Members kwakatak Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 Does anybody else here have little ones that like to play inappropriately with and leave little presents inside your guitars? I've got a couple. One stuffs toys inside my beater - my other acoustic stays mostly in its case - and the other has dumped sand inside, making it sound a little like a maraca. I kinda like the effect but would rather have acquired it while playing at the beach and not near the sandbox. Good thing the cat litter box is tucked away in a corner in the basement. Where's my coffee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gary Palmer Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 I learnt with my eldest daughter (It stood me ion good stead for her younger brother and two sisters) that if kids have their own toys to play with they'll tend to leave your toys alone. Apart from resorting to machine gun posts, guard dogs and barbed wire (Which would never keep a toddler at bay anyway ) it's best to have them involved than excluded. Kids love being included in the fun and not excluded and behave best if they're given enjoyable things to do and keep themselves occupied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members revans513 Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 Well sort of.......................I had a cat that when given the chance would rub up and down any guitar I had on a stand. He knocked several of them over. I had to keep the door closed to keep him out. Ever play a guitar with furry strings? Nice effect! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChiyoDad Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 I learnt with my eldest daughter (It stood me ion good stead for her younger brother and two sisters) that if kids have their own toys to play with they'll tend to leave your toys alone. Not the case with my nephew but of course I'm not involved in his upbringing. A door lock to the treasure room is a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigald18 Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 At my wifes request I gave my grandson a beautiful D28 kit that I had built a few years ago. It was a beautiful sounding instrument. Little did I know that all he could play was Mary Had a Little Lamb! Well, after six months his younger sister got a hold of it and dropped it, cracking the neck badly at the volute. It was repaired by someone in the St Petersburg FL area and cost us a couiple of hundred to fix. Little kids and fragile instruments just don't mix. Now that she's older I gave her an Orozco Classical Guitar that I had made for me by Juan 43 years ago. She's happy with that and it's a beautiful sounding instrument. BigAl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A-20 Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 I have 5 boys, the youngest is just now 3 years old. We took the "involve them" solution. A super small First Act toy type acoustic, a Yamaha half-size guitar which actually plays well, and a couple of Gretsch cowboy guitars serve as fodder for the children. I try to teach the little ones to take good care of these instruments [the 2 Gretsch cowboy's are mostly for me and the older kids to bang on] and in so doing they learn to take care of better stuff. My good guitars hand on the wall which keeps them close to me and away from little ones. Here is a picture of the work from my then 2 year old on an amp while I had the back off of it. Bet he had a lot of fun with the magnet on the back of this speaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhancox Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 I like the "involve them" approach, but whatever you do, kids need to know their boundaries. I, as the smarter adult, don't leave fragile items that I treasure within reach of an unknowing toddler. Kids can be taught to respect other people's things without them having to have the exact same thing. My grandmother had all kinds of nice knick-knacks around her house. My dad had a number of beer steins from Europe and my mom had some Hummel figures as well. We weren't given fake beer steins or similar looking figurines so we would know not to touch the real thing. We'd better keep our hands off the real deal or there would be hell to pay. Of course, the steins and Hummels were on the mantel out of reach of us when we were really small, but even when we could reach them, we already knew they were off limits. Sometimes we try too hard to be "at one" with our kids. It's also hard not to. But for anyone who's old enough to remember Howdy Doody, I'm sure you weren't mentally scarred by being put in your place as a kid. Why must we feel our kids will suffer by being treated the same way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Samilyn Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 Well sort of.......................I had a cat that when given the chance would rub up and down any guitar I had on a stand. He knocked several of them over. I had to keep the door closed to keep him out. Ever play a guitar with furry strings? Nice effect! Pets can be as deadly to gits as kids can. Just ask the lady who spent a week trying to get skunk stink out of her gits......and everything else in the entire house.....thanks to a beagle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A-20 Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 I like the "involve them" approach, but whatever you do, kids need to know their boundaries. I, as the smarter adult, don't leave fragile items that I treasure within reach of an unknowing toddler. Kids can be taught to respect other people's things without them having to have the exact same thing.My grandmother had all kinds of nice knick-knacks around her house. My dad had a number of beer steins from Europe and my mom had some Hummel figures as well. We weren't given fake beer steins or similar looking figurines so we would know not to touch the real thing. We'd better keep our hands off the real deal or there would be hell to pay. Of course, the steins and Hummels were on the mantel out of reach of us when we were really small, but even when we could reach them, we already knew they were off limits.Sometimes we try too hard to be "at one" with our kids. It's also hard not to. But for anyone who's old enough to remember Howdy Doody, I'm sure you weren't mentally scarred by being put in your place as a kid. Why must we feel our kids will suffer by being treated the same way? Right on. My wife has always had nice looking stuff on the coffee table etc. Kids just learn what is a toy and what isn't. Well said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boxorox Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 Well, nobody's wrong on this one. Kids can be a bit unpredictable and rambunctious, and other peoples kids that are guests, even more so. I guess safe and secure disposition of instruments, not leaving them unattended etc., is up to us. The small kid's guitar is also good, as they can participate with you, and also as tools to teach them limits. They have pride of ownership too, and can be impressed with the caution and care instruments need to survive. Then there are the times when they are unrecognizable screeching wild animals. Man, kids are something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 32-20-Blues Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 I don't have kids yet, but when I was 4 I decided to do something nice for my Dad, and set to work 'cleaning' his car with sandpaper from the garage and shampoo from the bathroom. I was a busy little kid - at the same age, I took the sliding 'gate' off my baby brother's crib and hid it in the backyard; I didn't think it was fair that he was locked up, and I wanted him to be able to get out by himself. Although I can't remember damaging my Dad's guitar, I'm sure that, given the chance, I would have wreaked havoc with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted March 30, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 Interesting. FWIW I have to be very careful what I leave out. If those screws were sitting out they'd be swallowed. I've got an X-ray of my 5 year-old where a quarter got lodged part-way down his esophagus. Still, I like to play whenever I can. I usually put a strap on my beater and serenade them as I've done in my Youtube videos, but they still like to sneak off and get into mischief. For example, in one video you can see my little one sneak off and jam something inside the VCR - while I was in the room with my back turned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members panhandler Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 Yeah we had a troubsome kid like that once, we ate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 32-20-Blues Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 Yeah we had a troubsome kid like that once, we ate it. A Modest Proposal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Godsky Posted March 30, 2009 Members Share Posted March 30, 2009 I keep anything guitar related away from my kids the best that i can, as the youngest, she just loves to check things out, and has dented my tele on a few occasions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members g6120 Posted March 31, 2009 Members Share Posted March 31, 2009 For some reason both my little ones are really good about the guitar. They don't even touch it. They know I guess. My girl is 2 and boy is 4 and qwe have our home theater equipment open to the room too. They don't mess with it.In fact my boy handles DVDs by the hole, loads them, uses the remote, changes channels etc.... amazing how he picked that up.They both seem to respect certain items. Perhaps it's because Mommy is always home with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sixgunner455 Posted March 31, 2009 Members Share Posted March 31, 2009 My kids both got the little tinny tiny First Act guitars. My daughter is too big for hers, and is practicing too much to be happy with it, hence she is playing a Sigma now. My son ... is lazy, and nine. He has a great ear, and if he ever decides to get serious about practicing, he'll probably find himself playing a better guitar, too. My daughter, when she was 3, would load movies in the VCR and watch them without any assistance. Of course, then came the day that the fat Crayola marker got in there instead, and burned out the lifter. Good times, good times. Both of my kids, as crawling babies, climbed into the guitar case while I was playing guitar. Got some cute pictures of that. Hard to believe that girl is big enough to play that guitar now. And she made dinner tonight, too. Boy around the corner keeps looking at her, too. Guess I gotta go clean my shotgun ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gary Palmer Posted March 31, 2009 Members Share Posted March 31, 2009 My kids both got the little tinny tiny First Act guitars. My daughter is too big for hers, and is practicing too much to be happy with it, hence she is playing a Sigma now. My son ... is lazy, and nine. He has a great ear, and if he ever decides to get serious about practicing, he'll probably find himself playing a better guitar, too. My daughter, when she was 3, would load movies in the VCR and watch them without any assistance. Of course, then came the day that the fat Crayola marker got in there instead, and burned out the lifter. Good times, good times. Both of my kids, as crawling babies, climbed into the guitar case while I was playing guitar. Got some cute pictures of that. Hard to believe that girl is big enough to play that guitar now. And she made dinner tonight, too. Boy around the corner keeps looking at her, too. Guess I gotta go clean my shotgun ... 9 shot works great! Just enough to sting quite a bit once they're slightly out of range, but I could loan you my interrogation ...erm.....spot lamp, superglue and duck tape that I use when interviewing prospective boyfriends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sixgunner455 Posted March 31, 2009 Members Share Posted March 31, 2009 9 shot works great! Just enough to sting quite a bit once they're slightly out of range, but I could loan you my interrogation ...erm.....spot lamp, superglue and duck tape that I use when interviewing prospective boyfriends. I've got some ... erm ... interviewing supplies of my own, but thanks for the offer! I'll have to check out some 9 shot. Doesn't break clays or down doves from very far out, but I suppose that this could just be the perfect use for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kydog Posted March 31, 2009 Members Share Posted March 31, 2009 Kids and guitars:poke::poke::poke: well I knew that the kids would get to my guitars so I bought them each a low end model so they would have there own. My 16 year old is playing and taking lessons and has a nicer guitar. the kids 8 and 10 are not to intrested yet but there time will come (I hope) I feel that if they have there own they will leave mine alone.:poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gary Palmer Posted March 31, 2009 Members Share Posted March 31, 2009 I've got some ... erm ... interviewing supplies of my own, but thanks for the offer! I'll have to check out some 9 shot. Doesn't break clays or down doves from very far out, but I suppose that this could just be the perfect use for it! Yep, 9 shot will knock feathers out of pigeons and not take em down to often beyond 60 yards, but opt for 5 or 6 shot for more of an impact at range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted March 31, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 31, 2009 I'm soooooo glad I have two sons and no daughters. The whole dating thing would kill me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sixgunner455 Posted March 31, 2009 Members Share Posted March 31, 2009 Yeah, I usually use 7 shot when hunting quail and dove. Our cottontail rabbits are pretty small, too, but they don't usually go down to shot that small. They're fast, and get out of effective range of those little pellets pretty quickly. And the jackrabbits -- oh, I don't ever shoot at them with less than a 6. Usually just try to peg them with a .22 instead. Of course, most of the time, the Brittany is chasing them and I don't get a shot anyway, just a laugh! She's a lot better about birds. We have a good time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted March 31, 2009 Members Share Posted March 31, 2009 [YOUTUBE]oUVIJCTvF1E[/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gary Palmer Posted March 31, 2009 Members Share Posted March 31, 2009 Yeah, I usually use 7 shot when hunting quail and dove. Our cottontail rabbits are pretty small, too, but they don't usually go down to shot that small. They're fast, and get out of effective range of those little pellets pretty quickly. And the jackrabbits -- oh, I don't ever shoot at them with less than a 6. Usually just try to peg them with a .22 instead. Of course, most of the time, the Brittany is chasing them and I don't get a shot anyway, just a laugh! She's a lot better about birds. We have a good time. 6 is my preferred all rounder, but I'll use 5's if going for hare/rabbits and 7's if going for partridge, grouse or pheasant. (One of my uncles (Ret) and two cousins are gamekeepers on Northumbrian estates, so don't go thinking I'm posh lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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