CMS Author MikeRivers Posted December 25, 2014 CMS Author Share Posted December 25, 2014 In an article about Ed Sheeran's live shows in the December 2014 issue of Mix, there's this about his guitars: Sheeran plays Martin guitars, and he's not always easy on them. His main guitar for the stage is a custom Martin LX1, and maintenance is a large part of guitar tech Trevor Dawkins' job. "We're lucky to get 50 shows out of a new one before it needs to be retired!" What could he possibly be doing to wear out a guitar in just 50 shows? I've only seen him once, it was on TV, doing only one song, and he didn't seem to be particularly hard on the instrument there. The article mentioned that he does a lot of tapping on the body. Could he be bashing in the top? Or cracking a side? At least Jimi Hendrix had the decency to break his guitars in a way that he could put them back together with some screws and glue. And Hendrix probably didn't even have an endorsement deal with Fender (or, for the historians, Acoustic Control, either). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members monstermaker Posted December 26, 2014 Members Share Posted December 26, 2014 Add in some practice time too maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 I'm not sure Mike - but a cracked top could definitely be a reason for retiring a guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted December 26, 2014 Author CMS Author Share Posted December 26, 2014 I'm not sure Mike - but a cracked top could definitely be a reason for retiring a guitar. If he cracks a top every 50 shows and gets a new guitar rather than getting it repaired, I'd like to be his guitar dealer. And, really, if he's cracking tops by tapping on the body, he'd be better off hiring a percussionist. But then, I know that some people just like to break guitars all by themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philboking Posted December 29, 2014 Members Share Posted December 29, 2014 There are some people I know who abuse guitars. They don't get to touch any of mine.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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