Stickers - love them or hate them?

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Putting stickers on guitars...

Personally I absolutely can't stand them - they're a great way to make a guitar look tacky and cheap. I mean if you're 13 years old and into Green Day then I perhaps it's okay, but then again I can't stand Green Day either.

Thoughts?
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Comments

  • GrumpyrockerGrumpyrocker Frets: 4117
    I love the new Kirk Hammett singlecut ESP. But for that bloody awful sticker on it.

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  • not_the_djnot_the_dj Frets: 7306
    edited July 2021
    Hate 'em.

    But then I hate stickers in general, like at school when a kid would cover his lunch box in those stickers you get on oranges....makes my skin crawl.

    Not sure why I'm using a school reference, I'm 46 ;-)
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  • GrunfeldGrunfeld Frets: 4027

    Not sure why I'm using a school reference, I'm 46 ;-)
    Trauma.  I'm a therapist.  We see this a lot.

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  • RaymondLinRaymondLin Frets: 11799
    edited July 2021
    I don't mind a well thought out one but you have to commit because like tattoos, it will leave a mark if you peel it from the lack of UV.
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  • SteveRobinsonSteveRobinson Frets: 6913
    tFB Trader
    Like tattoos. Okay on other people/guitars, but not for me personally.
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  • merlinmerlin Frets: 6593
    They look best on CS relic guitars. And even then they look shit. 
    Gretsch hot rod, cars, cartoon pin-ups, Vince Ray skulls etc. Shit, the lot of them. 

    But hey, apart from that they look great! 
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  • SPECTRUM001SPECTRUM001 Frets: 1553
    I put a Quicksilver Surf sticker on my old Fender Bullet. At the time, I was 24 and into gigging, skating and surfing - and I didn't really give two hoots about guitars or their looks.

    Now - an absolute abomination...
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71950
    Depends on the sticker, and the instrument.

    I’ve got a pair of original 1980-era ‘rainbow’ Apple Computer stickers on my two basses (Rickenbacker and Aria), I think it suits them and has a nice ‘West Coast 1980’ look. I put the one on the Aria to cover a ding which looked a bit ugly.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • richardhomerrichardhomer Frets: 24793
    Only any good when their removal with a sharp object renders the serial number stamped into the back of a vintage Gibson’s headstock illegible.
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    I've got a Partscaster with a Compaq Armada sticker covering up the fake Fender logo. That's the worse king of sticker, the fake logos. 

    In the eighties when guitars were more colourful and we used a lot of hairspray stickers like "Turbo nutter bastard" were all the rage locally in rock bands 
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • IamnobodyIamnobody Frets: 6887
    ICBM said:
    Depends on the sticker, and the instrument.

    I’ve got a pair of original 1980-era ‘rainbow’ Apple Computer stickers on my two basses (Rickenbacker and Aria), I think it suits them and has a nice ‘West Coast 1980’ look. I put the one on the Aria to cover a ding which looked a bit ugly.
    Are you Thom Yorke?!




    Previously known as stevebrum
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  • DLMDLM Frets: 2513
    Ooops.


    My first guitar on the right. Yes, I gigged it like that. Removed all the stickers and cleaned it before selling it to fund the blue one, which I still have. Sadly think the Squier is now down under, precluding repurchase. :(

    Most of the stickers were from MBUK, I cut a lot of them up to form new words, see what you can spot...

    The little triangular one pointing to the high frets says "No passing zone" because I'm hilarious like that and the other guitarist in the band had told me I'd never be able to play lead. There's that trauma thing @Grunfeld mentions...
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    I like em on some guitars, not on others. My no 1 guitar has a sticker, and one of my Tele's has a couple, one hiding a paintjob bodge.

    I do make my own stickers though rather than buy them.
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  • BasherBasher Frets: 1198
    I have dabbled with them but as I lack any charisma or strength of character it invariably comes across as trying too hard (see also: naming guitars and referring to guitars as "she") and they quickly go.

    Sometimes they seem a bit too obvious, the classic being the 50s pinup girls on Gretsch hollow bodies. That said, I love Vince Ray's rockabilly 50's themed artwork so they're allowed!

    As @SteveRobinson says, usually done better by others. Particular favourites of mine are Garcia's "Alligator" strat and Townsend's brutally functional number system with the deluxes. That said, Alvin Lee's 335 always looked daft to me.


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  • guitars4youguitars4you Frets: 14026
    tFB Trader
    I can still recall the days when many dealers put their own 'sticker' on the guitar - often the reverse of the headstock - So often dealer name/address + phone number with/without company logo - You still occasionally see the odd old guitar with this info still intact 

    The other one you see and I hated this, is when a dealer would put their own inventory/stock code and/or price on the guitar via those small white oblong stickers - At best it would leave a sticky reissue that would need to be cleaned up, at worse it could leave  a stain that would stay forever, 
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  • BasherBasher Frets: 1198
    axisus said:

    I do make my own stickers though rather than buy them.
    That's what I like to hear! 

    Keep meaning to do that myself. Have only come up with the idea for one saying "SHIT OFF" in ugly capitals and one with Sid James' face doing the "harr harr" laugh. Will need to give it some more thought.
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  • BasherBasher Frets: 1198
    I can still recall the days when many dealers put their own 'sticker' on the guitar - often the reverse of the headstock - So often dealer name/address + phone number with/without company logo - You still occasionally see the odd old guitar with this info still intact 
    Bloody disgraceful. 


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  • abw1989abw1989 Frets: 635
    Not really a fan. Unless it's a tasteful Woodstock, then I'm definitely a fan


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  • DopesickDopesick Frets: 1507
    I think they’re great. Once you’ve figured out a guitar is a keeper I say do whatever you want to it, it’s your toy. It’s like showing off bits of your personality or using it as a way to pay homage to bands/brands/whatever.

    I will say though, IMO a Strat/Tele covered in stickers looks cool but a LP doesn’t.
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  • JonathangusJonathangus Frets: 4436
    Stickers?  Nah, not cool at all...


    Trading feedback | How to embed images using Imgur

    As for "when am I ready?"  You'll never be ready.  It works in reverse, you become ready by doing it.  - pmbomb


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