Official Luthiers Forum!

My cousin recently passed up a 60s gibson because it had been drawn on by kids with a sharpie. I told him, I would have bought it. How difficult is it to remove sharpie from lacquer?

Sent from my SM-A546V using Tapatalk

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

It would need to be stripped and refinished that is why artists sign guitars with Sharpies so they can still be polished and the like without removing the signature.

Finish repairs are a funny thing, that dime sized blemish in the process of repairing it becomes Silver dollar sized and then it's hand sized and then you are refinishing the top.... We call it scope creep.

We have a nice Martin in the shop right now that someone thought was a bargain because it has an ugly pick guard and after market arm rest on it and he counted on the idea that they can be removed. Yep they can along with some finish and then the need for finish repairs.

Finish work is a pita and often expands far beyond what one may have guessed initially especially if someone does not do this all of the time.

With that nitro lacquer the sharpie sinks way into the finish. It is not just sitting on top. Any solvent that would do anything to the sharpie will also dissolve the Nitro. I can't comment on sharpie on a modern poly finish, no experience there.

It would be much easier to give the guitar a thin coat of black than to repair it to the original appearance.

Ok, if I was to refinsh said guitar, what would that do to its price, if done well?

Sent from my SM-A546V using Tapatalk

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

In a vintage guitar, much of the value is in being original. So stripping the original finish, and spraying new will probably reduce the value of the guitar by about 40%.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince