Is it wrong...

[tkdboyd]

I had a beater of a F that I taped a homemade stenciled "Dudeinbrothel" on the headstock; either people didn't get it or didn't find it funny so I took it off...but it was a really cheap awful mandolin. I wouldn't put a sticker on any of my current instruments--it is yours to do with as you please!

[Ivyguitar]

Had a Hammer of Thor sticker on my Altman's tailpiece cover. I removed it because the word Altman is already a synonym for Hammer of Thor. It was just redundant.

[pursuitofwisdom]

wow! thanks for all that response...not so on the fence anymore, I think I will abstain although I play a piece of crap at the moment. For what its worth I have a great sticker (which can be seen here http://www.bravefriend.net/cart/medi...DSC03854_1.JPG) that has a dog on it that is identical to my pal that passed away awhile ago...I was debating cutting out the dog and placing it somewhere on the mando. Kind of over the idea now though, but in retrospect I do plan on getting a better mandolin one day, maybe sooner than later.

[Mandolin Mick]

So glad you found the wisdom you were looking for ...

[journeybear]

You know, now that I see the sticker in question and read the story about it, I understand your motivation. I have to say, though, that one thing that has always kept me from using any of my stickers - and I have a collection (as a result of not using them, natch) - is the fear that whatever I stick them on will slip from my possession, and that will bug me. Not losing the thing, but losing the sticker. (I know my priorities are out of whack; no need to point it out. ) For instance, after years of holding off on putting a cherished Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers bumper sticker on any of my iffy vehicles, I finally took the plunge on Journeybear The Van. That was good for a couple years, I got some comments and conversations from it, but when the van died, so went the sticker. And of course the band has disbanded. I think I have another one ... somewhere ... Anyway, I can only imagine how losing a sticker that you have that kind of emotional connection to would affect you. Yeah, I'm probably overthinking this. Kind of what I do.

[JEStanek]

Something like your dog sticker could go on the headstock (if it fits) ok enough. I wouldn't put one on the body ever. My cases have lots of stickers/patches on them. That's the place I use for sticker expression.

Jamie

[pursuitofwisdom]

very good point journeybear...i would be a bit more than bummed if that sticker got lost and subsequently off production or unable to find again. and a case is a great alternative to collecting these unique stickers...i need a good case now

[Steve Ostrander]

[QUOTE][It's not wrong, as in immoral, to put a sticker on your mandolin. McCartney put a Detroit Redwings decal on his famous Epiphone Texan guitar that he played on Yesterday. But, most musicians, including me, think it looks amateurish. /QUOTE]

As a Detroit Red Wings fan, I would think that would enhance the value of the guitar.

[MikeEdgerton]

Dawg has a sticker on his Loar (as in signed by Lloyd) headstock. Rhonda had a cool sticker that said Weber on the headstock of her Smith Creek. It all depends on where you put it.

[journeybear]

And who you are. Mr. Grisman can do pretty much whatever he wants with a mandolin (in more ways than one) and not too many people are going to feel like saying he can't. I wonder if there are people out there planning to do much the same to emulate him - if they haven't already ...

[MikeEdgerton]

I'm all for stickers. It's your instrument, go for it.

[Markus]

It all depends on where you put it.

Thinking on it ... the right one, the right place, can be positive. I like Dawg's Dawg headstock sticker, partly because that sort of thing [on that sort of instrument] is unique.

For me, a custom truss rod is in my eventual future ... I guess that would be considered not much different from an extremely expensive sticker.

With the time I spend playing, the importance of my mandolin in daily life ... I'm not going to look too strange at anyone's personalization, naming, rattle, or anything else that makes the instrument `theirs'.

If it affects the sound significantly, I might have a judgement about their ears though

[catmandu2]

Of course everything depends on one's relationship with one's instrument--and the image you want to project (and how much one values others' perceptions).

I wouldn't mind plastering practically anything on my bluegrass bass. However, I wouldn't put any stickers on my jazz bass on which I play (ahem) serious music. I' have some nice flower stickers and such on my conga drums and various folk instruments. But nothing ever went on my classical and flamenco guitars to defile their purity of elegance, which I experienced when I looked upon them.

Life is a state of mind.

[Dobe]

I had an 'OPUS' brand guitar awhile back that I graced the headstock with an image of an animated penguin !

[barney 59]

Yes do it! Hopefully it's a highly sought after vintage instrument or at least one that is likely to be in the future. Maybe you can carve a couple of initials into it as well. This is to insure that there will always be a ready supply of great playing instruments available to poor and struggling musicians in the future who couldn't possibly buy a pristine unaltered and completely original instrument but a totally defiled "player" may be in their grasp!

[Willie]

I have seen some bullet hole stickers that I have been wanting to put on a mandolin but haven`t as yet...A banjo playing friend of mine has them on his banjo head and they attract quite a bit of attention, people wanting to know how he kept from getting shot also... He tells them the banjo belonged to someone else when it got shot up.....I mean those look real, I think they are available at Bass Pro Shops....

[Geordie]

people wanting to know how he kept from getting shot also... He tells them the banjo belonged to someone else when it got shot up...

"This banjo saved my life, man. Didn't know they were bulletproof, did you?"

[Marty Henrickson]

Anybody but a banjo player would have enough sense not to stand behind such an obvious target!

[bluegrasser78]

Its like anything,,if it feels good do it!!,,,By the way I heard this years ago "what mandolin player spraypainted a Loar strings and all Blue or was it Red",,Someone shall I say "eccentric" Buzz Busby/ Frank Wakefield??,,Does anyone know this story?

[MikeEdgerton]

Sounds like a Frank Wakefield thing. I know he baked his Loar in the oven. He uses a saddle that he made out of some sort of plastic. With that said the mandolin still sounds great. I don't know about the red paint, I seem to recall something about red paint.

[journeybear]

Anybody but a banjo player would have enough sense not to stand behind such an obvious target!

And think it would offer protection from a bullet - or that others would believe him.

[barney 59]

Yep Frank's mandolin was red at one point. Showed me the dings that he put in it when he tossed it across the room in some sort of meltdown. Frank said, "I gave up drinking after that." or something to that effect.

[MikeEdgerton]

Here's a great interview with Frank Wakefield where he talks about what he did to his Loar.

[yankees1]

I don't know, but --------------------a sticker on a Dude, Gil, Ellis, Heiden and other top end makers, just doesn't go over in my mind as being fashionable or reasonable !

[journeybear]

At 50 posts in, thought it would be time to tally up the votes so far. By my reckoning (not very scientific) I make it 6 for, 14 against, for a 70% disapproval rating. There were a good number I had to omit due to ambivalence (I wouldn't do it to mine but if you want to, go for it; it's OK for a beater but not for a nice one; etc), because I am not a statistician and don't know how much weight to give to opposing viewpoints within a single response. But even if this isn't an exact determination of statistical analysis, I think the OP has gotten a fairly good general idea of where people stand on this issue. Personally, I'm a little surprised that the disapproval rate wasn't higher, but then again, we are very much in favor of personal expression and freedom around here.