What's Your Best "Oh Sh!t" Moment?

[MrBump]

Thinking about stuff while decorating, and I got to thinking about the moments where I'd done something so stupid that I knew the second I'd done it I had screwed up big time.

For example, went away for the weekend when I was still living with my mother, leaving my Charvel lying in its case, case unclosed, trem arm still in...

Came home to discover the case closed - queue "oh sh!t" moment.  The force of the lid closing had pulled half of one of the trem studs out.

And another, oddly enough case related again, was having my beloved Simon and Patrick Spruce 6 acoustic in my front room, wife closes the lid BUT DOESN'T DO THE CATCHES UP, I come back and pick up the case - again, queue "oh sh!t" moment - as guitar tumbles up, taking a gash out of the lovely spruce top...

I expect tales of horror from the luthiers hanging around here - come on guys, we won't think any less of you.

Mark.

[WezV]

ah, too many!!  i think i have mentioned a lot of them anyway and they are mainly learning mistakes

i had a non-guitar related one this weekend - replacing a tap in the kitchen.  did it all fine but switched the water back on to quickly realise i hadnt reconnected the washing machine hose

[Will]

Yesterday, in 10ft in the air in a JCB loading thingy. Handbrake fails and I start rolling backkwards :) the driver just fell as the straw stack crumbled 10seconds before

[Catalyst77]

Falling out of the loft on boxing day.

Thats what i was thinking seconds before ripping my armpit out on the unprotected steel struts of the ladder.

To this day i have no feeling in the top part of my left arm.

although by the time i got back from the hospital i was so high on morphine that the fantastic four DVD which was put on for me was highly entertaining :D

[Roobubba]

That's what comes of wearing such a ridiculous red strappy outfit, catalyst :D

[Twinfan]

I had a lot of those moments when I fitted new discs and pads to my car last year.  Ended up using a hacksaw to trim the pads down and a crowbar to close the callipers.

Never, ever again.

[Fourth Feline]

Absent mindedly listening to the washine machine run through it's complete wash cycle in the cellar, then remembering I had not put the draining hose out of the window ...  :?

[Ratrod]

In a moment of rock n' roll madness, I hit a drum cymbal with the headstock of my treasured Gretsch Power Jet.

The Sperzel tuner was dislodged, rotated around it's axes. The pin that keeps it in place came out of the tuner and tore apart the little hole in the headstock.

Fortunately I was able to fix it. Took the tuner off, hammered the pin back in the tuner and filled the ruptured hole in the headstock with a mixture of wood glue and wood shavings. Drilled a new hole for the pin and reinstalled the tuner.

I'll never do that again with that guitar.

[MrBump]

In a moment of rock n' roll madness, I hit a drum cymbal with the headstock of my treasured Gretsch Power Jet.

The Sperzel tuner was dislodged, rotated around it's axes. The pin that keeps it in place came out of the tuner and tore apart the little hole in the headstock.

Fortunately I was able to fix it. Took the tuner off, hammered the pin back in the tuner and filled the ruptured hole in the headstock with a mixture of wood glue and wood shavings. Drilled a new hole for the pin and reinstalled the tuner.

I'll never do that again with that guitar.

You're SO Rock & Roll!

[Antag]

I'll never do that again with that guitar.

umm, don't you mean any guitar? :)

[FernandoDuarte]

I'll never do that again with that guitar.

:lol:

Many here, the most warning was trying to start a BIG compressor with the valve on the discharge closed (locked)... Was my first day back from holidays at work, could have died and made BIG damage at the place...

Will have to think about the guitar... But by now I think the hammered on the strings ferrule or cutting a little too much  on the cutaway of the body I'm doing for my friend... (well, talking with Wez and a american luthier that I know and getting the measures I discover that I've drawed the lines 2 or 3mm bigger than it should, so it'll be alright)

[_tom_]

Dont think I have any of those for guitar.. the only memorable thing like this was when me and my mates were messing around on a very unstable makeshift ramp for our bmxes. Anyway it would just be my luck that when I go over it, it falls apart and I go right over the handlebars straight onto my face and scr@pe across the floor on it :lol: That was definitely an oh shite moment. I was concussed and had a huge patch of road rash on my face. Luckily no scarring or anything else bad happened, I'm just scared of shitety ramps now :P

[sgmypod]

Think was years ago resting my Sg against my 4x12 at a gig....mate walks by and trips over my guitar lead pulling it down...chipped headstock

[sgmypod]

or mate playing my amp(which was on my desk...with extension lead next to it)....hadn't cut strings and extension lead had open holes (the catch to close them broken) he caught a string in it..million to one chance..blue flash, loud bang amp was never any use again, other than a 2x12

[Antag]

Well, I'm not sure "best" is the most appropriate adjective ;)  but a few spring to mind:

The demise of a beautiful '70s Gibson SG due to a mixture of stupidity & carelessness (at least 3 oh sh1t moments there... :roll:)

My Warmoth VIP.  To cut a long story short, I tried to drill the neck mounting holes with a hand drill.  Didn't realise that the Max RPM for the 3mm wood bit was 1800RPM.  Started drilling with the drill set to full (3000RPM), snapped the bit & gouged the still spinning stump across the back of the neck. Luckily I didn't hurt myself.  So I took it to Feline who drille dthe holes properly & attached the neck.  Then he says "Would you like us to finish the whole guitar for you?"  A sensible person would have said "Yes please, how much?".  However, I said "no thanks, I'll take it from there" & took it home.  Was trying to attach the pickup bezel when the screw snapped off, leaving the threaded part embedded in the body.  I ended up taking it all the way back to Croydon & Feline finished it all off :oops: :lol: