Guitarstuff4U: So mr. Gear Tats, what made you decide to start the Gear Tats business?
Gear Tats: Well I grew up playing guitar in the eighties when Hair Bands were the rage and they had these amazing guitar players. All of those guitarists had great custom graphic guitars that I would drool over and dream about owning. I remember CC Deville had a bunch of cool guitars in one of Poison's videos, as well as Queensrych, Anthrax, Warrent, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Vernon Reid,John Petrucci. The list is endless. They all had these amazing looking axes. A few times I attempted to do some customizing on my own but the results were always pretty bad. I've wrecked a few guitars in my day I'm sorry to say. Years and years later my friend bought a vinyl cutter was showing me some decals that he had made which got my gears spinning. This could be a way to make custom guitar graphics that would look great and were affordable to the average guitarist.
Guitarstuff4U: Where did you get all those cool designs? Did you come up with them or do you have a partner that does that?
Gear Tats: I design all of the decals myself. I've been a graphic artist since high school, and even when I went to college for music I still kept up with all the graphic programs on the computer and studied art on my own. I've also done a few custom decals for clients who had a design in their mind that they really wanted which was fun.
Guitarstuff4U: Any other designs slated to come out in the near future?
Gear Tats: Oh yeah! It's really limitless as far as design possibilities. Not only will we be moving into multi-colored designs in the future but also designs inspired by customer feedback through facebook and twitter. We're really interested in finding out what people would like to see on their guitars and then giving them the best versions of that.
Guitarstuff4U: Are specific designs meant for certain styles of guitar or can any design be put on any guitar?
Gear Tats: We do have a few decals that are designed for specific body shapes like tribals, or a new line of pin-stripping we are about to launch. Others are designed to fit on most guitars but come in two sizes, electric and acoustic. We are also looking at creating a few killer designs for Flying V's. We can't ignore those guys.
Guitarstuff4U: No you most certainly shouldn't, especially since it seems EVERYONE these days is playing a flying-V or some other non-traditional body style guitar.
Guitarstuff4U: On the technical side of the spectrum, you say that Gear Tats are permanent yet can also be removed if you wish it, how does that work? I would imagine some kind of solvent would be involved, as you couldn’t just use water, instruments rarely get wet but I'm sure it does happen.
Gear Tats: These decals are made from high quality sign vinyl which does have an adhesive on the back of it. It is designed to stand up to moderate use on indoor signs without fading of falling off. When it is removed from a surface it doesn't leave any residue behind that I have found. The only side effect I have noticed when removing a decal that had been on one of my guitars for a few years was that the surface was much cleaner where the decal had been.
Guitarstuff4U: Were there any design you had that didn’t "make the cut" so to speak? and might we see those designs if things take - off for Gear Tats?
Gear Tats: Yeah there were a few that didn't "make the cut" :). Mostly because of the learning curve involved with the decal creation process. The way that these decals are made involves removing the parts of the design where the guitar body shows through. Some of my earlier designs were very intricate and the time it took to remove all of those little bits of vinyl would have sent the price of them through the roof. Maybe down the road we'll introduce a Premier Line of GearTats that will include these amazing designs for customers that want something a little more intense looking.
Guitarstuff4U: ok thats all we have for now Bassers and Guitar'ers, if you want to see more about Gear Tats you can view whats on stock at GEARTATS
Gear Tats: Well I grew up playing guitar in the eighties when Hair Bands were the rage and they had these amazing guitar players. All of those guitarists had great custom graphic guitars that I would drool over and dream about owning. I remember CC Deville had a bunch of cool guitars in one of Poison's videos, as well as Queensrych, Anthrax, Warrent, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Vernon Reid,John Petrucci. The list is endless. They all had these amazing looking axes. A few times I attempted to do some customizing on my own but the results were always pretty bad. I've wrecked a few guitars in my day I'm sorry to say. Years and years later my friend bought a vinyl cutter was showing me some decals that he had made which got my gears spinning. This could be a way to make custom guitar graphics that would look great and were affordable to the average guitarist.
Guitarstuff4U: Where did you get all those cool designs? Did you come up with them or do you have a partner that does that?
Gear Tats: I design all of the decals myself. I've been a graphic artist since high school, and even when I went to college for music I still kept up with all the graphic programs on the computer and studied art on my own. I've also done a few custom decals for clients who had a design in their mind that they really wanted which was fun.
Guitarstuff4U: Any other designs slated to come out in the near future?
Gear Tats: Oh yeah! It's really limitless as far as design possibilities. Not only will we be moving into multi-colored designs in the future but also designs inspired by customer feedback through facebook and twitter. We're really interested in finding out what people would like to see on their guitars and then giving them the best versions of that.
Guitarstuff4U: Are specific designs meant for certain styles of guitar or can any design be put on any guitar?
Gear Tats: We do have a few decals that are designed for specific body shapes like tribals, or a new line of pin-stripping we are about to launch. Others are designed to fit on most guitars but come in two sizes, electric and acoustic. We are also looking at creating a few killer designs for Flying V's. We can't ignore those guys.
Guitarstuff4U: No you most certainly shouldn't, especially since it seems EVERYONE these days is playing a flying-V or some other non-traditional body style guitar.
Guitarstuff4U: On the technical side of the spectrum, you say that Gear Tats are permanent yet can also be removed if you wish it, how does that work? I would imagine some kind of solvent would be involved, as you couldn’t just use water, instruments rarely get wet but I'm sure it does happen.
Gear Tats: These decals are made from high quality sign vinyl which does have an adhesive on the back of it. It is designed to stand up to moderate use on indoor signs without fading of falling off. When it is removed from a surface it doesn't leave any residue behind that I have found. The only side effect I have noticed when removing a decal that had been on one of my guitars for a few years was that the surface was much cleaner where the decal had been.
Guitarstuff4U: Were there any design you had that didn’t "make the cut" so to speak? and might we see those designs if things take - off for Gear Tats?
Gear Tats: Yeah there were a few that didn't "make the cut" :). Mostly because of the learning curve involved with the decal creation process. The way that these decals are made involves removing the parts of the design where the guitar body shows through. Some of my earlier designs were very intricate and the time it took to remove all of those little bits of vinyl would have sent the price of them through the roof. Maybe down the road we'll introduce a Premier Line of GearTats that will include these amazing designs for customers that want something a little more intense looking.
Guitarstuff4U: ok thats all we have for now Bassers and Guitar'ers, if you want to see more about Gear Tats you can view whats on stock at GEARTATS
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