In Reply to: Dive Report; Redondo Canyon posted by Max Bottomtime on December 03, 2005 at 23:56:18:

First off we started the evening's adventure with the New Divewagon! Whoopee!
Actually it is Mrs. Shaw's old Mazda Minivan brought back from the dead just for diving! Then I got an old Ovation guitar that I had been planning to add to the "Redondo Monument" artificial reef. I worked (sort of) for Ovation for nigh onto 15 years, so there quite are a few roundback guitars around the house. Well one less.

This was the maiden voyage for the newly revived dive trolley. In the car I was annoyed to find that there was a CD left in the CD player when I went to put a Frank Zappa CD in...
...so I hit Eject and out popped a commercial CD with HUGE 600 point type that read "ej". COOL Mrs. Shaw left an Eric Johnson CD in the car. I pop it in expecting some guitar shredding. Nope, it was Elton John. Yeesh (shudder) no guitar shredding here.

I picked an old ovation guitar because even after the little wood that is on it disappears, the big cavernous body should make for a hospitable dwelling. The other choice was a once VERY EXPENSIVE Takamine that had tryst with a forklift.

I trailed it on a jon line starting in the parking lot. The bump bump sound all the way across the asphalt and down the stairs would make any guitar player wretch. But this one was chosen because it was beyond repair in the first place.

I thought that this thing would be buoyant but it was surprising neutral. Out past the waves the guitar followed me like a small dingy. The jon line was a mistake since it was always wrapping around a fin. It kept bumping into Max and myself implying that we were under yet another sea lion attack.
So I shot some air into the body thinking that it would trail above and behind me like a lift bag. I guess the air leaked out the jack hole since it was an acoustic electric.
It always followed me at fin level.

Anyway, if anyone finds it... the warranty is now void, and it won't tune up.
Best left for the Octopi.

-eJ
(author of "Blenney and the Jet Fins")