The guitar was originally made in 1974 or 1975 and I’ve had it since maybe 1983. The finish was in terrible shape, so I stripped it in a fit of youthful exuberance, intending to refinish it in red, and promptly lost interest in the project. In 1993 Dan Clowes and Peter Bagge were at a local comic store and I had the idea of letting them doodle on the guitar. When I got to the store, there was a huge line of fanboys with comics to sign so Peter and Dan were limiting each person to just a signature and maybe a dedication, but absolutely no sketches. When I plunked down the guitar and asked them if they would draw on it, they seemed to be really excited about the idea because they spent about 30 minutes doodling on it. The drawing of Mickey Rat on the back was done by Robert Armstrong in 1998. The great thing about Armstrong’s drawing style is that his musical instruments are always anatomically correct. The guitar Mickey is waving around is clearly a 1959 version of the Flying V, for example. I had a clear pickguard made for it so the drawings would show through. The pickups are custom Seymour Duncans. One of these days I’ll finish putting it together.