GUITAR LOSS

I've been picking up my guitar a bit more lately, and half-heartedly playing some OK cover versions with friends, though what I/we should really be doing is writing writing writing new material. Anyway, in order to kick-start some inspiration, got a lesson from a colleague here who's a kind of latter-day Django Reinhardt, and a bit of a musicologist to boot. So far so good. I picked up my guitar today to restring it, with the idea of practising some of the new chord shapes and bang! The bridge just came off and was hanging there forlornly. I surprised myself that I didn't shout or swear but took the impact very calmly.

I'm very attached to this L'Arrivee guitar - it's the first thing I ever saved up for and I've been playing it for over 13 years. Wrote some good songs on it too, mostly a long time ago, it has to be said. But for it to be broken was a wrench! The 'damage' looks superficial, however - the bridge was just glued on to begin with, so all that's called for is a bit of superglue, right?

I rushed it down to the music shop as soon as I could but when I produced the instrument, the guy there informed me (with a lot of grimacing and sighing) that it should never have been strung with steel strings in the first place! He thinks it's designed to be a nylon-strung instrument, lacking some kind of metal bar reinforcing the neck. I just don't get it - if that's the case, why has it worked so well up till now? Why is it obviously a steel-string design? I've been frantically trying to picture how a metal bar would make any change to the pressure on the bridge (as opposed to the neck) anyway. The neck has shown no signs of strain. Anyway, it's an uneasy wait till Tuesday to see if I can get a second opinion. And the first time I've been without a guitar around the house for years. Maybe I should give it all up as a bad job - it's been fun, at times almost compulsive, but has brought me almost as much pain (in terms of non-recognition) as joy (in creation).

Afterthought: Supergrass just released another well-crafted album at the end of last year. As usual, it sank without trace. These guys, a kind of latter-day ELO, have good melodies and arrangements just pouring out of them. Is it time for an Arts Council subsidy?