Remove indelible marker/Sharpie from headstock?

[Bassmingo]

A previous owner of my 2005 Mexican standard P seemed to be embarrassed about the basses country of origin and attempted to cover the "made in Mexico" on the front of the headstock with marker. It's never really bothered me until recently and I'd like to remove it without removing anything else, if possible 

Has anyone any recommendations?

[Jakester]

Isopropyl alcohol? Assuming it’s poly lacquer on the headstock, that should do it. 

[T-Bay]

Wd40 works surprisingly well

[ezbass]

Nail varnish remover works on Sharpie too.

 

[Bassmingo]

5 minutes ago, Jakester said:

Isopropyl alcohol? Assuming it’s poly lacquer on the headstock, that should do it. 

Just grabbed my bottle of hand sanitizer (70% isopropyl alcohol) and it did the trick! 

 

Thanks!

[Jakester]

👍

[itsmedunc]

When the Mrs was a poor student, we sussed out how to remove pen ink that the train conductor had used to spoiled her train ticket. Funnily enough it was E-Cig fluid that did the trick. Not all brands worked though. Saved us a good few quid on fares commuting back and forth to Uni!

 

[AndyTravis]

Hairspray for ink.

In the 90’s my mum and dad took delivery of two lovely dark green leather couches.

I sat down for the first time on one of these expensive items with a broken biro in my pocket...

cue farty pants.

Rang mum at work (dad would’ve reached down the phone line to slap me).

A woman at her work had just taken delivery of a 100 handy cleaning tips book by Kim and Aggie (remember them?) and the font of knowledge poured forth.

Handy.

[stewblack]

23 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

Rang mum at work (dad would’ve reached down the phone line to slap me).

Was the precise opposite in our house. A neighbour loved to tell of the day l turned up on his doorstep, soaked to the skin and minus one welly. 

"can you get my dad please? But don't tell my mum" 

[BreadBin]

Permanent marker becomes dry wipe marker simply by drawing over it with a dry wipe marker. Sometimes takes a couple of goes to get it all off 👍

[Count Bassy]

On 04/08/2020 at 11:22, ezbass said:

Nail varnish remover works on Sharpie too.

 

Need to be a bit careful with nail varnish remover (acetone) as it disolves lots of things, like some plastics and some paints/varnishes.

[MoonBassAlpha]

This^ I  wouldn't get acetone  anywhere near a bass guitar.  Or anything else plastic that I value. 

[Reggaebass]

Have you tried the small hand alcohol wipes 

[Delberthot]

How do you know that the OP has small hands?  😛

Edited August 16, 2020 by Delberthot

[Dom in Dorset]

Meths will do it too.

[fleabag]

Blow torch ?

[Dan Dare]

Grinding disc?

[Geek99]

26 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

Grinding disc?

Any good for metal ?

[Grangur]

Hand grenade?
Failing that, as I too have run out of grenades, white spirit would be my first thought.

[Stub Mandrel]

As a general; rule of thumb, if meths won't get it off, white spirit will and vice versa.

[paul_5]

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

As a general; rule of thumb, if meths won't get it off, white spirit will and vice versa.

Or maybe it’s a mix of the two!

[Stub Mandrel]

12 hours ago, paul_5 said:

Or maybe it’s a mix of the two!

I'm serious, some things dissolve better in alcohol, a polar solvent, others better in white spirit which has a totally non-polar. Acetone has a different polarity to alcohol so it can work were neither of the others do.

Stronger solvents fall into the same classes but are more likely to damage the substrate. Those three will cope with most everyday challenges.