I brought my guitar case with me to Caltech (and my guitar too, inside the case) when I flew back from Maryland. After settling back in and packing everything else away, I wanted to see how my guitar had fared over the flight. Turns out that on the journey between the airport in MD and my dorm room I had somehow misplaced the case key. Darn.
At first I was a little flustered, but then I thought what a good opportunity to try my lock-picking skills! I mean, how complicated could a guitar case lock be? Besides, it was my first day back to school, and there weren't any sets due soon.
After about ten minutes attempting to work it open with a paper clip and failing, I thought I might need some help. To be honest, I had never picked a lock before and had only the slightest clue about pins and whatever else goes into locks. At around that point, my friend Katherine walked by my open door and suggested that I go ask one of the upperclassmen with lock-picking sets if they could help, advice I was inclined to take.
Unfortunately Melissa couldn't open the lock either before she had to go finish her work, which amounted to about 5 minutes of effort. She left the lock-picking kit with us and as I began to fiddle with the lock, more people began stopping by to see what was up. At this point I tried fashioning the paper clip in the shape of the key, which was simple enough otherwise I wouldn't have remembered it. Eventually I got the shape right! But then the paper clip metal was too weak to apply enough force...
One of the girls left to get a u-shaped hair pin, which is different from a bobby pin since instead of the two ends pressed down together, the two forks of the pin are like a spring and want to stay apart. As we waited I let Katherine give the paper clip and lock pick set combo a shot. And she got it to turn! Only a little bit though.
When I got the hair pin, I was wondering if should simply give up and just ask if anyone else had a key for their guitar case that might match, or take it to a lock place and have them get it open for me. Then again, how cool would it be if I picked my lock though?! So I decided I might as well give it one more shot. Again, I fashioned the hair pin into the shape of the key. I had a good feeling about it since it did apply more pressure to the pins on account of its springy feature. After several minutes of re-shaping the pin into the right size, it finally fit into the lock.
With the aid of some tools from the lock-picking kit, I got the lock to turn about 90% of the way- but I just couldn't get that last little bit for all I tried. With no other hope I gave it to Katherine to see if she would have any more luck than me. And what do you know, she did!
It just took a little determination- and about two hours- and the help of friends- but I got the lock open! Now whenever I travel with my guitar case again, I think I'll leave it unlocked.
-Teo
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