Tell us how you broke your neck

[childeatingsnow]

Which time and on which Hamer? I loved all of them and have never been the wife beater type but did take out my aggressions on my gear to some extent. I didn't own a Hamer in the 90's that managed to keep a headstock or neck intact. I never went full on Sonic Youth or Nirvana on my gear but did enjoy some abuse in favor of interesting feedback and noise. I guess that it ran the gamut for me, most were due to doing stupid things on stage. I broke my first by taking guitar off at the end of the set and shaking it by the strap while letting it feedback. Unfortunately the front straplock failed and that was it:/ Others followed by the headstocks hitting the head too hard and one neck simply broke at the heel joint for no apparent reason in between shows on the road. It was fine one night and mysteriously broken at the heel when I pulled it out of the case the next night. The heel joint break was the most common for me and I had to have a several of them fixed more than once. I love mahogany but it is just a soft wood that sounds great and dies an easy death with a thin neck profile. I remember a contemporary of mine breaking the head off of his vintage SG in a similar manner while on tour and was definitely not pleased. Maple for the win in terms of neck durability but a loses in terms of breathablity and tone.

[tbonesullivan]

so far, knock on wood, I haven't broken any necks. I come from the Trombone world, so I'm used to thinking of anything that could possibly harm my babies. Trombones are much LESS resistant to things like dents, etc than a guitar, and they are also quite a bit less sturdy.

[Toadroller]

Break a neck?!? Never!

But then it came to me...

It wasn't my neck.

My brother, who got guitar lessons, had a Yamaha acoustic of some sort. Why I remember that it was $80, used, is beyond me. In any case, he had pissed me off at some point. Older brothers have a finely-honed skill at this. I grabbed his guitar and threw it across the room into the Christmas tree, snapping it at the connection to the body as opposed to the traditional break at the headstock.

I paid for the repair, but it was never the same.

[Boomerang~Junkie]

. . . got a little "Christmas Vacation & Blues Brothers" in you evidently . . . .

[gorch]

I've had string breaks. That's all.

... and I like spring breaks.

[mc2]

My drummer and I had gotten hired to do sessions and live gigs with a new wave singer back in the day. I was using Vox Constellations (hollowbody teardrops) for the project. At a live gig, my backup bass was on a stand onstage during soundcheck. When we came out to play, someone had knocked it over and it was laying on the stage. The three-piece neck had split most the way down one of the seams from the impact. Sucked because the bass was dead mint. Had bought it from someone's mom, who bought it for her son in the 60s who never used it.

Outside of that....only UPS or FedEx monkey breaks.

[Caddie]

UPS Custom Shop

[Jakeboy]

Never have but almost did a couple years ago the first time I picked up my 1980 Cboard Special that I just unpacked. I was holding it and somehow I wasn't anymore and it crashed to the carpeted floor headstock first. I snatched it up and thankfully there was no break. I breathed a sigh of relief and immediately installed Schaller strap locks.

At a gig in 2006 or 2007, I had a Rickenbacker 650 Dakota slide off a stand for a metal floor....I dove while wearing my Strat and caught it before it hit.

That Strat is tough. I had a clumsy 300lb behemoth trip over a cord and body slam it to the floor off its stand. I mean he SLAMMED it to the floor.

Bent switch, 2 dings, and not even out of tune. Bolt ons are tough.