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

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

I make a moderate attempt to treat my instruments nicely, but I do not go to extreme measures. Most of my gigged instruments show their use fairly quickly. Every now and then, a certain ding really bugs me, though. I like a tasteful accumulation of wear through real use and minor accidents, not big gouges due to carelessness on my part.
 
Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

kind of depends on the guitar but I generally play the hell out of my guitars so I guess that kind of answers the question lol
 
Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I like bashing them around i don't know why.
 
Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I try to keep them looking nice, not necessarily pristine but appealing to the eye. My Iceman has some nicks and dings in it but its not beat to hell either, esp it being 25 yrs old. Probably the worst part is the fret wear and really need to get that taken care of at some point.
 
Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I used to care, and now I don't.
I have a couple that I really tend to and make sure they don't get beat up or abused, but most of them I just use them normally.
 
Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

I am a good steward with the gear God has provided for me. I wash my hands before playing, and I wipe the guitar before returning it to the case.

I don't panic over dings, though.
 
Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

i dont intentionally beat them up and try to take good care of em, but they are just tools/toys to be used. the first ding on a pristine guitar stings for a sec but its gonna happen
 
Re: Do you care about keeping your guitar pristine, or do you like the wear and tear?

Personally, I like to buy guitars used, and I often don't care about the cosmetic condition so long is functionally and structurally in good condition. I even like the dings, scratches, etc. I take care not to damage mine, but it happens through use, I don't abuse them. I feel like it adds character. I guess I'm just curious. Do many people take painstaking care to not put a blemish on your instrument? I guess I wouldn't want to own an instrument I'd be afraid to pick up and play.

This is exactly how I think of it too.
 
Someone once said "Play it like you stole it."
Not me, I try to take care of my stuff, because I actually had to work to buy it.

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I baby my instruments to the extent that it's convenient so no hard case storage or anything fancy like that. I don't mind a little wear from my DIY mods though - part of the journey.
 
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