

You wouldn’t want your car all banged up. Why would you want your guitar that way.

Have respect for your gear. [emoji2]


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[stevie_bees]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I buy guitars to play. All of mine have signs of use. That said, I do try to keep them in the best condition possible. But I’m not upset by the use signs.

Pretty much this for me.

[ErikH]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

Mine look good. Not beat up and not pristine. They get played, some more than others. There are signs of wear, especially on the older ones. My #1 tried and true Frankenstrat definitely shows the wear over the 25+ years of playing it. I'm not going to abuse them by any means but I'm not going to baby them either.

[AlexR]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I take care of them. They get dings and dents, but I have 30 and 40 year old guitars and basses that look fairly new.

You wouldn’t want your car all banged up. Why would you want your guitar that way.

Have respect for your gear. [emoji2]
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There is no correlation there for starters (why do people always think that cars and guitars are somehow identical in approach??). It is perfectly possible to have entirely different views about various possessions.....or aspects of life.

But as someone who is a tradesman and uses vehicles for work, I can attest that IME of 30 years of looking at a variety of colleague's vehicles, there are more people who don't care about their work vehicle being pristine than do.

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I admit that I'm a bit OCD about keeping my guitars as new/pristine/perfect as possible. I have a lot of guitars (I lost count after 50) and just about every one of them looks brand new. I've got one that I played a lot up until about 15 years ago (a 53 year old Kalamazoo-made Sheraton) that still looks like it's right out of the box.

Most of my guitars (that I didn't make) were purchased brand new because I loved how gorgeous they were. I want to always love them and I want them always to be gorgeous. Nothing wrong with that.

A guitar that looks all beat up doesn't play any better than a new one, and it doesn't make the owner play better. I have no love for "relicing". It's a juvenile attitude that makes you think it is cool.

[Masta' C]

Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I love buying used guitars from OCD peeps

For me, I only have a couple guitars that I really put effort into not to messing up. These also tend to be the ones I bought new.

These days, I prefer buying decent used instruments that need a little TLC because I really don't *want* to worry so much about them. Guitars are meant to be played and wear can be beautiful in the long run