4 year old signed my 12 string

[kwakatak]

Originally Posted by stratokatsu

I see it's an X series, but does it have an HPL top or is the top solid wood?

If it's HPL, you should be able to clean it with something like Fantastik like someone said before. If it's a wooden top, the art gum type eraser, (something very gentle), would be my first try.

But I have to admit, while I wouldn't want my grandchildren to write or draw on my guitars, the idea of leaving it as a memento is a pretty neat idea. I also love the idea of handing down the guitar to him someday.

I wonder: is it even worth it to invest such an amount of effort into a sub-$1000 guitar?

I have 2 sons who are handfuls and while I leave my guitars safely in their cases, there have been times when there have been "oopsies." For example, I love my Larrivee. It was a gift from a collection of people whom I'd "met" on the Internet and it was a shocking surprise when it arrived (no pun intended) on my doorstep. Still, I had often said that family comes first and when one day I caught one of my sons gnawing on the maple binding I wasn't too upset about it. Even when it got kabonged off a door jam and put a little crack in the edge of the soundboard I knew it wasn't going to hurt the guitar's playability - though I assure you a spanking was administered!

OTOH there are times when I'll catch my younger one trying to make music with it. It makes me look back when I was 4 years old and sneaking my mother's guitar out of its case and I realize that without those moments - and her insistence that I take lessons when she discovered me doing that - then I'd have never picked up the guitar as a hobby.

I don't know if you've ever caught your grandson playing with the gutiar appropriately but I wouldn't draw attention to the negatives of this little incident and show him the ropes. Who knows? Maybe one day he will inherit this instrument and put it to good use? If anything, I'd be looking to get him his own instrument to beat around with and show him how to use it the right way.

That being said, here are some unabashed guitar-related father and son moments:



BTW, in this final pic my younger son here was scribbing in crayon on what would become one of the braces for my first guitar build. I cut the piece specifically so that I could see his name written in green crayon inside the soundhole. Sadly, it's fading even before I've yet to complete the guitar and I'm actually tempted to have him write into the soft cedar top, thus making the guitar even more precious to me.