Do dings and scratches bother you?

[groooooove]

not at all

 

[pica]

Yes

 

[FretNoMore]

No, not really. As other have said, the first ding can be a bit annoying, but the more you get the more they seem to turn into "mojo".

I do want to make the dings and scratches myself though, I'm not impressed if other people are careless around my gear.

 

[ultra60]

when I was younger, yes... as I've gotten older, no. There are more important things to worry about.

 

[Fuzz Aldrin]

I'm in the "it adds history" camp.

I don't mind dings at all, except I have this weird thing about the first ding. I need to put the first ding on my instrument. I hate when someone else dings my instrument first. I don't know why. Second ding, third ding, doesn't matter, but I need to do the first one. And I'm not going to ding it on purpose, so I get nervous about people touching it until that first ding happens. Weird I know.


Quick story -
One day when I was out, my son who was five at the time put a pretty good ding in one of my basses. I guess he would play with my bass when I was away and put it back before I got home. I was perplexed about where the ding came from. Once I figured it out, I thought it was pretty awesome that he was trying to play the bass like dad, and that ding always reminds me of that. I can never sell that bass now. I hope he eventually plays bass and I want to give him that bass and say this is where is all started, with that mark.

 

[prokopenkor]

I wear a belt in the side at the shows and practices not to scratch the back. Big dings bother me if I buy because I understand it could happen only if the bass fell or got a serious hit. Also scratches bother me on new like vintage instruments even though they made on purpose.

 

[Back to Bassics]

Try asking sting this question.....

The Geordie Sting? Why would I, and who could understand a word he said anyway? Him and his bleached blond wanky tantric arse.

 

[KidChar15]

Thought about this a bit myself, and I've decided that for me, there's a dichotomy. If it's a classically-styled instrument, e.g., P-Bass, J-Bass, Rick, solid-bodied Gibsons, I don't get too upset about minor dings. They add character. However, if the instrument is of a modern style, e.g., Ibanez SG, Spector, Warwick, most Carvins, etc., I would want to keep those as pristine as possible. To me, dings don't add character to modern-styled instruments.

 

[jeffgnr90]

not at all

 

[ac11367]

I welcome these blemishes, especially when they occur organically on a Fender

 

[malthumb]

Dings and scratches?.....no

Gouges?....YES!!!

This is a GOUGE

I had Pat Wilkins refurbish and refinish this bass....

Here's where the gouge was......

I feel much better now.

 

[1958Bassman]

My Ibanez fretless came with a bunch of dings, but I don't plan to add any. I take good care of my stuff. If that one ends up with more, it's not a big deal unless they're huge or on the neck, where I would feel it. A new or pristine guitar will eventually get a few, but I still don't like it. I put a lot of time and effort into my SD Curlee bass and if it gets dinged up, I'll probably be pretty PO'd about that. If someone else causes this on my instruments, they won't be touching them again. There's not much chance that I'll let someone take one away and return it after the last times. Same guy- they came back filthy and had dings that weren't there before. He denied doing it and didn't seem to care that the gunge from his hands was all over the strings (they were caked and rusted) or caked between the frets. It was disgusting! My hands don't sweat much, but when I returned his guitar, I had cleaned it and replaced the strings. I expect the same. There are very few people who I'd let use my instruments or amps.

 

[JimmyM]

Nah, dings and scratches and even gouges don't bother me so much. They're meant to be played.

 

[jnewmark]

No.

 

[snyderz]

I've had 50 or so basses, NONE of which were bought new. A good percentage were MINT when I got them though. I have always made every effort to keep them that way. Ironically, last week I played a gig with a low ceiling fan. I was playing a parts bass that I only have a couple hundred into. I hit it TWICE taking my bass off for breaks. My guitar player looked at me in horror, wondering how I could just shrug it off. I was fine with it, even though there were a couple chunks of headstock wood on the floor. Little did he know that if it had been my mint SB-2 I would have committed suicide on the spot.

 

[Icculus]

Yes, especially on my RoadWorn P-bass

 

[spanndrew]

After that first one I could care less.

 

[Jeff K]

Geez, remind me never to buy a bass from most of you ham-handed animals...

 

[wraub]

Not at all. It's a tool, it gets used in aggressive ways.

I don't abuse 'em, but they're gonna get scratched sometimes. Not worth worrying about for me.

 

[tjh]

... not unless someone expects me to pay more for the bass than it would be worth without the 'wear', because they paid to have it done ... its happened ...