Shipping Guitars and Roaches

[deacon Mark]

I told this true story many years ago on old Usenet group, but I throw it out again for an updated laugh, since in shipping cold happens.

In about January of 1982 my dad sent me his Barker guitar. It was his gigging and playing guitar since he had got it new from Bill Barker in 1965. He could not play anymore and sold it to me really cheap. Well it had been in his studio in Los Angles and not a great building. The place was infested with cockroaches. I got the guitar and sure enough they even had 2 dead around the case and the packing. They even managed to get in case because guitar out on the stand.

Well, I did not want cockroaches at all around me and wonder how to get ride of them. I call my friend an exterminator on what to do. He said it was easy. Just clean the guitar make sure no cockroach inside the guitar. Then since it was January and at the moment was 4 degrees above zero he said just leave it outside in the case for 24 hours and they would all be dead forever in the deep freeze.

I explained to him the dilemma of leaving guitar out in the sub zero stuff. I told him I could leave the case outside that would be no problem. So he said clean the guitar naphtha would work as I sugggested. I did that and left that wonderful Lifton crushed lined case outside for 2 days in the sub-zero front porch. Brought it back in and wiped it down...............have not seen a cockroach since. Let the case warm back up and guitar back in.............roached guitar gone.

[Cunamara]

LOL! I will admit, I interpreted "roaches" somewhat differently when I saw the title of the thread.

[Stringswinger]

LOL! I will admit, I interpreted "roaches" somewhat differently when I saw the title of the thread.

What had you been smoking when you read the Deacon's post??

[Mick-7]

LOL! I will admit, I interpreted "roaches" somewhat differently when I saw the title of the thread.

If it was a solid-body guitar, that would not be an unreasonable assumption.

[Cunamara]

Heh! Well, I have seen no "roaches*" on my premises since shortly after graduating from college. I haven't smoked anything since then, licit or illicit.



* of the insect variety, unfortunately yes. I lived in several apartments that had those kind of roaches wandering about the place.

[Woody Sound]

LOL! I will admit, I interpreted "roaches" somewhat differently when I saw the title of the thread.

I told the story a while back about buying a 19th Century Romantic guitar. When feeling around inside to check out the bracing, I found a small bag of weed taped to the inside of the top.

[Mick-7]

I told the story a while back about buying a 19th Century Romantic guitar. When feeling around inside to check out the bracing, I found a small bag of weed taped to the inside of the top.

How romantic.

[pawlowski6132]

I told this true story many years ago on old Usenet group, but I throw it out again for an updated laugh, since in shipping cold happens.

In about January of 1982 my dad sent me his Barker guitar. It was his gigging and playing guitar since he had got it new from Bill Barker in 1965. He could not play anymore and sold it to me really cheap. Well it had been in his studio in Los Angles and not a great building. The place was infested with cockroaches. I got the guitar and sure enough they even had 2 dead around the case and the packing. They even managed to get in case because guitar out on the stand.

Well, I did not want cockroaches at all around me and wonder how to get ride of them. I call my friend an exterminator on what to do. He said it was easy. Just clean the guitar make sure no cockroach inside the guitar. Then since it was January and at the moment was 4 degrees above zero he said just leave it outside in the case for 24 hours and they would all be dead forever in the deep freeze.

I explained to him the dilemma of leaving guitar out in the sub zero stuff. I told him I could leave the case outside that would be no problem. So he said clean the guitar naphtha would work as I sugggested. I did that and left that wonderful Lifton crushed lined case outside for 2 days in the sub-zero front porch. Brought it back in and wiped it down...............have not seen a cockroach since. Let the case warm back up and guitar back in.............roached guitar gone.

Usenet group???

[Woody Sound]

Usenet group???

That was RMMGJ - We who were there are internet old timers. ASCII text, Gopher, FTP, Lynx, etc. There were some regulars there (some very cool, some not so) who never seemed to find their way into this "modern" place with its point-and-click gui. Sometimes I miss those old days. But not very often.

[Woody Sound]

That was RMMGJ - We who were there are internet old timers. ASCII text, Gopher, FTP, Lynx, etc. There were some regulars there (some very cool, some not so) who never seemed to find their way into this "modern" place with its point-and-click gui. Sometimes I miss those old days. But not very often.

ps - Usenet network hierarchy: rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz

[Slapthatplank]

funny thread, I just got a new amp (Silktone Astro, yum), and when I went to break down the shipping box for recycling there was a big old roach in it. Gross.

[Jimmy blue note]

Gregor Samsa? Are you still taking guitar lessons?

[GuyBoden]

ps - Usenet network hierarchy: rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz

rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz could be a tough group to post in, you needed thick skin, especially for an inexperienced hobby player like myself.

You can still find some good information by searching the historical data.

For historical data searches, you can still access the rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz using Google Group here:
rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz - Google Groups

[Woody Sound]

rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz could be a tough group to post in, you needed thick skin, especially for an inexperienced hobby player like myself.

You can still find some good information by searching the historical data.

For historical data searches, you can still access the rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz using Google Group here:
rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz - Google Groups

Remember "Lord Valve?"

[Woody Sound]

Remember "Lord Valve?"

ps - I believe he passed away a few years ago. For the uninitiated, here is just a sampling of his exchanges, from the old alt.guitar.amps group. Brace yourselves:

"Lord Valve" humiliated by a real amp tech

[benhatchins]

That is hilarious! This story truly made my day—I love hearing things like this. Laughter is such a great way to relieve stress and lighten the mood. Speaking of things that make me happy, I recently discovered domypaper.com/ services, and I couldn’t be more excited! This means I’ll finally have so much more free time to spend with my kids and focus on my hobbies. Juggling responsibilities has always been a challenge, but having this extra support is a game-changer. Now, I can enjoy life a little more without constantly feeling overwhelmed

[jim777]

rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz could be a tough group to post in, you needed thick skin, especially for an inexperienced hobby player like myself.

You can still find some good information by searching the historical data.

For historical data searches, you can still access the rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz using Google Group here:
rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz - Google Groups

Of all the Usenet group I read fairly often back in the day, that one was often the nastiest. All the groups that started with "Alt.*" were far nicer. Still, I remember a few big names posting there, including Jimmy Bruno.

[John A.]

Of all the Usenet group I read fairly often back in the day, that one was often the nastiest. All the groups that started with "Alt.*" were far nicer. Still, I remember a few big names posting there, including Jimmy Bruno.

I had the entirely opposite experience. I found alt groups to be consistently nastier than rec groups. RMMGJ was great (and relatively polite) for a long time, but it turned into a cesspool pretty much beginning with the arrival of Lord Valve, who ruined alt.guitar.amps (and some other groups) before that.

[Eugle]

LOL Great story! Thanks for sharing! Freezing out the roaches—what a wild but clever solution. Glad the guitar made it out roach-free in the end! Stories like this make me think of how carefully we have to handle gear. I worried about my guitar the most when it was shipped, called the veho tech phone number several times. Maybe because I heard many awful stories about shipping musical instruments, I don't know, but fortunately, everything was fine.

[starjasmine]

I recently discovered domypaper.com/ services, and I couldn’t be more excited!

External services can offer valuable guidance and perspective, and they can accelerate your productivity. I hope you are using them in that way. Just paying someone to do the writing for you is depriving yourself of the opportunity to gain writing skills. As your career advances, you'll likely find yourself managing intellectual property that you are not allowed to show to nondisclosed parties. That's when you'll need the ability to express your ideas clearly and convincingly on your own. Now is the time* to learn to do this.

Like playing music, writing is an acquired skill. If you keep at it, it will get easier. Good writers don't just write. They rewrite. Get your ideas down on paper (or on the screen) then reorganize them and rewrite them, over and over, till you are happy with the result. The ability to cut/copy/paste on the computer screen has made this process vastly easier than it was in the pre-PC days when I was in college.

Note also that ChatGPT or any other number of AI-based services can probably do what the writing service does but do it for free.

$0.02,

SJ

* See what I did there? :-)