Saving the Decal

[telebastard]

Hi all, first time poster so don't shoot just yet.

Many years ago I puchased a '68 Tele for $50. Why so cheap? Because it spent 2 years in a flooded storage unit. Over the years I have managed to salvage everything except for the frets which amazingly slid half way out of their slots and then rusted. All that remains to be done is the re-fret which I am in the process of now, and to re-pot the pickups which incredibly still work but have become annoyingly microphonic (I've been running it with a MIJ '62 RI neck and Seymour Ducan pickups).

My question is regarding the headstock decal. It's half gone, and I don't want to lose the remaing half which is now quite fragile. Sure, I can spray the headstock with some clear Krylon, but then it would shine and no longer match the rest of the guitar. This guitar looks a mess and I think that sort of lends to it's allure, so I would like it to all match, just without any further deterioration.

Any suggestions here is greatly appreciated.

[dunkelfalke]

non gloss clear cot?

[sumgai]

dunkelfalke said:

non gloss clear coat?

dunk, that would be what we call "satin" or "semi-satin". Easy to find under that name.

Tele, first off, let me you to the forums!

I've always figured that you can Telebastard, but you can't tell him much! ;D

With that settled, let's see what the goal is. Are you trying to preserve the current decal, and prevent any more deterioration? If so, the do as dunk says, and clear coat it with a satin finish. It may not look exactly like original, but you can fix that with a little over-spray to blend the job further out from the decal itself, thus masking the immediate effect.

If you want to actually replace the decal, that's doable too. There are a number of sources, many of them advertising right on eBay, that will supply 100% authentic-looking decals for your axe. Personally, I'd go this route, but before I actually covered it with clear coat, I'd "age" it a bit. There's more information on "aging" a decal on www.reranch.com, if you're interested in going this route.

As usual, this is not something that you should do for the first time on your pride-and-joy. Buy several decals and try working on them first, on a slab of wood that's not your neck, obviously. This will cost you a bit more moolah, but it will give Mr. Murphy fits, and that's always worth the price of admission!

Good luck, and keep us posted, won't you?


sumgai

[dunkelfalke]

ah, thanks. couldn't remember the english word for "matt" or "seidenmatt".

btw i got a couple of decals at ebay. they are crappy. printed with a inkjet and you can see that.
for authentic decals you have to use special printers with correct gold and silver colours, otherwise the colours would be ugly because of dithering.

[telebastard]

Thanks for the replies. I am trying to keep the guitar as original as possible, so I will take the clear satin route. I just didn't know what effect spray paint would have on flakes of 38-year old nitrocellulose or whatever those decals were made of. I keep having nightmares of spraying and watching the decal disolve into an illegible stain.

I've done literally hundreds of re-wires, set-ups and fret dressings in my time. I'm just not very good with ol' wood and paint. ;D

I'll keep you posted, and thanks again! Here's a "before" shot:

[dunkelfalke]

try mr. top coat made by gunze sangyo. it is afair water soluble clear acrylic lacquer spray which shouldn't damage neither your old finish nor the decal.

anyway, spray a mist coat first, wait an hour, spray a couple another mist coats along with waiting, then apply a real coat.

[telebastard]

Thanks dunkelfalke!

I don't know if I can find that product, but your technique seems sound.

[dunkelfalke]

third hit in google
www.hobbybunker.com/categorylist.cfm?body=cat&ID=23&mfg=136

;-)

[telebastard]

[telebastard]

Thanks guys, this worked out great! I'd show you an after shot, but it looks identical to the before shot. Just the result I was looking for!

Now to finish the nightmare of the fret install (I took off so much wood trueing the fingerboard that the slots were too shallow) and rebuild the tuners. At the rate I work, it may be all together by New Years...

Thanks again!