Guitar Fails

[PushedCrayon]

I thought it would be a fun idea like this to start a thread and talk about some times you have failed while trying to play or work on a guitar. I got this idea last night after swapping pups in my guitar and wondering why it sounded so muddy... then after 15 minutes and the conclusion that I needed another new pickup... I checked the tone knob.. which was at 0. I laughed for so long at myself, I was just wondering if anyone else had some stories they would like to share about something they had done or messed up. :9: all in good fun of course!:banana:

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Guitar Fails

The first time working on a superswitch I dropped a glob of solder that bridged half the contacts and went unnoticed by me for several frantic hours trying to figure out what had been ****ed up.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Guitar Fails

My first guitar fix ended up with scarring. It was an old Memphis superstrat that had the ring on the jack pull off, so I found a soldering iron, turned it on, and proceeded to melt up a nice fat blob of solder. I applied the blob and after it bonded, the extra dripped off.

Now, if I wasn't soldering it on my lap in shorts, it wouldn't have been an issue. I was doing all those things, so I ended up with a dime-sized blob of molten metal hit my thigh. Yea, that hurt.

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: Guitar Fails

Oh I got one and this has happened to me maybe two or three times. Most of the time I plug straight into my amp no pedals but on occasion will connect my Wah when needed. So I set up my rig and start to check sound levels and tone and go to engage the Wah and I get no sound. So first thing I think is the battery is dead so I hook up the power adapter and I still get no sound. Took me about a good 5 minutes to realize I had the input/output cables in the wrong spots.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Guitar Fails

My first guitar fix ended up with scarring. It was an old Memphis superstrat that had the ring on the jack pull off, so I found a soldering iron, turned it on, and proceeded to melt up a nice fat blob of solder. I applied the blob and after it bonded, the extra dripped off.

Now, if I wasn't soldering it on my lap in shorts, it wouldn't have been an issue. I was doing all those things, so I ended up with a dime-sized blob of molten metal hit my thigh. Yea, that hurt.

Could have been worse . . . you could have dropped the solder on the guitar!

 

[mamm]

Re: Guitar Fails

Guitar related: when building/fixing cables (soldering the plugs), I'm an expert at forgetting to slide the screw-on sleeve over the cable before soldering. I finish the soldering work, proud of the round, shiny and perfectly adhered blobs, just to find the sleeve still on the work table.

 

[trevorus]

Re: Guitar Fails

Guitar related: when building/fixing cables (soldering the plugs), I'm an expert at forgetting to slide the screw-on sleeve over the cable before soldering. I finish the soldering work, proud of the round, shiny and perfectly adhered blobs, just to find the sleeve still on the work table.

I do the same danged thing all the time!

 

[Progbusters]

Re: Guitar Fails

i was in the middle of the Hotel California solo when the spotlight finally found me and I froze

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Guitar Fails

i was in the middle of the Hotel California solo when the spotlight finally found me and I froze

In a situation like this, the key is to pretend to be having amp problems. Fake the rest of the solo and look angrily at the sound guy.

 

[PushedCrayon]

Re: Guitar Fails

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has made a mistake worth laughing at. All of these stories have brought a smile to my face because I'm sure everyone on this forum has had a mess up at one point or another.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Guitar Fails

I finally got my Voodoo Labs 4x4 last week, fitted it under the Pedaltrain, hooked up all the pedals with the little 9v power cables and switched the whole thing on at the wall. One by one, I worked my way back along the pedals to make sure they all powered up. Everything worked fine until I got to the first one which did nothing. After a few minutes head scratching, I finally noticed I'd not got a cable plugged into the start of the chain...

 

[phil_104]

Re: Guitar Fails

The first time working on a superswitch I dropped a glob of solder that bridged half the contacts and went unnoticed by me for several frantic hours trying to figure out what had been ****ed up.

Yup ; solder right in the guts of a 5 way strat switch. Not my proudest moment.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Guitar Fails

I used to use D'Addario strings and they always specified which string was which as far as the note goes. When I tried a set of Dunlops for the first time, it only said the gauge, so I wasn't sure about it at first. i ended up using a D string in for G and snapped it.

The other was when I replaced my first nut I cut it down too low, so I had to shim it with pretty much anything I had available. I ended up using a couple pieces of paper folded over at first.

 

[speed2dirt]

Re: Guitar Fails

A long time ago, I took my guitar to the local music store to have their tech install some used EMGs I picked up off eBay. He installed them, but couldn't get it to work. He gave me my guitar back with the "broken" EMGs still installed and waived the fee since he couldn't get it to work. Being as it was my only guitar, I cranked the amp so the barely audible sound would be at normal volume and played like that for years. No joke, probably at least 5 years. Eventually after joining this forum and reading various threads, I thought maybe it wasn't faulty pickups, but the wrong pots. I bought some used EMG pots off someone here, wired it up, and bang! The guitar came roaring back to life.

I felt like such an idiot that I hadn't thought of it earlier :butkick: but then again, the professional "tech" told me they were dead so what was a young teenager suppose to do. I still can't believe that happened. Consequently, that guitar with EMGs was probably the best EMG tone I've ever gotten.

 

[formula73]

Re: Guitar Fails

I actually threw away an Aria II Les Paul Custom clone with a set neck and everything.

THREW IT AWAY.

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: Guitar Fails

I buggered the original pups in my Firebrand LP about 22 years ago. They would squeal pretty badly under hi gain at stage volume so I tried to wax pot them. I used a double boiler but I guess I managed to get the wax too hot because though they still looked fine they were both toast.

I think anybody who has ever rolled their own cables has done the 'ol forgot to put on the casing/sleeve deal at least once.

 

[formula73]

Re: Guitar Fails

Ha! I forgot that I melted some old pup trying to pot it back when I was first figuring it out.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Guitar Fails

Yup ; solder right in the guts of a 5 way strat switch. Not my proudest moment.

I've tried to remedy that little **** up by solder sucking out the blob. Not even because I couldn't afford $15 for a new switch, but because I'm a lazy SOB.

What a waste of time. If you get a blob of solder in the switch, it's pretty much gone.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Guitar Fails

I've tried to remedy that little **** up by solder sucking out the blob. Not even because I couldn't afford $15 for a new switch, but because I'm a lazy SOB.

What a waste of time. If you get a blob of solder in the switch, it's pretty much gone.

I used a solder sucker and a lot of patience to clean it up . . . It was like 3 am at that point and I needed the guitar to play the next night.

 

[gottalovethe80s]

Re: Guitar Fails

I once set the neck pup so high up that the B string was touching the screw at the higher frets...
took me 3 days wondering what went wrong and why I was getting dead notes, tried adjusting saddles, trussrod, and even considered filing the frets myself.
man that was silly.