by Pamelina H.

I’m a big geek. Seriously, I’ve been into comics and sci-fi since I could barely read. I attend the conventions and I watch the shows. And I’m the biggest geek where it comes to the show Battlestar Galactica. Though I watched the first show when it aired in the '70s, I’m talking about the masterpiece that is the re-imagining.

I love the show so much that I wanted a personal connection with it. I’ve worked with many celebrities and I don’t ask for autographs. I feel it’s unprofessional. But I wanted autographs from the cast of BSG more than anything. I also wanted to give something in return. My idea was to offer a guitar that would be auctioned for a charity in return for autographs on the guitar and on a painting for me.

I mentioned my plan to Debbie Slavkin, program manager at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. She and I worked together on two previous auction guitars - the 24 and the nip/tuck painted on Lipe Guitars. The nip/tuck was autographed by the cast of the show and the 24 was autographed by Keifer Sutherland. Both were sold to benefit the Academy.

Debbie said if she could make it happen, could we sell the guitar in an upcoming auction for the Academy. I agreed and she quickly put me in contact with Carol Marks-George, who was working on the set of Battlestar Galactica in Vancouver.

In our initial email contacts, I shared my design of the guitar with Carol. I kept it simple. I wanted plenty of negative space for autographs. And I wanted it dark, like the show. The show is the ship and I took great pleasure in reproducing the ship on the surface of the beautiful American-made Stratocaster.

It takes a lot of good people to make such a guitar happen. My good friend Del Breckenfeld at Fender donated the guitar (along with a guitar currently being painted to benefit the Lakers Youth Foundation, but more about that later). The guitar had to be dis-assembled before I could paint it and that was done by Mike Lipe. He and I began working together from his Guitar Doctor shop in Burbank, then through the Ibanez Custom Shop. We now work together on many projects and he’s always someone I can call on for my charity projects.

After Mike took the hardware off the body and removed the neck, I did my artwork. Then everything was sent to another generous friend that I’ve worked with for many years, Pat Wilkins of Wilkins Finishes. He applied a thin coat of clear to protect the artwork, but not to finish it.

Then the guitar body was shipped to the set of Battlestar Galactica. After some interesting discussions with Canadian customs, it arrived in good shape after a few days. I was extremely grateful that the cast was doing this for me and expressed this by sending each cast member a gift bag with a thank you note, specialty chocolates and a pen for signing the guitar and artwork.

At the last minute, I threw in a disposable camera and asked Carol if they wouldn’t mind taking pictures of the signing of the guitar. I figured, what the heck, it’s worth a shot.

I got a call soon after from Carol telling me that they’d thrown the camera out and instead had their set photographer shoot the stars with the guitars. Not only that, but the actors also signed the photos! There was a set for the auction and a set for me. The geek in me was over-the-top.

The autographed guitar was shipped back and then taken back to Pat Wilkins for the final clearcoat. From there it went to Mike Lipe for re-assembly and set-up. I purchased custom knobs that were black metal with red glass that I felt really matched the theme.

Overall, the process took several months, involved many people and covered many miles. The result was a gorgeous one-of-a-kind guitar that was built by people doing good things for each other. It’s corny, but it really does feel good.

So say we all.

LINK TO EBAY AUCTION