Doing Things Wrong

Still Great - Mark Knopfler

but where is Emmylou Harris?

Many years ago I saw Eric Clapton at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan. All through the show, I kept hearing Dire Straits. Finally, I grabbed someone's binoculars, and sure enough, there was Mark Knopfler! Since then I found out they are great buddies, and tour together a lot. Clapton was so cool, he let his tour guitarist have the final encore, this:

It was one of the best shows I've ever been to
Clapton backing Knopfler this time
with Chet Atkins

Why would you put this stuff on a guitar?

All I can say is - just don't. It is easy to get absolutely gorgeous results with nitrocellulose lacquer, but they won't last. Lacquer is attacked by just about everything. Spill alcohol on it - it will dissolve. Set it on a guitar stand, it will stick to it. Hang it on the wall - same thing. It never really dries or completely hardens - anything that touches it will leave a mark, there is no way to store it except perhaps in a very loose-fitting hard case with a really fluffy lining, and even that would probably make marks after a while. And God forbid anything vinyl should touch it - vinyl devours lacquer. Nitrocellulose is the worst, if you must use lacquer, get the acrylic kind from the auto parts store. And never mix the two.

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