Sour Note: Violinist Busts Strad

British violin virtuoso David Garrett revealed this week he tripped and fell onto his Stradivarius at the end of a December concert, seriously damaging the priceless 290-year-old instrument. The 26-year-old former child prodigy and male model is left with a violin that will take months and more than $100,000 to fix, and might never sound the same again, the Independent reports.

"When I opened it, the violin was in pieces. I couldn't speak and I couldn't get up," says Garrett. The violin, known as San Lorenzo, is one of about 600 Stradivarius instruments in existence worldwide, reports the Independent. Garrett will play tomorrow on another Strad, loaned to him by dealers in Milan. Three security guards will be watching his every move. (More Stradivarius violin stories.)