Replacement Headstock Decals

[Lo-E]

Depending on the particular decal, even R&F, Crox, and other highly-recommended sources don't get them 100% accurate.

This is a ground-up restoration where a lot of repairs needed to be made and I’ve already had to make some compromises on authenticity. The idea of everything being absolutely spot-on is very appealing but that ship sailed a long time ago!

All this to say, if it’s pretty darned close that’s good enough for me. I would never try to pass it off as 100% original anyway. I’m just trying to be as respectful of its history as I can.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Yeah, the simple truth is that a lot of people with something like a 65' Fender they bought in 75' just thought of it as.... a 10 year old bass, and modded them as they saw fit. The whole Vintage obsession didnt kick in until later, as I recall it. A lot of the 70's CBS Fenders were crap, so people started looking for the old ones. Fender themselves was never super-careful about matching parts. If they found a box of old parts on a shelf, they'd use them on whatever was in production. Waste Not!

 

[Lo-E]

Fender themselves was never super-careful about matching parts. If they found a box of old parts on a shelf, they'd use them on whatever was in production. Waste Not!

I always joke that the only consistent thing about Fender production prior to shutting down the Fullerton plant was inconsistency.

That’s not really a knock on Fender, either. Gibson certainly did their share of the same sort of thing. The surge in popularity of the electric guitar circa Beatles/Ed Sullivan surpassed anything any company could have predicted and they did anything they could to keep product rolling out the door. If that meant that procedures got a little, er, hasty…. Well, so be it. The big, corporate takeovers of both Fender and Gibson did nothing to help quality control but they did a lot to fuel the interest in older (more carefully made) guitars. We probably have CBS and Norlin to thank for the vintage instrument market being what it is today.

In other news, a local repairman who I’m friendly with found a good looking decal in his personal stash and he gave it to me. It’s many years old, though, and decals have a shelf life so I’m not confident it will work all that well. It may just fall apart. I might as well try it. New ones are under 20 bucks if it disintegrates.

 

[Swerve]

Fender will send you a period correct decal for free, but you have to have the neck evaluated at an "Authorized Fender Service Center".

Is it possible to get a replacement decal for my old Fender instrument?

Yes, here is how to obtain a replacement decal: To help us achieve the best match of available decals, take at least 4 clear photographs of your instrument, (the entire front, entire back of the i...

support.fender.com

 

[Lo-E]

Fender will send you a period correct decal for free, but you have to have the neck evaluated at an "Authorized Fender Service Center".

Is it possible to get a replacement decal for my old Fender instrument?

Yes, here is how to obtain a replacement decal: To help us achieve the best match of available decals, take at least 4 clear photographs of your instrument, (the entire front, entire back of the i...

support.fender.com

That’s really interesting. I had no idea they were willing to do that.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

Just found this - it's where my logo came from (only through etsy at the time) - Steve's guitar shop;
Steve's Guitar Shop Waterslide video