The Broken Gear Thread...

[Lfalex v1.1]

Just out of interest / morbid curiousity, what's the most costly (fiscally or in terms of sentimental value) breakage that you've suffered?
Don't be shy! It's not the object of the exercise to mock the afflicted!
Has anyone bust anything seriously boutique or with a good reputation for reliability? Anyone managed to break/bend a Status/Vigier/Modulus/Kramer neck?
Please include amps/cabs/pedals and any amazing escapes that your gear has had.

I dropped my Ibanez EDB600 (Luthite) on the floor at home. It made an explosive "crack" and sheared the bottom bout and control cavity clean off! That was it for that one, I'm afraid.

I stuck the headstock of my Yamaha Attitude through a ceiling above a stage, and it survived without a scratch! Shame about the ceiling- big hole, not helped by the tuners snagging on the edge of the hole as I pulled it out - still playing, of course.

A guitarist in an old band was leaping around and smacked the headstock of his Ibanez on my Iceni Zoot. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for him, he hit the briddge. Result;

Bass:Nothing
Guitar: Last two tuners (6 inline) and associated area of headstock broke off!

Off you go!

Edited August 17, 2009 by Lfalex v1.1

[Moos3h]

I'm no psychic, but I'm guessing we're gonna see a fair amount of 'Ashdown' here....

I'll start. Ashdown MAG 600H. Lasted ONE rehearsal.

[paul h]

I broke the headstock off my customised Gordon-Smith GS1. It had an additional Hooligan JayDee pickup and coil taps installed.



I fixed it with no more nails and a couple of screws until I eventually sold it for next to nothing for somebody looking for a repair project.

I used have a Brandoni Eko neck through which I put together myself using a hammer and some electrical tape. The thing was like a tank. It had no finish on it and was repeatedly dropped on the floor and never even went of tune!

[99ster]

Had a brand new SWR SM400 head (this is late 1980's when £1,200 was an awful LOT of money) - managed to connect it up wrong to cab so the [b]+[/b] and [b]-[/b] connectors on the bridged output were reversed (actually quite easy to do if you're not concentrating)...
A huge amount of smoke started to come out of the amp together with a nasty burning smell - & it was well & truly shagged.

[Golchen]

I tortured my first electric guitar to death. various things from refinishing to refretting to converting the singlecut shape to a double cutaway. All with zero experience and no research. Pulled all the wiring out and then lost my diagram for rewiring as well. Does that count?

[casapete]

Have borrowed this speaker cab from a guy called Alex on this site, hooked it up to my 3k Crown power amp and......only joking.

Few years ago the singer in our band forgot to lock the back doors on the trailer with the PA in. Roared off after a gig in city centre to have the entire rig spew out all over the road at 30 to 40mph. Drunk passers by helped collect the stuff, and (you've guessed it..) when it came to plugging it in again everything worked!!! Mostly Peavey stuff too. Power amps were scratched/corners bent etc but carried on fine for years after.

One of the worst sounds I ever heard was a bandmates' lovely CSL cherry red Gibson 335 copy falling off a six foot high stage. Neck swinging,held on by the strings only etc. He got it fixed , though twas never the same.

[budget bassist]

[quote name='Moos3h' post='571997' date='Aug 17 2009, 07:48 PM']I'm no psychic, but I'm guessing we're gonna see a fair amount of 'Ashdown' here....

I'll start. Ashdown MAG 600H. Lasted ONE rehearsal.[/quote]
My ashdown EB180 blew up a couple of months ago, though it lasted considerably long than yours! It's currently sat in my bedroom doing nothing.

A behringer pedal broke on me once, but i'm not exactly surprised....

[LeftyJ]

I once accidentally stepped off a 3 ft high darkened stage where I was rehearsing with a band, with my precious French-made Lag Louisiane around my neck. I fell forward towards a tower of PA-speakers and the body of the guitar hit the speakers fairly hard, resulting in very bad lacquer damage and a chunk of the flamed maple veneer top of the body broke off.

I contacted the manufacturer and got to speak to Michel Chavarria, the directer of Lag himself, so gave me a price quote of 250 euros for a complete restoration of the body which is an amazing price, as local luthiers quoted approximately 450-500 euros for exactly the same procedure: fitting a new (matching) piece of veneer where the bit of flamed maple broke off and refinish the body in such a way that nobody would be able to tell.

Lag did a wonderful job too. First two pics are before, last two pics are after the repairs.

[RhysP]

That's a bloody beautiful guitar - great repair job too.

[Tinman]

Back when I was a guitard and out in Germany with the RAF, I managed to knock my beautiful Patrick Eggle Vienna off it's stand snapping the headstock. The total cost including shipping to and from Birmingham, new neck and refin was a wopping £966. I was lucky, the house insurance paid the lot.

[Merton]

Bass: slipped over on a slippery floor at a gig, broke the jack socket on my bass and dented the body. Twas only a cheap Dean though so didn't really matter.

Amp: Nothing since 1997 when a friend of mine dropped my Trace Commando combo and the heatsinks fell off the power trannies. Caused lots of overheating but Trace fixed it FoC depsite it being about a year out of warranty. Nice

[bartelby]

Whilst excessively drunk I threw a Dean bass, I'd had for a few hours, off the stage at the end of a gig. Didn't know until the next rehearsal. Only damage was some cracked finish around the controls.

[Protium]

[quote name='Moos3h' post='571997' date='Aug 17 2009, 07:48 PM']I'm no psychic, but I'm guessing we're gonna see a fair amount of 'Ashdown' here....

I'll start. Ashdown MAG 600H. Lasted ONE rehearsal.[/quote]

MAG 600 also, f***ed output upon arrival. This was when they had trouble with China QC. Can I ask what happened to yours?

I've had no problems except general wear and tear with the ABM gear though but that counts for nothing to those on the bandwagon

[Cat Burrito]

We did a bad gig in my old punk days when the whole band was drunk. My guitarist snapped a Les Paul and pushed it through a lighting rig. The repair cost him a bottle of whiskey. I threw my P-bass down and kicked it across the stage. It snapped the nut and permanently bent the neck (although I can't tell since the repair!). My pathetic tantrum cost me about £75 and I was on the dole at the time. Lesson learnt. I grew up. A bit.

[budget bassist]

[quote name='Protium' post='573319' date='Aug 18 2009, 06:48 PM']MAG 600 also, f***ed output upon arrival. This was when they had trouble with China QC. Can I ask what happened to yours?

I've had no problems except general wear and tear with the ABM gear though but that counts for nothing to those on the bandwagon [/quote]
The output on my EB180 blew too, although this was actually british made....

The ABM gear is great though

Edited August 18, 2009 by budget bassist

[retroman]

2X Bass amps by a certain well known british manufacturer.......Both completely fried the power amp board, with an impressive amount of choking smoke And I was using their cabs, of the correct impedance as well........

[Golchen]

[quote name='LeftyJ' post='573028' date='Aug 18 2009, 03:24 PM'].... my precious French-made Lag Louisiane[/quote]

That's a peach of a guitar!


[b]Tinman[/b] I used to have a Patrick Eggle Vienna Pro - lovely guitars!

[neepheid]

As I think I've alluded to before, days after I got my first bass home I was playing sitting down and stood up. Unfortunately my foot was on the cable and I nearly pulled the jack socket out of the bass. There was cracked lacquer and a rather rueful beginner bassist.

When I was building my first custom build I was having a test fit of some components, including the machine heads (huge vintage style BMFLs). I forgot these were sitting loose in the headstock and proceeded to lift up the bass. They fell out of the hole and two of them hit the body on the way down. One hit in a cutout and the other gouged out a dent near the control cavity. I solved it with some reshaping in the cutout and making a recess to the control cavity cover so you can easily lift it when required. Saved!

I hate the sinking feeling though when you mess something up. I guess I've been lucky though, no major destruction here.