Gravity works!

[mugbucket]

While at an OT jam last night, the fella playing guitar to my left got up (the majority of folks sitting on hard plastic chairs) for a break and leaned his instrument against the front part of the seat. Guess what happens next? Yup, out of the corner of my eye I see it starting to fall - couldn't catch it, and a disharmonious sound resulted as guitar met wood deck planks. Ouch. Of course we were between tunes so it seemed that all eyes were on me as I was setting it aright.

I'm a relative newbie to this jam and my initial thoughts were - "I hope they don't think I knocked it over". While I didn't get that vibe from anyone there, it served as a reminder to me to secure my mando whenever I need a stretch...

Ski

[Bertram Henze]

Nothing good can come from careless people - be glad nothing more happened, learn from it and sit somewhere else next time. And yes, always leave your belongings out of harm's way. There is always someone to blame you for being born in the first place.

I remember when I was a newbie myself (not in OT but ITM) and sat in a session in McGann's pub in Doolin, Co. Clare, Ireland. In front of my feet was my instrument case with my full glass of Guinness on top of it. The guy next to me (an apparent long-time regular both in ITM and the place) turned round at one point and inadvertently swept my Guinness across the floor with his foot.
Did he apologize? Clean up? Buy me another Guinness? None of it. He just said "you should not leave it standing there" and resumed playing. I later learned he was a German (like myself) and have tried to hide my nationality if possible when abroad ever since.

[fatt-dad]

Nobody thought it had anything to do with you. It's all good. Tom was up and playing right afterwards also.

Going to be hard to type today! My fingertips are feeling the pain. I've had a lot of pent up stress and feel much better after last night - and a beautiful one at that, eh?

See you at the next jam!

f-d

[Jim Garber]

I never leave any instrument on a chair like that. In fact I usually put it back in its case even when getting up for a few minutes. I doubt anyone thought it was your fault.

[brunello97]

Some while back, I was on stage sitting in with a band of folks I didn't know quite well--the percussionist was a friend of mine. The guitarist was laying out and I had my Scwab plugged into her rig. Somehow (?!) the bassist got his cord around her guitar stand and pulled it over. I was setting it back aright when she launched back on stage accusing me of knocking over her instrument. Hard to convince her I wasn't to blame. No damage, but she did have to retune which made her miserable in its own right. The bassist didn't fess up and I took the (extended) heat. Last time I supplied any tasty licks for those folks. Moral: I don't know if there was one.

Mick

[Elliot Luber]

In industry they call it "Zero Energy State." You don't just turn off the truck, you have to engage the parking break so it doesn't roll due to gravity. You don't just stand up your axe, you lock it in the case or at least place it in a secure stand when you're not there to hold it. Accidents will still happen, but much fewer.

[journeybear]

Too bad it wasn't a banjo! (Well, it was gonna get said, just wanted to be first, and get it out of the way.)

This is one good thing about playing an instrument as small as a mandolin - usually you can lay it down on a chair rather than lean it against it. Still potentially dangerous and inadvisable, but probably safer.

Gravity does work. Gravity sucks. Gravity is a drag. There have been a few times that my strap failed on the long-gone F-12 while not playing, with it slung around onto my back. I usually kept a hand on the neck anyway, and caught it - a really weird feeling, I must say. But one time at Mallory Square, while taking a break and talking to some people, it took a nose dive right into the bricks, a rocket in reverse. It sustained some chips to the binding on the point of the headstock and the cirlicue cracked - maybe it wanted to emulate Bill Monroe's Loar - and had to be glued. Could have been worse. Since then I have been a lot more careful. Not that I hadn't been before, I just instituted a 100% policy.

[Mattg]

Happens all the time! Makes me crazy. Some of mybuddies who play guitar bring guitar stands to jams these days. Now that's thinking.

[Rick Albertson]

Carelessness + Gravity can equal harm to others, too. Went to a large jam for the first time. The woman next to me left her Martin guitar propped against a metal folding chair. The guitar fell over soon after. When I reached over to attempt to catch it it banged into my Flatiron F5, leaving two dings... a reminder to watch out for other's carelessness.

[mandroid]

Outdoor Market, food concession area , Obese person, Barely fitting, sitting in a plastic chair
that has been used for several years, there, in sunshine.. .
and gravity wins , again

[sunburst]

Accidents do happen, and sometimes it's not our fault. A drunk can stumble into a mic stand and drive the mic into the face of an instrument we're playing (yes, I've seen it), a case can be dropped with the instrument in it (seen that too), but I've decided that a lot of times it's our fault, not the fault of the kid/drunk/spouse/dog that did the damage.
Never lean an instrument against a chair, wall, counter, amp, car, etc., etc., and it will never fall over from that position. Never leave an instrument on the ground, stage floor, living room floor, porch floor and it will never be stepped on there. Never leave an instrument in the couch, chair, bench, porch swing and it will never be sat on there.

I was at an outdoor jam, part of a local festival, where a photographer for some publication came by snapping away, model releases in hand and politely asking if pictures were OK with us. At one point, between tunes, she carefully stepped through the center of the (seated) jam, saying "excuse me" and trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. The guy next to me had laid a fiddle on the ground to switch to some other instrument, and he loudly and prominently admonished her to watch where she was going and to know that she "nearly stepped on a I-forgot-how-many thousand dollar violin!" She came nowhere near the fiddle, and was particularly careful to stay away from it, but she apologized profusely until he finally let the matter drop.
As usual, I held my tongue, but I could have easily given him a stern lecture about leaving his fiddle on the ground (the ground!!) where there is moisture in the grass and soil, and where people walk. We're expected to walk on the ground, after all, not lay out instruments there. If the photographer had been careless and damaged the fiddle it would have been nobody's fault but the guy who put it there!

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of waiting for the repair person to finish putting your prized instrument back together with no guarantee that it will ever look as good as it did before your carelessness!

[Tom Haywood]

I was at a regular performance jam recently and had to make a quick change from guitar to mandolin. I always put them back in the case, but this time I needed the guitar on the next song so I carefully stood it in the corner behind the stage, protected by two tables and a chair. One of the guys came up from the audience, said it made him nervous, and asked if he could hold it for me. I saw that my answer didn't matter - he was not going to leave it there! So he took it into the audience and played along on it with great care.

[journeybear]

Nice to know there are people out there (particularly in your audience) who are that committed to caring for instruments. Nice that you felt comfortable handing your guitar over to a stranger. Nice that he didn't slip off with it. Hmmm ... I started with having mixed feelings about this - guess I feel it was pretty nice!

Maybe you need one of those stands that holds the guitar up in playing position ...