Do any of you guys use inlay stickers?

[sosomething]

I don't have a problem with people using them, I just think it's cheesy.

[Kam]

I don't really understand how it's different from changing the knobs on your guitar to a different colour.

[sosomething]

I don't really understand how it's different from changing the knobs on your guitar to a different colour.

The difference is that your guitar already has knobs.

It's more like gluing fake knobs to the top of your guitar.

[Kam]

The difference is that your guitar already has knobs.

It's more like gluing fake knobs to the top of your guitar.

None of your guitars have inlays?

[lex666]

It's more like gluing fake knobs to the top of your guitar.

Its more like a flat chested girl who stuff's her bra.

[ratherdashing]

I don't really understand how it's different from changing the knobs on your guitar to a different colour.

Point taken, but I do agree with Adam here. I don't consider putting a sticker over an inlay a "replacement". It reminds me too much of those stick-on window tints that always blister.

The direct analogy to replacing a knob would be popping out the old inlay, routing the fretboard, and glueing in a new one. I think that's totally cool if you're willing to go through that much trouble.

It also makes me think of this bit from Archer:

Pam (obese HR lady): "I'll have sex with you!"
some guy: "No thanks."
Pam: "Come on! I won't tell! Nobody will ever know."
some guy: "Yeah ... I'd know."

That's the thing about these stickers. Someone could look at them and think they're real inlays. Someone might even not know the difference if they looked up close. But I would know it's a sticker, and that would always bug me.

[masta' c]

You get 'em, you try 'em and if you hate 'em, you change 'em...If only everything in life was so simple!

I'd MUCH rather look at some cool fake cross inlays than another bland fretboard with those stupid plain white dots! And, truth be told, 99% of us wouldn't spot the difference between inlays and decals from just a few feet away!

The funny thing is: I don't hear anyone complaining about the fake abalone decals used on Japanese and USA Fender headstocks! No one says "Oh, that $1200 Fender Strat has a sticker on it...I can't play that". And, maybe the sticker snobs can explain to me why mid-'90s Fender "Foto-Flame" models (where the whole neck and top of the body is one big cleared-over decal with an image of fancy wood printed on it) somehow command more than the plain wood versions of the same models from the same period?

No one raises an eyebrow to decals on any other part of the guitar as long as it looks good! Would there be a better reception among this crowd if players clear-coated their fancy fingerboard decals to match?

EDIT:

Speak of the devil...a Fender Foto-Flame just popped up in the Trading Post!

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/s...d.php?t=234200


.

[JOLLY]

I'm going to buy some and put them on the bodies of my guitars.

[sosomething]

None of your guitars have inlays?

Inlays yes. Stickers no. Stickers designed to look like inlays, definitely not.

Look if you like them that's fine, but I don't. It's not even about how they look from whatever distance away, it's that it's some fake-assed stickers trying to look like guitar bling.

The guy who equated them to K-mart plastic push-on spinner rims was right on the money. It's a cheap-jack way of trying to look like your sh1t is nicer than it actually is.

And I don't care if other dudes want to use them because they just like the look- fine - but I never would because I'd feel like a poser.

Just cheesy, man. That's my opinion.

[ex-250]

Don't do it! They'll totally ruin your toanz! Are you insane? You may as well put a ****ing poly finish on your guitar.





In other (less sarcastic) news, both of the above guitars are un-****ing-believably beautiful.

Thanks. It'll look even better when I get my damn tailpiece bushings cut so I can use the chrome ones.

[Jessie's ghost]

Inlay stickers are the cheap toupees of the guitar world.

I use a fair amount of lemon oil on my rosewood and ebony boards. If I could get the stickers to stay on, I'm sure I'd constantly have a little trim ring of finger cheese around each one.

[Varg]

Inlays yes. Stickers no. Stickers designed to look like inlays, definitely not.

Look if you like them that's fine, but I don't. It's not even about how they look from whatever distance away, it's that it's some fake-assed stickers trying to look like guitar bling.

The guy who equated them to K-mart plastic push-on spinner rims was right on the money. It's a cheap-jack way of trying to look like your sh1t is nicer than it actually is.

And I don't care if other dudes want to use them because they just like the look- fine - but I never would because I'd feel like a poser.

Just cheesy, man. That's my opinion.

I understand your point, but specifically speaking for myself - guitars cost a lot more in the UK than they do in the US. A LOT more. I wanted a black Hamer like that for a long time, and the only one I could find that I really liked was that one - my only problem was it had dot inlays. So I tried the stickers and, to me, its a good compromise. I got a nice guitar for a decent price (even by UK standards) and it looks good.
If I lived in the USA, I would just have saved up for a USA made Hamer Sunburst. Same as I would have bought a Les Paul Standard instead of a Studio.
You should be glad you get your guitars so much cheaper with all the "bling" already on there.


BTW thanks Kam!

[Chris of Arabia]

Can't say they bother me one way or another. It's your guitar, do what you like with it. Would I use them myself? If I was in a shop and saw something that appealed I might, but I can't imagine going out of my way to find them, or being bothered to order them on line. I can't knock anyone for finding a way to establish a viable business though - there are much worse things than this being sold on the intarwebs....

[B2D]

Point taken, but I do agree with Adam here. I don't consider putting a sticker over an inlay a "replacement". It reminds me too much of those stick-on window tints that always blister.

The direct analogy to replacing a knob would be popping out the old inlay, routing the fretboard, and glueing in a new one. I think that's totally cool if you're willing to go through that much trouble.

It also makes me think of this bit from Archer:

Pam (obese HR lady): "I'll have sex with you!"
some guy: "No thanks."
Pam: "Come on! I won't tell! Nobody will ever know."
some guy: "Yeah ... I'd know."

That's the thing about these stickers. Someone could look at them and think they're real inlays. Someone might even not know the difference if they looked up close. But I would know it's a sticker, and that would always bug me.

Inlays yes. Stickers no. Stickers designed to look like inlays, definitely not.

Look if you like them that's fine, but I don't. It's not even about how they look from whatever distance away, it's that it's some fake-assed stickers trying to look like guitar bling.

The guy who equated them to K-mart plastic push-on spinner rims was right on the money. It's a cheap-jack way of trying to look like your sh1t is nicer than it actually is.

And I don't care if other dudes want to use them because they just like the look- fine - but I never would because I'd feel like a poser.

Just cheesy, man. That's my opinion.

/thread

[dominus]

The difference is that your guitar already has knobs.

Mine doesn't.

[Kam]

Inlays yes. Stickers no. Stickers designed to look like inlays, definitely not.

Look if you like them that's fine, but I don't. It's not even about how they look from whatever distance away, it's that it's some fake-assed stickers trying to look like guitar bling.

The guy who equated them to K-mart plastic push-on spinner rims was right on the money. It's a cheap-jack way of trying to look like your sh1t is nicer than it actually is.

And I don't care if other dudes want to use them because they just like the look- fine - but I never would because I'd feel like a poser.

Just cheesy, man. That's my opinion.

Fair enough.

For the record, I've never used them and I probably wouldn't; simply because I've never seen a guitar that looked bad because the inlays were too small. I've seen a few with those huge-ass vine of life or whatever inlays and thought to myself that the guitar would look a hell of a lot better with something more subtle, but at that point a couple of little stick on dots isn't going to ****ing help. I like dot inlays.

I was just trying to see where you were coming from. I guess I do now. Maybe the difference in our viewpoint here is that you see them as changing the appearance of the guitar to look more expensive, whereas I just see them as changing the appearance of the guitar, full stop.

Anyway, thanks for humouring me with a response.

[Aceman]

You get 'em, you try 'em and if you hate 'em, you change 'em...If only everything in life was so simple!

I'd MUCH rather look at some cool fake cross inlays than another bland fretboard with those stupid plain white dots! And, truth be told, 99% of us wouldn't spot the difference between inlays and decals from just a few feet away!

The funny thing is: I don't hear anyone complaining about the fake abalone decals used on Japanese and USA Fender headstocks! No one says "Oh, that $1200 Fender Strat has a sticker on it...I can't play that". And, maybe the sticker snobs can explain to me why mid-'90s Fender "Foto-Flame" models (where the whole neck and top of the body is one big cleared-over decal with an image of fancy wood printed on it) somehow command more than the plain wood versions of the same models from the same period?

No one raises an eyebrow to decals on any other part of the guitar as long as it looks good! Would there be a better reception among this crowd if players clear-coated their fancy fingerboard decals to match?

EDIT:

Speak of the devil...a Fender Foto-Flame just popped up in the Trading Post!

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/s...d.php?t=234200


.

Well said. I feel the same way when people rag on Gibson Pancake bodies and then gush over an old BC Rich....Rich glues over half a dozen pieces together and it's amazing. Gibson glues three and it sucks.

[sosomething]

Fair enough.

For the record, I've never used them and I probably wouldn't; simply because I've never seen a guitar that looked bad because the inlays were too small. I've seen a few with those huge-ass vine of life or whatever inlays and thought to myself that the guitar would look a hell of a lot better with something more subtle, but at that point a couple of little stick on dots isn't going to ****ing help. I like dot inlays.

I was just trying to see where you were coming from. I guess I do now. Maybe the difference in our viewpoint here is that you see them as changing the appearance of the guitar to look more expensive, whereas I just see them as changing the appearance of the guitar, full stop.

Anyway, thanks for humouring me with a response.

I may have overstated the cost aspect. That's not quite right.

It's more like this: inlay stickers are phoney. I have a real reverence for authenticity.

Inlay work is an art. To do it properly requires a tremendous amount of skill and an eye for design. It's incredibly delicate, detailed work.

So if someone wants to use stickers, hey, it's their money and their guitars and I have no beef. But I can't help but react, for better or worse, to the notion that it's just as good as real inlay work.. because it doesn't represent any real artistry, and I have some disdain for that for reasons I'm not able to fully articulate.

Know what I mean?

[Kam]

I may have overstated the cost aspect. That's not quite right.

It's more like this: inlay stickers are phoney. I have a real reverence for authenticity.

Inlay work is an art. To do it properly requires a tremendous amount of skill and an eye for design. It's incredibly delicate, detailed work.

So if someone wants to use stickers, hey, it's their money and their guitars and I have no beef. But I can't help but react, for better or worse, to the notion that it's just as good as real inlay work.. because it doesn't represent any real artistry, and I have some disdain for that for reasons I'm not able to fully articulate.

Know what I mean?

So kinda like auto-tuning a fretboard?

I can respect that.

[DrNewcenstein]

I measured. Each fret, then each corresponding sticker. Half the difference, then measure that much in from each side.

Mine came on 2 sheets that were (together) the length of a fretboard, and arranged by size.

And it's not hard to eyeball the center of a fret space. Really.