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Anti-Damage Guitars

Air bags for you guitar
 
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This idea came from my recent "accident". I was at a gig and after when cleaning up I put my $1300 G&L Legacy in its hardshell case, well, being the dumbass I am I forgot to close the latches and when I picked up the case the guitar flew out and landed face forward on the floor. Apon a quick inspection I found nothing, but when I got home I found a spot of the finish literly torn off.

My idea: In the back by the tremolo cover there could be a pre-shaped airbag that would deploy over the guitar when sensors sensed that the guitar would be falling or something that will damage it. The airbag would be powered by a CO2 canister (like in a paint ball gun) and would be rechargable. The airbag would also be so that a person could re-fold the airbag and be used again.

dickity, Aug 09 2003

This guitar http://www.thewho.org/images/guitar.jpg
[mrthingy, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Another application for this now baked technology http://www.geek.com...e20031007022089.htm
Laptop harddrive air bag [half, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

[link]






       My tale of woe:   

       When I was a child I left my father's classical Martin case unlatched after I played around with it. He later picked it up to go to lessons and it fell out in the entryway onto slate and cracked the back.   

       Martin fixed it but it took almost a year and I was doghouse girl for quite a while.   

       I'm not sure that an airbag would work very well. Given the speed with which it needs to deploy and the amount of coverage that would need to be provided, it seems that it would be hard to make and obtrusive. Also expensive.   

       Maybe latches that can't be left open. When you close the case, the latches latch, akin to a car door.
bristolz, Aug 09 2003
  

       [bristolz] OUCH! My brother has a Martin acoustic and I am scared to touch it ( or rather scared to *really* play it).
My brother also built a guitar for me. It has the slimmest, flattest neck of any guitar and also 29 frets. One day, I accidentallly dropped it from a stand 4 foot above the floor and it landed straight on its neck. It still kept in tune.
A testament to my brother's creation.
gnomethang, Aug 09 2003
  

       I feel your pain. I've only ever done that with my old Vox, and it was OK afterwards (at least as OK as it was before).
I agree with [bz] about the available time for deployment; her self-latching latches are good. Failing that, how about a piece of netting attached to the non-hinge edges of the case?
[gnome]: 29 frets? Wow! Not much of a neck pick-up sound though, I suspect.
angel, Aug 09 2003
  

       Um.... it screams [angel] but being the rhythm guitarist that I am (was!) I just got the crunchy stuff. Bro' built the neck (after sitting under a waterfall in a cowskin for 6 weeks), cut down a new strat for the body and we settled for just the 6 string Floyd Rose Floating Trem with some Ibanez Humbucker at the back - I forget the model!. Shame I only pick up the acoustic nowadays!
If only I were to have bought the 7 string Trem unit and pickups, I could have been being in a Nü Metal Band (at the age of 33 obviously!)
gnomethang, Aug 09 2003
  

       Good Lords of The New Church! That's a lot of frets.
thumbwax, Aug 09 2003
  

       Do not fret about it.
krelnik, Aug 09 2003
  

       [bristolz] um.. does he have any.. you know.. we would call them 'batter bits' in the UK
gnomethang, Aug 09 2003
  

       Tempura leftovers
thumbwax, Aug 09 2003
  

       Clips of baseball players during practice?
Cedar Park, Aug 09 2003
  

       Pete Townsend laughs in the face of this idea.
waugsqueke, Aug 10 2003
  

       All very Rock and Roll of course BUT...
Billy Duffy from the cult used to own a Gretsch White Falcon, A real custom job and quite valuable. It was also semi hollow and feedback for the end of 'Love Removal Machine' was a snip to achieve and he looked good at the fron of the stage. He then smashed the guitar up in a fit of pique on tour in Australia.
This meant 2 things:
1, he is an absolute Arse and
2, When I next saw him play 'LRM' he was at the back of the stage with his nose against a line of Marshall amps trying to achieve the same feedback (not looking so good!)
gnomethang, Aug 11 2003
  

       I think this is just what Pete Townshend needed. He seemed to have the worst luck with his guitars.
beauxeault, Aug 11 2003
  

       + to you dickity. I just hate reading these stories of damaged guitars. So sad. Bit like the h-b Scar Stories posting - just makes me cringe!   

       Am wholeheartedly in favour of this idea as it would have saved my Takumi classical from a nasty bash inflicted when a fellow halfbaker pushed it off the bed onto the floor. 15 years ago it was. Still annoys me!
jonthegeologist, Aug 11 2003
  

       Would be very Spinal Tap to have the air bags deploy on stage when the player has simply jerked the guitar around too quickly. Of course, they'd be monstrously huge, completely obscuring Nigel Tufnel at full inflation while he attempts to carry on with the song.
snarfyguy, Aug 11 2003
  

       Link to article about IBM's Active Protection System
half, Oct 11 2003
  

       When that happened to me i nearly cryed. NOOO MY GIBSON LP :'(, so what ive done now to stopt it from happening it super glue (well no more nails actualy) those plasic catches (you no the ones used for belts on bum bags and walkman carriers) to the outside of my case. Obviously i had to make over object like platforms to rest the clip on ect and i had to use more then one to get suffient strengh but it works. :)
magic_ki, Feb 06 2004
  

       <useless factoid> I read an interview with Vito Bratta (ex White Lion) years ago, where he spoke about his favourite Strat which got run over in the driveway of his house. He swore that afterwards it actually played better - the weight of the car had shifted the neck slightly or something. </useless factoid>
kmlabs, Jan 12 2005
  
      
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