For Those Who Tape Set Lists to Their Guitars . . .

[bransonb]

Bad idea, I've discovered. So now how does one get the Scotch tape residue off a gloss finish? I thought isopropyl would work, but it basically just smudged the residue. I then became concerned that if I used more isopropyl it might just dull the finish over a larger area.

Thanks in advance.

Branson

[enalnitram]

Try naptha. work in a well ventilated area. don't inhale the fumes.

[Bikewer]

I wonder if the "blue" non-marring painter's tape might work better?

I haven't been in the practice of doing this, but the memory is going....

[Misty44]

Right and right.

Go to your nearest CVS and pick up a bottle of Ronsonol Lighter Fluid in the yellow squeeze bottle.



It's naphtha, and with some clean cloths or very soft paper towels and several applications will safely remove the gummy residue. Evaporates quickly, will not harm gloss finishes, nitro or poly. As the front label says, it's a very good cleaner for removing labels, tar, grease, and oil stains.

Then go to your nearest hardware store and pick up a roll of blue carpenter's tape. It is less adhesive than scotch tape or the original masking tape and will rarely leave a stickiness when removed.

[CaptSandwich]

Originally Posted by Bikewer

I wonder if the "blue" non-marring painter's tape might work better?

I haven't been in the practice of doing this, but the memory is going....

Why not just write bigger and drop it on the stage at your feet?
Or, for a little showmanship, write the songs on individual slips of paper, drop them in a hat and draw them out one at a time.
I never stick things to my guitars.

[Bikewer]

Originally Posted by CaptSandwich

Why not just write bigger and drop it on the stage at your feet?
Or, for a little showmanship, write the songs on individual slips of paper, drop them in a hat and draw them out one at a time.
I never stick things to my guitars.

Hmmm....We could carry this further.... How about an attractive, scantily-clad young lady to hold up lyric sheets?
I can see explaining this to my wife....

[bransonb]

Got to this project over the weekend and the naptha worked like a charm. Thanks very much for the tip! I had forgotten about naptha.

I wished I had posted the question before I resorted to the isopropyl, though. I had used two pieces of tape so there were two rectangular strips of the adhesive residue on the guitar. I had attacked one only with the isopropyl as I mentioned above. The naptha cleaned that strip itself perfectly. But the isopropyl did apparently dull the finish around the strip, so the location of the strip is now obvious. (No doubt a forever reminder of my stupidity. Fortunately, with this particular guitar it doesn't matter that much. I've just further contributed to its "character".)

I am very pleased to report that the other adhesive strip, where no isopropyl was applied, cleaned up with absolutely no trace. As a matter of fact, the naptha worked so thoroughly well that I would not be adverse to taping a list to this guitar again. I did find the taped list convenient. (Although I don't intend to expand the practice to any other guitar.) And the naptha remedy is decidely less troublesome than Bikewer's last suggestion.

[enalnitram]

but if you wind up with scantily clad bodies clinging to you, don't use naptha on those.

[mikew888]

Originally Posted by Bikewer

I wonder if the "blue" non-marring painter's tape might work better?

I haven't been in the practice of doing this, but the memory is going....

The Taylor factory techs use it to keep steel wool particles from sticking to any magnetic pickups (skip to around 2:45):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plU27QJBKn8