Blood on the Strat...

In 1974 Bob Dylan had come out with an album called Blood on the Tracks. I was in high school and one day I was walking a girl to the school parking lot and I quoted some song lyrics from that music that I thought were pretty deep and should be brought to the attention of everyone. Little did I know it was Bob's divorce album detailing the break up of his marriage. The girl gave a sneak preview of a scene that would be in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail which would come out the next year in 1975 and shouted, "Run Away," and did. In 1976 the Fender Musical Instrument Corporation made the Stratocaster guitar that I bought used in 1983 and still own. On that guitar I learned to play that particular song I quoted that day. I still encounter that girl at the rate of a meeting every two decades. I don't know if she recognizes me. Friday night after a jam session here at the house I got blood on the strat.

I guess I could lie and tell this long story like Lucinda Williams does in one of her songs about "real life bleeding fingers and broken guitar strings." I am sure Lucinda is not lying about her situation and while I do play a lot I usually use a slide and rarely break a string. I might occasionally break a bass guitar string but that's usually after they have been on the guitar for about 10 years and it's more of an age related decline that something I did. This blood comes from me slicing my finger while putting away the cajun washboard thing. 

You know those cajun wash board things.They are worn like a shirt you save especially to wear to Walmart. You slip it over the front but you are kind of out in the back. This one had some kind of epoxy seal covering what might become a sharp edge and the epoxy had become a sharp edge and sliced my finger. As I streamed blood I continued putting up the rest of the gear used in the jam session and got it on my guitar.

I noticed the blood stain two days later when I took my guitar out for a bit of general maintenance that a 38 year old guitar requires. I am going to leave it there. Hopefully the possibility of body fluid exposure will make others keep their hands Off of it. Not like anyone is going to pick up a banjo, guitar or mando around here and play it anyway because they are all in some tuning that is particular to the Mudbelly thing I do.There was the incident once where a guy picked this guitar up and instead of playing it he demonstrated a move he claimed to have seen Bruce Springsteen perform and rammed the headstock into a low ceiling. Kind of like the girl he had to run away after that.    

Blood is drawn. There will be more. Run away or I'll get it on you.