I'm notorious for overuse of tape; however...

Back story: There is a very nice young man that got his first guitar from me a few years ago. He started with a very basic Fender Squier Starter Pack, and has since progressed through the entry level Ibanez, the better mid range Epiphone Les Pauls, a very nice Alvarez, and a sweet Takamine. He's come a long way and has learned so much. His mother, who admittedly knows nothing, has done her best to support him in any way possible. A sweet pair who I get the fortune of dealing with quite often.

The beginning: Well the mom comes in with a guitar out of case. from the start it is obvious that it's a les paul copy, and she lays it on the counter. I am told that her son was given this guitar (yeah!) and that the first thing he did was play it, and imediately after she was sent to bring it to us at my music store to get it up and running. His main complaint is that besides the obvious touch ups, string change, and resetting the action, he's hearing a humming noise when it's plugged in. So off I go to inspect...

The tale: The body's solid, a very nice and workable piece. There are some dings and it needs to be cleaned badly but it will shine up nicely. From the outside the pickups look ok, the action does need to be adjusted on the bridge side as well as some tweaking to the neck but it's not nearly the worst we've ever scene. Tuning machines are good. Overall I'd say a pretty sweet free guitar. Then we go to plug it in. Sure enough there's a little bit of feed back and a strong 60 cycle hum. As the cable moves it makes the sound waver a bit, but that's about all. So back to the table and we open it up... Input jack is a little loose but that's not the problem... the problem is that right in the middle of his electonics and a wire with one loop of masking tape around it... I'm confused... why is there masking tape doubled over around one wire inside this guitar... so i go to remove it and sure enough the wire underneath is sliced and exposed without insulation for about 1/4in on either side of the split. and the ONLY thing holding it together is this little piece of masking tape folded in half... Of course being masking tape it's not sticking too well and as I move the input jack it pulls the two ends apart and together enough to make an audiable difference. The sheilding wire was also ripped out. I don't know who owned this guitar before but electrical tape I could understand, duct tape I would expect, and I've seen plenty of scotch tape used as most everyone has that readily available in their homes....
but this is the first time in 4 years at the music store that I have ever seen someone use masking tape ot fix an electrical problem in a guitar...

:: sigh ::

Of course we have since then correctly fixed the problems, ended up reworking most of the wiring, and done all the neccessary adjustments.... but for the rest of the day all I could think was "Masking tape? who sits there with their guitar and goes 'I know, Masking tape will fix it!' really?"

The Music Store

So I work in a music store, Not a CD store, A Music Store. We sell everything from combo gear to rentals to the really high dollar B&O gear and everything in between.

Working there can really keep you on your toes and constantly tests your people skills. I love my job and the people I work with, but for public use purposes I won't use real names.

We'll just call it "The Music Store."
Understand that we are part of a national chain of music stores, have a corporate office that often makes us wonder. I've put a breif description of our staff in the side bar. I love them, they are my working family. And this is where I tell the tales of our working lives... some of it may sound rediculous but unfortunitally it's all true.

Working in any customer service field is never easy... when your customers are all the "creative" type, well it makes things even more entertaining.