The DRON Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Greetings, I am new to the forum, but need to reach out for advise. I just purchased a 2004 ES 137 that was won at a raffle and is signed by most of the 2008 Blues Foundation inductees. I would like to play the guitar but playing it would eventually smudge off the signatures.. Should I just go ahead and wipe them off and be done with it? JUST PLAY THE GUITAR AND LET THEM SMEAR? Or list it on evil bay and hope to profit. Please avise or share an opinion. Thank you The Dron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Seal the finish, then play the guitar.........Others will know better on how to seal it best.............. And welcome to the forum......................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Catch-22 in a way. That's a great guitar, and tampering further with the finish could diminish the resale value. On the other hand, it is up for debate whether the signatures will increase the final sale price. If you're not a fan of any of the signatories, if I were you I would sell it and buy whatever model guitar you like best - USED. Having said all that, one of em is Petie ****in Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-In -Law, and I would definitely bust out my hottest soldering iron and etch his goddamn signature deep into the wood. That's just me though. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 It really depends on the signatures and who they are, and what the meaning of them signing the guitar for the raffle was. Beyond what monetary value the guitar would have being signed, that really is the question. Supposing the ones who signed and raffled the guitar thought it would have value because of that, it does not seem right to ruin that because you like the guitar but don't care about the signatures. In that case, I think the right thing to do would be to sell it to someone who cares. If you are that guy, and you want to PLAY it BECAUSE it has the signatures, you might seal the signatures with a coat of laquer to preserve it and allow it to be played. It may devalue the guitar itself (an es-137 is a nice guitar) but you get to show off and promote those who signed it. If, by chance, the signatures make the guitar actually more valueable and it is expected to be a piece of history and be worth more someday (if not now) then there is no way of getting past diminishing that by playing it or damaging the signatures. A fair question; Why did you buy it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Photos please... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Well, he said "raffle." I dunno. You might try ebay with a minimum bid of significantly higher than a new price - say $3,500 or so. I assume you've already looked into the new price. Or you could make a shadowbox to put the thing on a wall somewhere if the autographs mean that much to you. Or.... yeah, put a coat over the names and play the thing. I guess it comes down to your personal value system at this point. You didn't say what other guitars you own and what you play. Do you most value money, a collector item or a playing guitar? m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The DRON Posted April 11, 2011 Author Share Posted April 11, 2011 Thanks for the input...can't believe I miss spelled advise. Anyway I did buy the guitar to play ... I am a guitar player ...but as someone pointed out the the intent of the event and signing the and any significance it may have. And though the names are not important to they maybe to someone else.....I will post a pic soon...than ks to all who replied...I am still not sure of what to do. As far as other guitars....2006 LP Custom Black...88 LP STD Wine Red...my favoite a 2006 TV yellow P90 Melody Maker....I have an Ibanez RG 550 and Mex fat strat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The DRON Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 It really depends on the signatures and who they are, and what the meaning of them signing the guitar for the raffle was. Beyond what monetary value the guitar would have being signed, that really is the question. Supposing the ones who signed and raffled the guitar thought it would have value because of that, it does not seem right to ruin that because you like the guitar but don't care about the signatures. In that case, I think the right thing to do would be to sell it to someone who cares. If you are that guy, and you want to PLAY it BECAUSE it has the signatures, you might seal the signatures with a coat of laquer to preserve it and allow it to be played. It may devalue the guitar itself (an es-137 is a nice guitar) but you get to show off and promote those who signed it. If, by chance, the signatures make the guitar actually more valueable and it is expected to be a piece of history and be worth more someday (if not now) then there is no way of getting past diminishing that by playing it or damaging the signatures. A fair question; Why did you buy it? I bought cuz I am bit of a gear head...I love guitars I did buy it to play it ..but see value in the signatures...and though I love the blues I am not real hip on who is who other than the dead legends we all know....that being said if some blues dude wiped off signatures of Steve Via, Van Halen, david Gilmore and the like I would be saddened ..I am not really going to play until I figure this out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The DRON Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 Up date I got a hold of Joe from the blues foundation who told me he personally picked up the guitar from Gibson and lived in its case until the signing. He implied that putting it on bay to see what interest it would generate may be a good idea.....however I think I liked his second recommendation best...he said just play the HELL OUT OF IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Dron... Well... <grin> I guess I'd know what I'd do... and it'd get plenty of pickin'. What did he (or somebody who knows more about Gibbie finishes than I do) say about a coat of lacquer on the top? Oh - and to quote some of the other guys - it ain't a picture it ain't real. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I have a theory about this. It seems that the more I try to care for a guitar, the more things happen to it. I have a buddy guy strat, never had an issue playing it live or traveling with it, but while it was sitting in it's stand at my house a Cat knocked my 4 track on it, giving it its only ding. A New Years Gig it survives, but along comes a cat.... Play it, it's safest in your arms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The DRON Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 http://forum.gibson.com/uploads/post-32485-003750500%201302752985_thumb.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The DRON Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 ok I added pics the signatures are not clear. One of my many faults is not so tech savvy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Dron... On the tech side... Photos that small don't do well even if one has a professional version of PhotoShop. On the other hand, high quality photos won't go through the forum. So... I'd say if you save them at medium quality JPG format and your photo editor allows you to figure the size of the picture file, figure about 35 to 100k for size. Yours are less than 5k which is why they don't "blow up" to show the photo well. Also eventually you'll run out of allowed photo space on this forum and will have to get into your profile to manage what "attachments" you have uploaded and dump older or less used pix or whatever. Yeah, at times it all does seem awfully arcane and not terribly user friendly. Which is, of course, a good reason to pick up the guitar and play a cursing song of some sort. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 cool...but Who signed it? Nice color too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreslauer Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 i find that taking images down to 800x600 works well for posting here. i also link in images from my iDisk rather than uploading directly to the forum. and, here are a few shots of my new ES-137. i LOVE this guitar. :) i say play the heck out of it! Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 That's why I like Webshots, you can upload a Huge Picture and they give you a few resizing options right there. Just choose the size, copy and paste the code. Super easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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