Guitar Autograph Preservation

[king-albert]

I recently had one of my heroes autograph the tremolo cover on the back of my Strat. He used a black sharpie. What can I apply to it to preserve it from rubbing off/scratching/etc? I thought about a clear-coat or laquer but those might contain alcohol which would take off the marker, right? Come on experts! Show me the way!

[RL in Fla]

Turn it over and put the autograph on the inside , or buy another cover and stash that one .

[dkaplowitz]

So who was it that signed your guitar?

[king-albert]

Stephen Malkmus signed it. The thing is I want it on the guitar. I don't want to replace the trem cover. Any ideas?

[RL in Fla]

You could try clear acrylic , ka . Clean around the sig with alcohol or naptha on cotton / Q-tips to make sure it adheres and then do several *light* mist coats so it doesn't run , and then do a regular coat . I did it this spray method on regular ink-jet paper and it worked fine with no bleed .

[king-albert]

Thanks for the help RL. I'll give that a shot.

[noctilux1]

I too have a guitar signed on the back by one of the greats, Les Paul. I had Les sign with a silver, autograph pen. What can I do to protect this signiture and not destroy the guitar?

[alderbody]

as for the trem cover autograph, i'd cover it with transparent adhesive film, because i think that lacquer would peel off.

remember, the trem cover is flexible and the lacquer is hard...

[noctilux1]

Any advice for protecting a signature on the BODY of the guitar?

[unclej54]

i recently purchased a can of spray clear paint that was specifically made to spray on plastic. i bought it at the local ace hardware so you might check around before you do anything..if you haven't already fixed it.

[RL in Fla]

Originally posted by alderbody
lacquer is hard...

No lacquer , acrylic . ( Belushi : "No Coke !! Pepsi !! " ) :D

[king-albert]

Thanks for all the good advice. I ended up going to the hardware store and buying a can of clear coat (matte finish). For the first two coats, I sprayed OVER (not directly on) the piece allowing the particles to rain down a nice mist of liquid onto my precious inked icon. No running or smearing occured. For the final coat I lightly sprayed a more direct stream to the piece. I am very happy with the results. Thanks again to everyone for their help.

[RL in Fla]

:AOK Thazzit !

The "on the body" sig is another story , nocti . You could PM "paintguy" and see if he's got a suggestion .

I thought about the clear sticky too , Alder , but once it wears or scratches it would be "solvent city" to get off the adhesive , some sort of clearcoat can just be hit again .