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Topic: Rickenbacker NS decal replacement |
Willie DeFord
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 3 Sep 2015 8:24 am |
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I'm cleaning up and restoring a post-war Rickenbacker lap steel. It has a pressed steel body and an adjustable horseshoe pickup. The decal on the headstock is missing. As I understand it, the pre-war Rickies had a metal logo rivetted on the headstock. A few postwar steels had the metal logo, but most had a decal. Mine has holes where a metal one could be riveted, but there's no logo plate or decal. I'd love to replace it somehow. Does anyone make replacement decals?
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Steve Wilson
From:
Morgan Hill, California, USA
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Posted 4 Sep 2015 1:48 pm
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Here's what I did for my NS with a missing decal.
I googled rick electro logos and found a pretty good .jpg picture of one. A straight on view is best.
I imported the .jpg into MS Publisher to size it correctly, then flipped the text so the ink would be on the bottom of the transparency I used. Then I printed it and took some aluminum tape with a white glue side and taped it over the logo on the bottom side. This allowed the white to show behind the decal with the text in the correct orientation and with the ink sandwiched between the tape and bottom of transparency to protect it. Lastly I trimmed it and used double stick tape to attach to the guitar. I also tried it using copper tape and silver foil as the backer, but to me the white looked best. Let me know if I can be of any further help. |
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Steve Wilson
From:
Morgan Hill, California, USA
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Posted 4 Sep 2015 1:58 pm
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G Strout
From:
Carabelle, Florida
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Posted 5 Sep 2015 12:59 pm
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I have seen several of these with both the plate and the decal (I also own one.) and all of the ones that have crossed my path with the decal in place also had the rivet holes in the headstock. I wonder if they just put decals over the holes until they ran out the stock of bodies that had the rivet holes in them?
Noah? Ray?
I never liked the sound of mine until I stuffed the body. I enjoy it now. Still prefer my Bakelite but this one (stuffed) is a close second. |
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Willie DeFord
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 13 Sep 2015 9:24 pm
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| Thanks for your replies! Steve, I think I'll check with a graphic designer friend here and see if he can do something similar to what you wrote. Thanks for the idea. G. Straut, mine didn't have the original newspaper stuffed inside, so I filled it with craft paper. It does seem to help the sound. I've enjoyed the sound of this one, but I've never tried a Bakelite model. |
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Willie DeFord
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 14 Sep 2015 10:31 am
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| Steve Wilson wrote: |
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Steve, I PMed you about this. Your decal looks great. |
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G Strout
From:
Carabelle, Florida
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Posted 14 Sep 2015 2:14 pm
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Willie... Mine was not stuffed when I first got it. I used newspaper to stuff the head stock area (Used a long piece of semi flexible rubber to pack it in up there after I repaired the tuning machines.) Then I stuffed the remainder with Polyester Fiberfill that they use in pillows etc. It made a HUGE difference in the overall sound and timbre of the instrument. What once sounded like a tin can now had a sound that was more like a Bakelite (although somewhat lighter and more "open." Stuffing the guitar made it a lot more usable. (IMHO)
gary |
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Willie DeFord
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 14 Sep 2015 6:33 pm
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| G Strout wrote: |
Willie... Mine was not stuffed when I first got it. I used newspaper to stuff the head stock area (Used a long piece of semi flexible rubber to pack it in up there after I repaired the tuning machines.) Then I stuffed the remainder with Polyester Fiberfill that they use in pillows etc. It made a HUGE difference in the overall sound and timbre of the instrument. What once sounded like a tin can now had a sound that was more like a Bakelite (although somewhat lighter and more "open." Stuffing the guitar made it a lot more usable. (IMHO)
gary |
I think I need to do a more thorough job of filling mine. Thanks for the tip. |
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