Permanent Marker?

type of guitar and woods? colors and (if known) types of markers (e.g., red Sharpie)

Hi Gnease,
Its a real inexpensive La Patrie Collection Classical Guitar
From what I have found it has...
Top: Solid Cedar
Back and Sides: Solid Indian Rosewood
Neck: Mahogany
Fretboard: Rosewood
Bridge: Rosewood w/compensated saddle
Finish: Semi-gloss satin Lacquer finish

The supposed art work is all over the front done in what I'm going to guess is Red with a tiny amount of Black Sharpie.
There is more drawings done on the back as well that I am going to guess again as being Black Sharpie

Thanks for the reply your help is Appreciated
Les

If it's an inexpensive LaPatrie (and these are good guitars - nice find!) then I think the back and sides will probably be a three layer laminate of rosewood and not solid. Don't know if that will change any of the recommended cleaning or not, but thought it might be a helpful bit of info.

Peace

Hi dhodge,
All the reading I have done on this model points to the back and sides being solid Rosewood.

I'm stoked about finding this guitar and it didn't cost me anything :)

Thanks for the Info
Les

My mistake, then, and yes, you've got a great guitar! Very cool. Sorry about the markers and also sorry that I don't know what to do about it. Good luck, though. After all, the worst possible scenario is that you've got a great guitar that looks "unique" and has a story to it.

Peace

I'm thinking you'll have to sand off the "marked" lacquer and redo it.

Hi,
I picked up a Guitar from a Hippie the other day and would like to refinish it as he drew all over it with permanent marker(he called himself an artist, :( ).
Anyway's I'm wondering if anybody could suggest a way to remove the marker?
This is a wood guitar and I might ad that he sanded the clear coat a bit to get the marker to stay.

Any help would be greatly Appreciated
Thank You
Les

A couple of suggestions from another forum . . .

"If the guitar has a synthetic finish (polyurethane or polyester) rubbing alcohol will wipe it right off and won't hurt a thing. It will damage a nitro finish though (so will a Sharpie)."

"This is gonna sound dumb, but it works ! Take the sharpie, then re go over the spot where your kid made the mark. then right away take your rag with your spit on it and rub it till it's clean.. And it will be gone"

"Thanks guys well I put some lemon oil on it and let it sit overnight and it worked without damaging the finish."

No problem dhodge :)

Hi Ricochet,
That's what I was thinking but this guy already sanded down the lacquer some to get the marker to stay :( I have no idea why somebody would treat a guitar like this.

Hi Moonrider,
Thanks for the info.
I don't believe any of those suggestions will work since the markings aren't on top of the Lacquer.
Although I will give the suggestion on retracing it with a sharpie and see if that will do anything...cant hurt it anymore then it already is.

I will post some pictures up later of the supposed art work.

Thanks for the help everyone
Les

"If the guitar has a synthetic finish (polyurethane or polyester) rubbing alcohol will wipe it right off and won't hurt a thing. It will damage a nitro finish though (so will a Sharpie)."

"This is gonna sound dumb, but it works ! Take the sharpie, then re go over the spot where your kid made the mark. then right away take your rag with your spit on it and rub it till it's clean.. And it will be gone"

I wouldn't try the second one. The Sharpie ink is probably just a dye in an alcohol solution. So, using a Sharpie again might work sometimes because you are putting down alcohol that may help lift the old dye but you are also putting down new dye too. It runs the risk of making it worse.

The Sanford company who make the Sharpie markers have a stain removal page. It's mostly about fabric but it might be worth trying. http://www.sanford.com/sanford/consumer/jhtml/help/sanford_help_95.jhtml

If your finish is polyurethane, I don't think the marker ink would penetrate it. (Reason he sanded it to get it to stick.) You could probably get it off with a solvent, but then you've got the sanded finish to either polish down to a suitable surface finish or recoat. I'm thinking that if it's lacquer, the solvent in the ink would likely penetrate into it.

I'm thinking that if it's lacquer, the solvent in the ink would likely penetrate into it.

It's lacquer.

http://www.lasido.com/lapatriee.htm
Lacquer Finish
LaPatrie guitars are finished with a special lacquer formula. This finish is light enough to allow the wood to breath and vibrate freely. The tops resonating capacity actually improves as the guitar is played over an extended period of time. This gradual improvement in the response of the top is often referred to as "aging". Poly finishes inhibit top vibration and are therefore never used on LaPatrie guitars. Many other guitars use a thick plastic finish that smothers top vibration and prevents the benefits of aging.

Hi Hyperborea,
I haven't tried it yet and you make it a good point. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to have to completely strip it down and refinish it.

Hi Ricochet,
The finish is Lacquer.
I have tried using several different solvents and they wouldn't touch the marker.

I'd bet it's gone right into the lacquer. Stripping the laccquer with lacquer thinner might leach it into the wood.

Hi Hyperborea,
I haven't tried it yet and you make it a good point. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to have to completely strip it down and refinish it.

Hi Ricochet,
The finish is Lacquer.
I have tried using several different solvents and they wouldn't touch the marker.

You might have to take off some amount of wood over the whole guitar to get rid of the marker. It will depend on how far the dye has soaked into the wood. Before stripping it down maybe an experiment would be useful? Get a piece of cedar and write over it with a Sharpie similar to what is on the guitar. After it has sat for a week or so how much do you need to sand off to get rid of it? You might have to take too much off that if you did the same to the guitar it would be damaged?

Perhaps after removing the lacquer finish you could stain the guitar wood black before reapplying lacquer? That would certainly hide the marker but I'm not sure it would look good on a classical.