Again, with the autograph protection....

[Mike Kolb]

A repeat customer has trusted me (silly man!) to give a shot at trying to protect the celebrity autographs on two of his guitars.

The first is a late-model Squier Tele singed by BB King & Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown... the other guitar is a late-90's Peavey Wolfgang, signed by Eddie Van Halen.  

All 3 signatures were done with a sharpie, although Clarence's signature was done with a gold sharpie.

I believe that both guitars are either finished in polyurethane (or polyester?)  but I'll run the "lacquer thinner test" to verify.  

Anyway, the question is... has any headway been announced lately in this sort of work?  I've reviewed what's been written here previously, and I'm leaning toward a clear shellac, followed with light bursts of polyurethane clear.  But...?

The danger, of course, is somehow destroying what the customer already has... in any misguided efforts to preserve it.  All comments welcome!  

[Frank Ford]

My first line of defense is to summon a really stern look, and TELL the owner to GIVE UP playing the instrument - PERIOD.

About 25% of the time, that does the trick, and the guitar becomes - properly - a display item.

Second shot is to INSIST that I don't have any way to be really certain about longevity and appearance of whatever I do.

Third is to make it CRYSTAL clear that I will only undertake the job as a "time-and-materials" operation with no estimate of any kind, or upper limit.  Really, this is a try at intimidation, and often enough that works to halt the request.  

If, however, there's a good agreement or reason to go for the real deal, I'll do my best to keep the cost reasonable, but I do try to keep an eye on the clock as well.  

One job I did was at once the most time consuming, frustrating, and satisfying one ever, mostly because it was one I did for a pal who, in my mind, is more of a celebrity than the former Beatle who signed his guitar:

My most complete endeavor was this one, where I worked around the marker scrawl, scuffed only the poly finish, overcoated with shellac and lacquer:  Protecting Celebrity Signature

[Mike Kolb]

In my heart-of-hearts, I think I was waiting for somebody to tell me that.  These guitars have been sitting in the shop for a week and I stare at them every day. Something didn't resonate correctly about the whole thing and it took FF himself to show me the light!  

Yes, time to set the gentleman straight in terms of not being able to have his cake & eat it, too. The autographs either stay on the displayed momentoes.... or they get rubbed-away while the guitars are being played.  

Or the job gets done with an amazingly long string of caveats that will render me held-harmless. 

The bottom line for me is I don't want to be "that guy" who somehow screwed-up this customers precious keepsakes.  Thank you Frank!  

[Hesh Breakstone]

Sheesh.... these guys know how to party.... ;)

[RETROROD]

Frank...! I see why they call you "da Master".....Nice and tedious work........ Nothing but praise from this corner!

[Paul Verticchio]

Mike,

Tell them the best way to do it is to encase the entire guitar in a Lucite block. Then, they can use it as the world's largest paperweight.

I feel your frustration.  Every time B.B. King plays within 100 miles of our sweet little Mayberry, IL, I turn down about 5-7 requests to 'preserve' the autograph.

Does every other guitarist on the planet have a guitar signed by BB King?

Whatever happened to autograph books? :)

Have a good'un :)

Also, an antiques appraiser once told me that once the signature is "over-coated", the signature cannot be certified as authentic. He could have been pulling my leg, but it makes sense.

[Mike Kolb]

My confidence to turn this particular job down is building far, far greater than my confidence to actually do the job:)  Thanks for the excellent advice.

Speaking only for myself (& perhaps others, too) I'm afraid that a lot of jobs get accepted to "keep the bench full" when times get lean.  It's good to remind myself to take the high road sometimes, and to remember that these things walk out of our shops with our reputations attached for a long time.  

In the end, I'm hoping this fellow will thank me for knowing the difference between a job worth doing well, and a job not worth doing at all.  In his eyes, he has precious keepsakes... and should probably treat them as such. If he needs a player, there's no shortage of good instruments out there without autographs on them.  

Thanks to all. 

[Brady Anderson]

Hi Mike,

Here's my two bits worth to help fortify your refusal of the job.  10 years ago In an attempt to apply a protective coat over a signature on a White poly finished guitar, I used Lacquer and at first it seemed to work perfectly.  To my horror when I looked at it a few weeks later, I observed that the lacquer was yellowing slightly (which lacquer will tend to do).  Not a nice look for a white guitar.  The customer actually didn't mind too much but I certainly did.  I did one other using very thinned out PPG water white auto finish and it worked better without the yellowing but after these 2 experiences I decided this job would no longer be on my list (too many things can go wrong) and I have been very happy about this decision.  I don't mind at all letting someone else be the signature coater expert.  I hate the entire signature concept anyway.  As I get older and a bit crankier, I am actually enjoying saying "No" to customers regarding jobs I don't believe are worth doing.

Best to you my friend.  Hope to get down to visit you some day.

Brady

[Mike Kolb]

Thanks for the input, Brady~  always good to get fortification!  Hope to meet you, too, if should you venture down this way.    Mike

[Eric Steven Johansen]

My Fish #4 now has something like 6 or 7 Grammy winners as well as idols like Grisman, Watson, and Santana on it. Heaven forbid the owner (me) comes looking for me to protect these. How can I say no ? Not too worry though, this one never gets played anymore. Lots more signatures now but here's an old pic.