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I began building in 1972. I still have 2 guitars from that early period and 2 more recent builds that have visual defects that are just not repairable. I have been stressing out about what to do with them for some time now and have decided that taking them to the dump would really make me feel a lot better. I want them to disappear and never resurface ever again. To make them as perfect as I wish them to be would take more time and trouble than building another guitar. Donating a guitar with a top or back crack (even if it is stabilized) is not an option for me. They are an embarrassment and I want them ELIMINATED! I could remove the label but my logo remains on the peg head.

I am hoping that there others that feel as I do and have disposed of some of their less than perfect instruments. Don't you feel better when they gone?

Michael

I'd put them on the bonfire and give them a proper good-bye rather than toss them in the dump.
It does feel kind of good to take a failed neck, clamp it in a vise, and see what it can withstand before splintering.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I decided to stress test one of my early ones and beat the neck on the ground to test the headstock angle's strength. It was kinda cathartic.

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+1 for bonfire!

I can't read this thread...

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Seriously? There must be a thousand young folks who would LOVE a guitar. Go ahead make some kid's day instead of destroying it.

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Thank You and Best To All

You've created something that has the potential to provide endless joy to someone that could not otherwise afford it. Do you think they'll be thinking "imperfections"? They will remember you forever. Give those guitars away!!!!

I'm with the give 'em away crowd. Seems sad to destroy a functional guitar just because it has a few warts. Maybe you could remove your logo by replacing the headstock veneer? That wouldn't be too tough.

My first guitar was pretty sketchy. It has become my practice dummy. I did my first neck reset with it, a couple of refrets, multiple fingerboard and bridge removals, etc. I plan to remove the back and top at some point, put everything back together and give it a refinish. Then maybe I'll pull the bridge plate... you get the idea.

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George :-)

If it still has music inside it, then give it to someone who will get the music out of it.
Remove the identifying marks if you want, and give it away....

Without sounding too weird about it, it's not the little motherpluckers' fault it was born ugly or unloved.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

find a good hard surface like a tree stump or sidewalk, yell I've got blisters on my fingers and smash those pieces of crap to little bits.

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Michael F Smith
Goat Rock Ukulele
http://goatrockukulele.com

Best therapy ever. Guitar in fireplace, neck cut on bandsaw table into at least 4 pieces. (enough to make sure there is no temptation to try to fix it!).
The chance to abandon endless do-overs was a wonderful, liberating feeling.

If it will make you feel better, burn them by all means. Its good to move on, to clean the slate, sometimes. I burn stuff all the time (this isn't my picture, but it could have been...). I still hang on to that #1, though, I can't bring myself to destroy it, bad as it is. I just never show it to anyone...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Back in the late 80'a is when I first tried to build guitars. It was electrics then, I wanted to be like Bernie Rico or Wayne Charvell. That went very poorly to say the least....at least ones of the guitars didn't look do bad but none really playable. At least not to the standards I was hoping for. I burned them.....it felt good! I also swore I would never build another guitar in my life....and well, look where I wound up.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I give them to my children (4 and 2 years old). They slowly wreck them for me and now they have a lot of instruments to play with.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Send it to Pete Townshend and let him smash it on stage. At least you might get some free publicity.

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Let me just say that I agree with the "give it away" crowd as long as it's playable.. Otherwise.. I'm a burner!

Just last week I crushed an OM, quite liberating.

Burn it! You will feel better and there will be no evidence to resurface.


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Gotta go with this Idea ... Never know if the next Stevie Ray Vaughn is out there just waiting for a Imperfect guitar


Maybe get in contact with the local music teacher at school , and donate it as a learning instrument ....

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Interesting thread and quite telling about the different personalities on the forum. Some would destroy a guitar rather than let anyone know they were capable of a flaw.

Some would burn a guitar that didn't live up to their expectations or for other reasons known only to themselves

Others would remember the reason for making the guitar in the first place and make sure it got played, no matter the warts. Very interesting.

I just started building again after 3 mostly kit guitars, 4 or 5 years ago. My fist attempt, number 4 is a mess. I've just now found or bought all my tools again, carved my first neck, designed a peg head that simply didn't work but there it sits, with finish on, sanded through of course so I must start over and I'm in a strange place knowing I owe it to the forum to post it when finished and wrestling with the potential embarrassment of anyone other than myself seeing it. But I'll post it and I'll play it warts and all - wouldn't think of destroying it - but that's just me.

So interesting to see the different takes on this subject.

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Thank You and Best To All

Larry..todd +1

For what it's worth, I'm in the "gift it" camp. Only built 2 so far, but am working on the next 4 now (I like repetition). I'm keeping #1 with all its flaws (i.e., special design features), and will probably be gifting the first few to friends and family. Don't have a label or logo on the first two; but will be adding one, once I come up with a design. If it says #1, 2, 3 etc. that tells me where I'm at as a builder; hopefully they will improve over time, but I'd have a hard time trashing/burning one, regardless.

I've gifted a few flawed ones, and they've come back to bite me. the owners are fine and they understand, but what y'all need to realize is that there are many, many eyes that will see it and not ask the owner why it doesn't look right, or whatever.

If it's fatally flawed, first, think of using it as a test mule. It's incredible how much you can learn by trying stuff out on a test mule.

If the body is the right shape, but the top or back has a fatal flaw, by all means, change the top or back; it's a lot less work than building a whole new body! Pretty much the only way I'll give-up on a body is if the shape isn't right(shifted within the form?) or the sides have a fatal flaw, as we can't easily replace the sides as we can a top or back. As for necks, burn 'em. But first, do as others have suggested, and perform some destructive testing, to see where the weak points are, etc... It's quite revealing!

I once took a mandolin that just wouldn't respond well to anything I did to it. It was just a dog... So, before killing it, I told myself that that sucker was gonna learn me sumthin'! So with the strings tuned to pitch, I began thinning the top with my finger planes. I'd thin it a bit, and play it a while. Thin it further, play it again. I repeated this for hours, until it got so thin that it imploded. Great fun, and highly educational, both from what a thin top sounds like, but even more revealing was --how-- it imploded. Not as we expect, I tell ya! And that changed how I build my mandolins, to this day, and for the better. So, before you burn that next failed guitar/uke/mandolin/etc..., make it teach you something....

I cut my second build in half to create a really cool cross section. The guitar was unplayable on more than one account. I still have one half of it sitting in my shop for when people are visiting and ask about my unique hobby.

I will probably give my 3rd guitar away since it IS playable. It's just ugly (bad bindings, routing mistakes, etc)

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-Marcus
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