jonarsh Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Hi guys, i got a gibson slash goldtop recently, and as it doesnt come with a pickguard, I placed an innocent looking window decal on the pickguard area, hoping to prevent and scratches if i ever played it. I left it in the case for some time, and when I took it out recently to clean it, I got a shock of my life as the decal actually lifted the the lacquer! its like embossed but the other way round... now that hurts! it has the shape of that decal and i can actually feel it slightly... This guitar was meant as a collection! Any advice from you all? P.s. I really din know that there was a chemical reaction to that! *Jonarsh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemoon Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I don't think there is anything you can do other than get it refinished. The other option is to put the pickguard on to cover the area. Nitro cellulose finish on a gibson can be pretty sensitive to things like rubber foam--which is why you need to cover the rubber contacts on all your stands with cotton cloths. Can you post some pictures. And sorry for the damage. That is tough lesson to learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXE® Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Synthetics are not nitro safe. Like the rubber padding on some stands. sorry to hear about you're misfortune, now it's a player, enjoy it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemoon Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I think a lot of guys here will tell you that guitars aren't meant to be collected. They are meant to be played. As Axe pointed out, you might as well enjoy her and play the crap out of her. She will get nicks and dings and scratches...some people pay good money for a relic guitars these days. check out RS Guitar. http://www.rsguitarworks.net/cms2/ They should be able to tell you how much it would cost to get her back to mint condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXE® Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Play em Don't Display em !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flight959 Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I think a lot of guys here will tell you that guitars aren't meant to be collected. They are meant to be played. As Axe pointed out' date=' you might as well enjoy her and play the crap out of her. She will get nicks and dings and scratches...some people pay good money for a relic guitars these days. check out RS Guitar. http://www.rsguitarworks.net/cms2/ They should be able to tell you how much it would cost to get her back to mint condition. [/quote'] +1 Flight959 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitfidl Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Bluemoon THANKS. NOW I understand why they advise against the foam rubber stands. Easy to rectify. Thank you for giving the REASON. The others just spout off a caution like it was Celtic superstition and don't say why. PS I do not advise anyone to do this because I do not know exactly what kind of finish one might have but ... generally when refinishing any kind of paint/laquer/varnish/oil ... AFTER it dries hard (and that may mean several (up to ten thin coats) (each coat is pumiced to get the "pimples off -- and tack-clothed to get the pumice off) then you used increasingly finer and finer rubs -- from pumice to rubbing compound to car-finish polish to elbow grease. It take a LOT of work. I have done rocking chairs, motor whale boats, all kinds of teak on boats, rifle stocks, bedroom drawers (one my kids spilled nail polish remover and nail polish and other red make-up junk... really a mess. (I actually bleached it when it was bare). I used Tung oil on the furniture, boiled linseed on rifles (you do not want a shiny-glossy finish on rifles), done a lot of car scratches (and back in the old days .. rust -- in Chicago area the cars all rusted). I have never worked with nitrous cellulose (a lot of this is due to stupid Federal/state HAZMAT regs). Teak like linseed (soaks in and dries slow) -- boatswains like varnish. I have painted so much Haze Gray that I am a journeyman haze-gray painter. (chip-prime-paint)(steel and aluminum). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitfidl Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Pick guard -- I just went through 4 months of pick guard. #1 you get Tor-tis made by Greven (but he will not sell it to you) .. the luthier finally found some at LMI. It was not easy as 1-2-3 and he did not get much help from Gibson (be he said he did not expect he would) --he'd the one who said "look, the manufacturer is not making that much on the guitar so once the ship it they are pretty much done with it. -- and they do not do what we do (he does it every day). OK .. so now he has the pick guard and we go through a couple of weeks of plce on the rosette or cut the pick guard. Might as well get that settled BEFORE you cut/or adhere.. so you think about it and he thnks about it and you look on the net ..(there is a thread here on Gibson acoustics about it). So then you decide. THEN he has to think about exactly what Bluemoon said here -- what kind of finish has a lot to do with what kind of adhesive, what kind of clamping, air bubbles, coming up later. OK so finally all the decisions are mad AND he does the pick guard. It's a lot of time and he does NOT want to take it off and start over so he's going to throw all the decisions back at you. You make them (he advises). Listen to advise -- read the thread on this forum -- ask, talk, think .. do not make decisions too quickly. If you are going to err, err on the side of what Gibson does. (stay in the fold -- don't do something dumb with a fine guitar). I am pleased with the pick guard, I am glad we searched for and got Tor-tis. I think it was worth the time and the money. I'd do it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevezapp Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Play em Don't Display em !!! +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I placed an innocent looking window decal on the pickguard area' date=' hoping to prevent and scratches if i ever played it. *Jonarsh*[/quote'] IF YOU EVER PLAYED IT! WTF? I think there is a forum for people who buy guitars and never play them, but this isn't it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXE® Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I think there is a forum for people who buy guitars and never play them' date=' but this isn't it![/quote'] Tim has a forum ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mick Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Play em Don't Display em !!! =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemoon Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 IF YOU EVER PLAYED IT! WTF? I think there is a forum for people who buy guitars and never play them' date=' but this isn't it![/quote'] Right, but you have to feel for the guy...though putting a plastic window decal on a "collectible"...well, it makes you wonder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Right' date=' but you have to feel for the guy...though [/quote'] Not so sure I do, Blue. I certainly feel sorry for guitar players who make mistakes on their guitars. But do I feel bad for someone who bought a nice guitar specifically not to play it?. Not so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonarsh Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 I don't think there is anything you can do other than get it refinished. The other option is to put the pickguard on to cover the area. Nitro cellulose finish on a gibson can be pretty sensitive to things like rubber foam--which is why you need to cover the rubber contacts on all your stands with cotton cloths. Can you post some pictures. And sorry for the damage. That is tough lesson to learn. Hi guys' date=' thanks for the feedback, cos I have quite a few axes, and this aint really my workhorse guitar, and Im a signature series collector. Thats why I did not really play it that much, thou I must say it has killer tones and sustain for sure. Anyway, here are the pics on the damage done... *Jonarsh* [img']http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g25/jonarsh000/1.jpg[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemoon Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Is the area raised where you placed the sticker--in other words, it is residue from the sticker. Or did the sticker eat away at the finish? If it is residue, you might be able to polish it out. I think you have three choices. 1. Turn it into a player 2. Put a pickguard over it and just forget it is there 3. Spend a few hundred bucks to get it refinished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevezapp Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Which country you from Jonarsh? If you're in the UK I'd recommend Charlie Chandler's. If you look at the bottom of the page you'll find they have done work for Gilmour, Clapton, ZZ Top, Gary Moore, Angus Young etc etc etc... They're based in London, so you may have to send the guitar to them, but if you want it looking good as new, then these guys are the ones to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Right' date=' but you have to feel for the guy...though putting a plastic window decal on a "collectible"...well, it makes you wonder. [img']http://emoticons4u.com/sad/014.gif[/img] Indeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I think the only option (if you want to have her as collectible) is to refinish her... if she didn't come with a pickguard then installing one will leave you with a player not a collectible: pickguard=holes (unless you get a screwless pickguard). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonarsh Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 Is the area raised where you placed the sticker--in other words' date=' it is residue from the sticker. Or did the sticker eat away at the finish? If it is residue, you might be able to polish it out. I think you have three choices. 1. Turn it into a player 2. Put a pickguard over it and just forget it is there 3. Spend a few hundred bucks to get it refinished. [/quote'] yes it is very slightly raised...I think there was a chemical reaction...its not due to the decal residue. I am trying to polish it out to even it out hopefully! but I think it will take a long long time.... I am looking at option no. 3...thanks for the advice thou! *Jonarsh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonarsh Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 I think the only option (if you want to have her as collectible) is to refinish her... if she didn't come with a pickguard then installing one will leave you with a player not a collectible: pickguard=holes (unless you get a screwless pickguard). true indeed... oh ya, the reason why i put the decal is because I simply do not wat to scratch it as i occasionally swop guitars to practise.. thou that is not my main workhorse like i said... *Jonarsh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanMan Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 With all due respect, from what I have seen from Gibson collectors, you ruined the value as a collectible when you put a sticker on it. They pay top dollar for new, in the case, complete-with-case-candy-and-original-strings,"closet" guitars. If you have no intentions of selling and it's just for your personal "take it out every now and then and play it" collection, then go ahead and have it refinished by a luthier. (It's a gold metallic... it will be very difficult to match it exactly unless your color matching skills are spot on.) I think I like the much cheaper "put a pick guard on it and forget it" option, though. I trust you will be forthright with what has been done if you are going to sell it as a collectible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemoon Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 The other option is to sell it now and then use the money to buy the next slash "collectible." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonarsh Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 Hi guys, i appreciate your comments, but i am really sensing some kind of sarcasm here...here i am trying to ask for advice about how to rectify my problem, but instead im getting so many negative remarks! I did admit it was my mistake to put a decal over the pick guard area just to protect the area where it would most probably get scratches. It was an easy on and off kind of decal, not those with hard adhesive. Like i said before, i am trying to keep it mint as i will take it out to play on some occasions. Gosh, this wasn't exactly what i was expecting from you guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanMan Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Hi guys' date=' i appreciate your comments, but i am really sensing some kind of sarcasm here...here i am trying to ask for advice about how to rectify my problem, but instead im getting so many negative remarks! I did admit it was my mistake to put a decal over the pick guard area just to protect the area where it would most probably get scratches. It was an easy on and off kind of decal, not those with hard adhesive. Like i said before, i am trying to keep it mint as i will take it out to play on some occasions. Gosh, this wasn't exactly what i was expecting from you guys. [/quote'] No sarcasm in my post, jonarsh. Trying to point out some things logically. I believe I offered my best advice on what options I thought were viable. Sorry to disappoint. I'll certainly make note for future reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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