The Associated Press
updated 3:08 a.m. MT, Fri., Feb. 15, 2008
LONDON
David Garrett said he tripped while carrying his 18th century violin as he was leaving London's Barbican Hall after a performance, smashing it to bits.

"I had it over my shoulder in its case and I fell down a concrete flight of stairs backward," Garrett said Thursday. "When I opened the case, much of my G.B. Guadagnini had been crushed."

Garrett said he bought the 1772 violin for $1 million US in 2003, and he is now hoping to get it repaired in New York, where he is based.

"I hope and pray that it can be fixed, but if it can't, I hope my insurance policy will let me buy another great violin," the 26-year-old musician said. He told The Associated Press that other published accounts saying the violin was a Stradivarius were incorrect. Guadagnini is believed by some to have been a student of Antonio Stradivari.

99% of the people that go to hear him play probably couldn't tell the difference if he was playing his $1 million violin or one that he picked up at Guitar Center.

Sounds to me like an instrument that should have been left in the recording studio.

He should have at least smashed it on stage...

im falling on my guitars & dropping them all the time at shows...

thats why i buy replaceable ones.