4 year old signed my 12 string
 

Hi all - newbie member here.

My 4 year old grandson decided he was going to sign my Martin D12X1 with a pencil he found. The guitar was on a stand in my bedroom.

I told him I hope he grows up to be another Eric Clapton because I will have a guitar signed by him.

Anyway - it has a satin finish. Is there a way to remove the marks or do you think a luthier has the ability to do it?

Thank goodness it was a lower cost Martin. Should I worry about it ?

Thanks

-Pat

Did you try an eraser? :D

I would try a cleaner like Fantastik on a cloth (do not spray directly on the guitar) to remove the graphite. Just dampen the cloth with the cleaner and rub the marks gently. A polishing compound will remove the marks but will leave a shiny spot on the satin finish.

If your grandson had a heavy hand, the pencil will leave indentations that might lessen with judicial application of steam (causes the wood to swell and push out). If that doesn't work and you want to restore it to "new" condition, bring it to a luthier who can sand down the area and blend in a touch-up finish.

All of my guitars eventually end up with a few bumps. nicks and scratches, so if it isn't too big of an area, I would let it be after removing the pencil graphite.

A kneaded rubber eraser (kind of like putty, used for art) or, second, a vinyl eraser (Staedler Mars or similar ,often used for drafting) might work if a cleaner like Fantastik does not. The kneaded eraser picks up graphite because it's tacky. Use very gently. You may need to polish a bit when you're done.

I would be proud if your 4 year old grandson can write.

Not if you remove his art work. I'd keep the signature right where it is and make sure to hand the guitar down to him someday. I'd also have a picture taken now of you and him with the guitar to pass along someday as well.

Tom

I'd leave it because it's a momento.

I can understand a reaction, but in the grand scheme of things, your grandson's signature makes that Martin unique and priceless.

Think about trigger and you won't feel so bad.

4 year old signed my 12 string
 

I saw a 1944 Martin d18 at the Nashville guitar show today. It had a name carved into the soundboard, yes carved along with some other nonsense carved in there, price tag said $17,000. So I guess just wait 70 years and that signature won't devalue at all :D

Buy a kazoo for the kid so he has something to do with mom and dad on the long drive home.

Awesome!!:D

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.

It really depends on whether the pencil point has compressed the lacquer into a mini valley or, if the pencil mark is just sitting on the surface of the lacquer with no real indentation. If it's sitting on top, then as suggested, try various erasers. If its compressed the lacquer, and you're that bothered - you seem fairly laid back! - then it needs to go to a luthier who can build up those valleys with the correct lacquer - having first got rid of the graphite of course!

"Simple Green" is the cleaner I use to remove pencil lines from both raw and finished wood in my other hobby, woodcarving.

i would try a little of that on a toothbrush.
Good luck.

Ditto! And amend your will to make sure he gets the guitar and the pic should you be called away.

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:

http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...h_IMG_0158.jpg http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...0-18123203.jpg http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...0-18110048.jpg

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.