Here's the story behind "The Rembrandt" as related in the provenance that comes with this guitar. In late 1987, Dale Hyatt came up with the plan to have Leo sign a limited number of guitars, at most 100. Each G&L distributor would get one as a kind of "Thank You!". When Leo approved of this plan, a body was selected and he was handed a ballpoint to sign it. This is when he stated that "Rembrandt didn't use a ballpoint to sign his work!" which in the end led to the nickname. So instead, a different solution needed to be found which took some time. Dale wanted to make sure the ink or paint would not run or bleed when several thin layers of top-coat would be applied. It took until March 1988 until a solid combination was found. Dale selected a Blonde body for the series because of the sharp contrast with the Black ink. Much to his surprise Leo did not only sign the body but also dated it.
Next step was putting the top coat on. Here is where 2 sets of provenance slightly differ, In an email composed July 4th, 2000, Dale mentions polyurethane whereas the letter dated July 29th, 2013, put together by Dale's son Ken, with help of noted researcher Gabe Dellevigne and addressed to Mike Teepe of Acme guitars who bought many instruments from the Dale Hyatt Estate, mentions nitro. In any case, Dale took his sweet time, having several coats "misted" on and allowed to dry and cure completely before the next layer was to be applied. Around April 15, 1988, the guitar was completely assembled which explains why the neck date is about 2 weeks younger than the signature on the body. When Dale presented the guitar to Leo, Mr Fender was very pleased with the result causing a bit smile to appear on his face. But he also emphatically proclaimed "No more!" which took Dale completely by surprise. Taken aback, and a little angry about his plan being torpedoed, he asked what to do with this one: "Take it to the bandsaw and destroy it?" Leo formed another grin on his face and told Dale that it was his to keep and he was free to do whatever he wanted with it. Not surprisingly, Dale entered it in the sales log and kept his "Rembrandt" for his own collection where it only became available to the outside world after his passing.
Here Dale's email and Ken's letter (click on image to get larger version):
Also note that the G&L bass built for Roger Carroll and shown in this
post is the other G&L signed by Leo. The only known other, non-G&L, instrument is the 1951 Nocaster Leo gifted to Les Paul and had delivered by Paul Bigsby. The latter recently got
sold at auction for a hefty $225k! Rest assured, this one went for at least an order of magnitude less and even less than half Ken originally asked for when it was offered to me just after Dale's passing.
- Jos
Definitely to be cherished. Thanks for sharing Jos! 
