Tweed Deluxe Silk Screen

[Hogy]

Hey y'all, I'm looking for somebody who can silk screen a Tweed Deluxe chassis. With so many Deluxe build kits available, somebody must be able to do this.

This is a real 1960 Deluxe I've owned for over 20 years, and it's my favorite. Unfortunately, a previous owner polished all the lettering off the chassis. The chrome itself is in great shape with no rust.

It's just always bugged me that this Deluxe looks so naked, I'd like to restore it back to what it was.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[ChopSauce]

Most likely just polishing the chassis erased the labels.

I can't help but recommend that you take care of this original amp, whatever its flaws, and I look forward to reading about the type of ink/paint which can be used to do that reliably ...

[stelligan]

Hogy

I am thinking a thin, clear acrylic faceplate may be your best bet to not devalue your amp. Find someone with Visio skills and have FedEx print a white on clear plate for you(make sure it's mirror printed correctly). They can print from a 100% scaled pdf of your design. Another option is to find something like this: https://reverb.com/item/7096643-fender- ... eed-deluxe

Third option would be to send it to me and I can measure the chassis and holes to make you one. Might take me a couple of years to get it right......

Cheers & good luck

P.S. I could send you this plate if you just don't want to be naked. Will try to find the Visio to edit if you like..

tweedle.jpg

[Hogy]

Hogy

I am thinking a thin, clear acrylic faceplate may be your best bet to not devalue your amp. Find someone with Visio skills and have FedEx print a white on clear plate for you(make sure it's mirror printed correctly). They can print from a 100% scaled pdf of your design. Another option is to find something like this: https://reverb.com/item/7096643-fender- ... eed-deluxe

Third option would be to send it to me and I can measure the chassis and holes to make you one. Might take me a couple of years to get it right......

Cheers & good luck

P.S. I could send you this plate if you just don't want to be naked. Will try to find the Visio to edit if you like..tweedle.jpg

Thanks, I appreciate the offer, but that's not what I'm after. I want the chassis silk screened as it was from the factory. Don't care about value. Just hoping to find somebody who is already set up to do this.

[pompeiisneaks]

I will say that getting it re-silk screened is going to be hard. You'd need to remove ALL components from the chassis, so they can clean the front chromed area and apply a silkscreen to it. This has a chance of causing some problems with the amp.

I'm not some expert on silk screening, but I don know part of it requires the surface to be silk screened to be flat, not have any protrusions, etc. There may be workarounds for this, I don't know.

Another option, that's definitely NOT original may be to get some of those clear labels with the image silk screened on them (not the stickers, they're actual very thin clear material that's almost gone when applied.)

Either way, if you truly want original I see a complete gutting of the amp to do so.

~Phil

[stelligan]

Thanks, I appreciate the offer, but that's not what I'm after. I want the chassis silk screened as it was from the factory. Don't care about value. Just hoping to find somebody who is already set up to do this.

Perhaps get a high quality chassis and rehouse it. Weber or other. Probably difficult to find someone to silk screen it "in situ".

Good luck in the quest.

[martin manning]

I'd bet almost any screen printer could do that. It's one screen, and the artwork would be easy, it's a standard font. The down side is its a run of one, so all the set-up charge for one swipe of the squeegee.

[ViperDoc]

I’d bet you could achieve a silkscreen look using simple peel-away masking stock. Make a mask for the lettering, remove the pot washers and just push the pots temporarily inside the chassis, apply and squeegee with a credit card or small squeegee.

There is also a white ink transfer that uses a laminator to create a transfer that works similar to a fake tattoo with warm water, but then is set with heat, perhaps with a hot air gun in this application.
Search for Sunnyscopa Laser Waterslide Decal Paper.

Edit: in truth I’ve never tried this. Maybe you can find something that would. Cheers.

[Hogy]

Thanks for all the tips! I'm hellbent on doing this the right way, or not at all. I'm capable and willing to disassemble the amp down to the bare chassis, if needed.

My thought was that somebody might be set up for this already. If not, I can do it the hard way by scanning an intact Tweed Deluxe chassis (I have a few) and working up a screen myself.

Replacing the chassis isn't something I'd consider. No sticky letters, either. I'm not confused about what the three knobs do, I just want it looking right because I'm weird like that.

[Basslice]

In the past I've done web searches and there are people that can silk-screen things like this. Have you done a deep dig?

Search "instrument panel silkscreening" and other terms.

It will likely be very expensive.

[ChopSauce]

Who already has a setup to do this but chassis fabricators?

I'd start inquiring about chassis resellers and other experts in tweed Deluxe repros, but maybe you already contacted them?

[Hogy]

Who already has a setup to do this but chassis fabricators?

I'd start inquiring about chassis resellers and other experts in tweed Deluxe repros, but maybe you already contacted them?

Yes, I contacted several manufacturers, including Fender, and got no replies. My guess is that most of the kit build chassis are probably made overseas. That's one of the reason I posted here, hoping somebody may know an US manufacturer.

[didit]

Hello Hogy --

Who already has a setup to do this but chassis fabricators?

I'd start inquiring about chassis resellers and other experts in tweed Deluxe repros, but maybe you already contacted them?

Yes, I contacted several manufacturers, including Fender, and got no replies. My guess is that most of the kit build chassis are probably made overseas. That's one of the reason I posted here, hoping somebody may know an US manufacturer.

I know Bruce Collins of Mission Amps stopped production on his 5E3 replicas but according to the website he's still active. Back when I bought a kit from him the marketing was "American Made" including the chassis. Perhaps you can reach out and get some advice from him. Perhaps not?

Best .. Ian

[bal704]

I'd just get a faceplate and put it on. It would give the visual you want/need and is easily removed.

[Guy77]

While typing this I realized someone had already mentioned taking it to a shop to get it silkscreened.

Cheers

Guy