Growing pains...

So I literally have perhaps .5 to an hour to tweak or do things on weekdays on guitar painting things. The things I was struggling through a few to several weeks ago were a sure beacon of oops, & back up & try again. But at the time I probably wouldn't have known how to do so. I was trying to take what was & make look better. But no matter how I tried I seemed to only make little to negative progress, ie the 2 steps forward 3 steps back kind of thing. I reached my end. It's probably no different than someone drafting a story, book, or essay & deciding to scrap it all & do it right. I've found myself doing that with operating systems during dev or QA things as well & either reinstalling the OS from scratch, using Ghost to get OS back to known good state, and now using the simplicity of VMWare for things. I reach a state & say enuff of this, I'm starting it over to get back to a known good stable state.

Thursday night I reached my end with the things I've been trying to make look well on the back of Fender. But the things I was trying to correct stemmed from way way back in the process of using cruddy masking tape & poor bleed through corrections. I wouldn't have sold or given the thing to a flea let alone keep it for self & play it. So on this day, the stripes exist fairly well for the most part on front but are covered with blue tape & some paper. I quickly sanded down the back & the body now sits with, I think, 4 coats of primer as a base & 4 coats of white. No regrets in choosing to redo the back now that I know better what I'm doing. So by tonight I should have enough coats of white on the side stripes to clean them up & make sure that there's a good even flow from the sides to the back. Then I'll have to wait 4 days before taping & then doing red. Three days is the suggested time to wait but my unfun has been that the side stripe paint peels really easy when trying to remove the tape & the peeling really ticks me off. Again, knowing that it will look way better was worth the backing up. Job satisfaction is needed from the creator even though the area being redone is the back.

I'm not sure I'm going to pour much oomph into putting things on the backs of guitars. Not many will see the backs when guitar is just hanging around or being played. Streamline the creative processes is my thoughts regarding the backs. But any time I do a 5150 design for my own fun or for whatever reason in the future, I'll put the back stripes on just because EVH was there.

Until later comes, I continue to vent out the steam of the growing pains.

A letter from the stripes

So 1) be sure to read Well Done ramble below this one.

Dear John,
I am your Fender stripe-i-fied guitar. I did look great as I was & then you came along & just stripped me down to bare nothing. I knew not why you were doing that. What did I ever do to deserve such treatment? I've looked good in my blue all these years. I've sounded well. I stayed in tune for you. I stood by silently watching you play your other guitars wondering why you wouldn't play me too.

I've had to endure the coats of sealer & more sanding. Boy that was sure a lot of fun. Really appreciated that. Thanks a lot...sheez. I've never felt so embarassed when you just hung me out in the open air all exposed like that & with you taking pictures of me. What are you some kind of perverted freak? Oh I know it's guitars gone wild isn't it? Well I'll strike the pose for you buddy. You like that? How about this? Lemme show you my killer backside cause baby I got back!

I was relieved to be coated with primer & white. But I lost my identity in that I had no idea what you were going to do with me. Why couldn't you just let me stay as I was in my great blue? Then you stuck all that sticky stuff all over me. I wondered what the heck are you trying to do to me? Let me tape you bucko so you can see how it feels. So I'm there in my white underwear with tape all over me. Great! What am I a model for underwear & tape or something.

Next thing I know I'm being covered with red spooge. Great now I have red spots all over me. Can I just be blue again please?! Leave me alone already! So once again I hang there in my taped up underwear looking like I have the measles or something. And then more red spooge comes at me. Did I ever tell you all these things you've put on my really stink & smell. I bet you I'll be damaged in some way for having to sniff all this stuff. When this is all over I'm calling my lawyer. I never consented to this. Why am I...uh....white...wait a minute, now I'm red all over. What the? You actually clothed me in red. Cool. But...hmmm....I still have all this tape all over me from your freakazoidal photo shoot & strange fantasies of guitars in bondage gone wild. Well at least I'm covered up now. How nice of you to care so much that after days of just hanging out & around you decide to cover me up. Thanks for thinking of me. Don't let me swinging about in the breeze hit you on the way back in. I hope this hook you have me stuck to breaks & I fall on your head & I knock you out or at least bring you to your senses. You must dislike me immensely or something to do this to me. Why don't you just smash me up instead? Get me down from here!

Hey! Ouch! What are you doing! That hurts. Oh, great, now you think of taking the tape off. What took you so long to realize that it was on there? Well I sure hope you get the tape off of me quick & I hope you get all tangled up in it. Ha! That would be a laff. Dang that hurts though. Ouch! Can't you be more gentle? What'd you have to put the tape on in the first place? It burns! It burns! Get it off me now! Owwwwwwwwwwwwwww! (time passes)

Finally! Man, lemme put that tape on your hairy arms & then yank hard & see how good that feels to you. Oh great, you're just going to leave me hanging here with my unfinished red and whaaaaat!? Stripes? What the? How'd that... Hey wait a minute, I'm red with crazy white stripes! Check me out world! Take that you dumb Ibanez that gets played more than me. I'm stripe-i-fied & look at you just sitting there in your plain dull Jewel blue. Man, this suit makes me look good. Hey! Ouch! That really hurts! Oh, so now you're going to cut me up with that blade huh. What kind of sicko freak are you anyway? You make me look cool & then you start scraping me up. What gives? Can I have some anesthesia please? Or at least a couple of shots of Jack Daniels. I'm bleeding, I'm bleeding! Someone call 9-1-1! Oh wait, it's dried stuff. Heh, heh, I guess I bled already. Oh so now you think you're this great doctor & surgeon & you're going to just fix up all these red marks. You just watch it bucko! You so much as poke me with that thing I'll....OUCH! Dang-narn-it! That hurts! Be careful. You don't know what you're doing do you? Let me take that dry sharp blade to your stuble on yer face & see how that goes for you. (More time passes)

Well gee thanks for that acupuncture torture that I never wanted or asked for. I bet you've really messed me up now. See that stripe there...huh? Where'd that dry red stuff go? I'm still red. I still have white stripes. And I look better than before the acupuncture carnage. Whoa dude, thaz kinda cool. But you need to cool it with that blade thing. Am I done yet? Can I please be done now? Can you just put me back together now? Wait, let me guess, there's more. Why else would I just be hanging around still?

Oh joy, more sticky tape. Aren't I good enough for you? Haven't I had enough. You always want more from me. You always want me to be someone I'm not able to be. I'm red & white. That's who I am now. At least I know that much. I at least have some dignity left. What the? Hack hack cough cough choke choke. What gives now! Now your spooging me with black. You need to figure yourself out ma'an. First I'm naked. Then I'm in my white underwear. Then I'm red & white. Now you want me to be black. Make up your crazy mind you fool. I don't know who or what you want me to be. Stop! Enough! Aren't I good enough for you the way I am? Why are you always trying to change me? Why don't you change yourself first? Spray yourself with paint & leave me be.

Blast ye my new found foe. Why dost though yank upon the tape upon my being yet again by taking off that tape. First I'm in bondage. Then I'm not. Then I am again. Now I'm not again. Can't you make up your mind? You know I'm just going to end up with bruises from such rough treatment. This is abuse! You need some serious help bud. See I'm black and blu....black stripes? I'm still red with white stripes & now black stripes. Whoa did you see that Ibanez? Ha! Beat that! You know, it's better to look good than to feel good. Dude! I be looking crazy insane. Now am I done? Please tell me I'm done. Dude? Dooood! Where'd ya go! Come on, don't just leave me hanging here! Yo! Freakinator! I've given you all that I can. What more do you want from me?! Oh the humanity! You dress me up & then you leave me high & dry. Yo barkeeper? Martini, shaken not stirred! Someone! Anyone! Bueller? Bueller? Anyone! HELP ME! I'm hungry! Can anyone give me some burned up brown burgers that were burnt all over town?

- Stripey

(And the story pauses there. What will happen next? Why is stripey still hanging there? Will there be more tape? Will there be more scraping with the blade? Will the striped crazy one get free? Will someone come to help him. Stay tuned to this same stripey channel at the same stripey time in the nearly insane future.)

Author's note:
And now for something completely different. Any similarities between this story and any persons, entities, or groups, is entirely coincidental. No animals were hurt during this writing. Do not try any of the stunts portrayed in this journey as they are performed by specially trained crazy incompetent fools who don't know what they are doing. This story is based upon actual events in the life of a Fender guitar but some events were modified at the author's creative discrection. The guitar was not harmed in the writing of this story. The guitar still needs some minor touch ups due to many factors beyond the painter's control, peeling paint under tape here & there & gravity being a couple of those factors. The guitar apparently made an attempt to get away from it's hanging place last night in the dark but instead just fell to the carpet & received a couple of minor fixable dents from obstructions during the brief travel. The incident was investigated & it was determined that darkness combined with a female person stepping the wrong way in the dark caused a disturbance in gravity thereby causing the guitar to have a short trip during the fall. The aforementioned female was not injured. The guitar threatened to sue the author for hanging him so carelessly on a top heavy clothing drying apparatus but negotiations between guitar & author created a simple repair plan. The guitar deemed that it was in his best interest to be completed instead of getting tied up for months in legal processes. Guitar does demand being completed as soon as possible however with no more mistakes during the touch up processes that have held up progress. Author was placed under surveillance two nights ago after threatening to give up & burn guitar due to guitar maliciously & purposely shedding paint in various locations. Author has since learned to go slowly & be more calm & is learning to make peace with the ensuing issues. Guitar is not available for comment. Please direct all inquiries to the crazy insane author who doesn't know what he's doing at times & writes very long rambles.

Until later comes, turn it up to Get On With It

Well Done Eddie

Not much to say other than this bit of long rambles...

http://www.pplministries.org/WellDoneEddie.htm

Until later comes turn it up to eat some lunch.

A 2nd email to person @ ELVH Inc. I still laugh.

I am writing to offer an unsolicited suggestion that stems from the confusion that many write about in forums & such about the evh stripe designs. Perhaps you are already aware of the confusions that exist.

If ELVH Inc. is out to protect the stripe designs, it seems to make simple sense to have a website that describes simply & clearly in very easy to understand language about the copyrights & trademarks & what constitutes infringement. There are many a confused person throughout the world in regards to the infamous stripes. Some have written that they've turned their backs on EVH because of auctions being pulled, rightly so of course. There are many people who are angry with Edward in regards to stripes on guitars & alienation is occurring. If the aforementioned website was easily found by search engines, more people would be educated more quickly. And it seems that would reduce the workload upon those at ELVH Inc. I did many a search on the net & found nothing about Frankie 1 & 2. I did learn quickly about the 5150 design being trademarked however but not from searching the net.

I've found many a picture & many videos on YouTube that would most likely be considered infringement upon all things Van Halen. And none of what I found have any notice of copyright with them.

The web has created a huge, if not impossible, challenge for those seeking to protect their intellectual/artistic property.

The reality is people are going to set out to paint evh stripes on their own guitars. There's nothing that is going to stop that throughout the world. The stripes in of themselves are a legend & people want to have them. I know I won't do so, but many who paint guitars will set out to paint the stripes for profit in secret. Many will try to find loopholes to do so. Why? Solely because they cannot afford what is offered via manufacturers. It's hard to understand how any entity who paints guitars for $250 to $400 for profit is infringing upon the Fender $25+ thousand dollar market or the $2k+ Charvel artist series market. People seeking such paint jobs cannot afford more than $400-$600 for a guitar.

But unlike many, if not hundreds, I do & will respect the copyrights & trademarks in place.

Until later comes, turn it up to let freedom jam.

Big Brother found me...I have to laugh

I have to laugh at both myself & ELVH Inc. Big Brother found me, aka ELVH inc. Someone from there wrote me an email & I quote:

"I am writing to you from the Van Halen office. It has come to our attention that you are offering your services to paint in the EVH designs onto unlicensed VH guitars.

Please be aware that the three artistic striped EVH designs are copywritten by ELVH, Inc.- Edward Van Halen.

The red, white and black design: (Copyright: Frankenstein design- VAu 505-308).

The white and black design: (Copyright: Original Frank design- VAu 558-125)

The yellow and black design: (Copyright: Franky design- VAu 544-060).

Please note that all three designs are copywritten by ELVH, Inc (Edward Van Halen), and that it needs to be noted that all three designs are owed by ELVH, Inc on your website.

Also, please know that making a profit off of these copyrights is a copyright infringement.

Your website has been forwarded to the Fender Music Corporation for review."

So I removed images of concern & updated webpages as such. Then wrote the person back & stated that I had done this & to forward the revised site to any entities as desired. I also stated that I have not painted the designs on anyone's guitars. And then I apologized if I had offended anyone's intellectual property. Then I sent the email & then I laughed. I couldn't & didn't resist stating that I respect the copyrights & trademarks but I do agree with one entity's statement:
"...there are still fans that want a guitar in the style of their guitar hero...and not too many fans want to, or can, for that matter, pay over $2k or for a guitar....the individual in question might consider rethinking their market strategy and provide an affordable graphic guitar that the "true" fans can afford, not just the collectors!"

Copyrights aside for a brief moment, no schmoe painting guitars for $250-$400 is infringing upon Fender's 25k market nor upon the 2k Charvel artist series things. So I laugh. I laugh at my feeble attempts to put said designs on my website. I laugh at E... Inc's efforts to protect the precious especially in that what is protected is not being used to advertise Halen other than the occasional guitar manufacturer's offerings. Heck the 1st is now almost, if not already, 30 years old. Let it go already. Sheez. I laugh because at the moment it's like "Van Who?" And I laugh because many have posted many copyrighted & trademarked things related to evh on the web.

Reinstating the copyrights now, I must bow & cower in secret to the powers/laws that be. And I put this on my status site as well:
"The following pictures show what has been created on my own personal guitar which will not be sold. Please note that the design I’ve painted on my own personal guitar is copywritten by ELVH, Inc (Edward Van Halen), I’m not the only person or entity in the world who has posted pictures of work they have done on their own personal guitars & wanted to share it with their friends & family. To those who might find this to be infringement upon intellectual property, I challenge you to provide a public offering of guitars of good quality that are in the $500-$800 price range. I do not know one regular simple person who could afford the Charvel artist series offerings nor the Fender offerings."

So I continue to just touch up me crazy #1 & not worry about Big Brother. Stripes is as stripes does I guess & they can only be duhzed by the one who created them in the 1st place.

Until later comes, turn it up to a good "oh well" laugh.