“From my dorm room in college to stages with Harry Styles, this guitar has been with me through all of it. I’m truly devastated”: Guitarist’s 20-year-old Martin wrecked after flying Delta

Guitarist Madi Diaz experienced every guitarist's worst nightmare after discovering that her 20-year-old Martin acoustic guitar had been destroyed during a Delta flight. She called out the airline on Twitter/X for mishandling her instrument.

“From my dorm room in college to stages with @Harry_Styles, this guitar has been with me through ALL OF IT. @Delta I’m truly devastated by the treatment of my instrument. Insurmountable loss. Idk how to begin to replace something like this,” she tweeted.

Diaz posted a video of her broken guitar to show the extent of the damage. She had also taped lyrics to Harry Styles’ song Medicine to the guitar so she could remember them during the performance. Nothing much was left of the lyric sheet, however, as the paper was ripped to shreds.

In a separate tweet, she added, “I bought the most heavy duty case I could find. My theory for 20 years was that our instruments are meant to travel to tell our stories. Lesson learned? I'm not in the position to financially handle renting gear wherever I go - but I'm also not in the position to lose so much.”

The guitarist also noted that the “Fragile” sticker on her case seemed to have been “scratched off purposefully,” which made the situation even more shocking for Diaz. Musicians and fans came to Diaz's defense in the comments, with many tagging Delta and imploring them to “do better.” The public pressure paid off, with Delta commenting on Diaz's tweets and promising to resolve the situation.

In a 2021 interview with Guitar World, Diaz spoke at length about her now-demolished Martin D-28.

“I have this D-28 that I love so much that my dad actually bought for me, brand new, when I was in my first year of college at Berklee,” she said. “So it's been so cool to experience my Martin getting older because at this point its almost 20 years old… Fuck. Yeah. My Martin's almost drinking age, man.”

Airlines and airports damaging gear is nothing new. Just last year, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid shared a photo of his demolished pedalboard.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances, Diaz promised to continue her live dates with Kacey Musgraves. The European leg of the tour kicked off yesterday in Dublin and continues tomorrow in Amsterdam at Paradiso.