Help on protecting your guitar at gigs/band practice?

[post.aux.fader]

Hey, I just got in from band practice, I used the included Gibson gig bag that came with my Melody Maker. I was wondering, should I buy a hardcase for gigging and such?

Also, I left my guitar in my friends trunk from about 5 pm to 11 pm, its march and it was pretty cool outside. How long should I wait before I take it out of the gigbag? (I'm inside now) I don't want the condensation to ruin my guitar.

 

[xtjdx]

If you play heavy music, do not get up in the front where your input jack can be punched in a way nothing should ever be punched by an over-zealous fan. That is my only advice.
Oh, and a hard case is a huge help.

 

[SteveK]

#1 - DO NOT leave your guitar in the trunk of a car As far as how long they will take to acclimatize to the indoor temperature, it varies depending on the difference between the two temps. I know when I've had guitars delivered by UPS or FedEx, I will wait at least 3 hours before cracking the lid on the case, and then wait another hour before opening it fully and taking the guitar out.

I gig with some fairly expensive guitars, PRS, Thorn etc. I generally use gig bags as they are easier to manuever, and I am very careful with where and how I set them down. I think using the gig bags makes me a little more careful. For storage at home I use the hard cases.

 

[post.aux.fader]

What's so bad about a trunk of a car?

Do you think any damage has been done to my Melody Maker?

 

[post.aux.fader]

Well, I just checked my Melody Maker, and its dead.

But that's prolly because of kick that was blown to it last night, not the condensation

 

[SteveK]

I just meant that a guitar should ride in the passenger compartment, and not be subjected to the temperature fluctuations or other things that may also be rolling around in a car's trunk. Sorry about the guitar

 

[EdWonbass]

I have my best bass in a gig bag but as soon as the gig is over I put it in the truck. As a matter of fact both of my basses go right to the truck even though one is in a hard case. My singer had his acoustic knocked over by one of those after show " you guys are awesome and you rock and kick ass and stuff" guys. It snapped the head stock right off. I was repaired but still who wants that? So put your guitars in a safe place after the show and secure them on stands during breaks. It's also best not to hang out on stage during breaks because that's when people get the idea to come up and talk and that's when accidents happen.


Oh, and what do you mean the MM is dead?

 

[post.aux.fader]

Pluggd it in, no sound comes out. Other guitar works fine, so its not the cable or the amp.

 

[EdWonbass]

In a way you are lucky that it's completely dead. It's hard to find out what's wrong with something that works some of the time. Pull the jack out and check to see if you have a broken wire.

 

[ibanezrocks]

If it still sounds as it did before when you play it unplugged then its definitely not dead at all, thats like saying someone who cant talk is dead, even though they can do everything else, you're just assuming because they can't tell you they're not dead then they are.

 

[ggunn]

A little water won't hurt your guitar, and leaving it in a case or gig bag to let it "acclimate" does nothing at all. Cases that are water tight are pretty rare...

As to temperature, there is one thing to consider: the coefficient of expension of steel is much higher than that of wood. This means that heat is not a problem because the strings expand more than the wood of the guitar, so the tuning just goes flat. Cold, however is a different story; the strings shrink more than the body and neck, so the tension in the strings increases. In "normal" temperature ranges this is still not a prob, but if you ever fly with your axe in the luggage compartment of a plane, be sure and loosen the strings. I know of a couple of instances where the increased tension (it can get REALLY cold in there) has broken the neck.

 

[metalj]

hard shell for sure. sometimes people have the tendency to slide their guitar in and out, instead of opening the bag up all the way and placing the guitar inside , as a result the sliding will move all your tunning pegs, knobs and switches back and forth and over a period of time they will short out or break.

also ive seen a tendancy with people with gig bags to stuff too much other stuff into the pouches like pedals and cords. this puts alot of pressure on the instrument and strings as well as the neck.

just some cons to having a bag vs a hardshell.

yep

 

[ibanezrocks]

Hardshells have disadvantages too though, if you have a Gibson then the area between the neck and the headstock is more likely to break if its in a hardshell case. This is because in the Gibson cases its fitted really snuggly to the body, but not that well to that very thin section that you always hear about cracking on les pauls, so when the case moves around like in the trunk of a car, the body is held still while the neck experiences whiplash. This is how my friends Les Paul broke there, its fixed and is as good as new, but I'd probably freak out if that ever happened to my SG.