Vintage Synth Repair

I have a synth I'm starting to restore whose gold painted logo has 
started to fade and turn green.  Is there a good way to redo these 
logos without making them look like they were redone by some amateur 
with a paint brush?  Here's a picture of the faded logo on my synth:

http://www.overacker.com/ody/arp-logo.jpg

Any way to get this looking like new again?  Any suggestions would be 
appreciated.

Rob

If you want excellent results and have a little patience along with a knack 
for graphic arts (or a friend who is a graphic artist), the following should 
work quite well:

All that will be required is a file with a hand drawn facsimile of the logo 
(use CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator or any common CAD software), Make sure that 
all logo details are carefully measured and accurately scaled.  A set of dial 
calipers is handy for this.  Save the file to disk.  BTW a scanner will not 
help bypass the hand drawn part, as the results will be substandard even with 
a professional machine...even more so with the semi reflective gold surface 
... been there, done that.  Although a scan could be used as an underlay to 
aid in getting the logo proportions right.

With the finished artwork on disk and in hand, visit to a local sign shop 
that is set up to do computer cut vinyl signs.

Have them cut a few stickers (get a few extra) from the file of your logo 
using the gold colored chrome sticker material.  This material is reflective 
and is the key to achieving the look that you are after.  Lucky enough, this 
is a fairly common color of vinyl, and most well equipped sign shops should 
have it in stock.  Be sure to tell them not to alter the size or proportions 
of the artwork when they are setting up to do the job.

With fresh, custom, gold stickers in hand, all that is now required is the 
preparation of the synth surface and the application of the stickers.  If it 
is a perfectly smooth flat surface, your lucky!!! Just make sure that it is 
perfectly clean, and apply the stickers according to the sign maker's 
guidelines.  If it is not a flat surface (i.e., the original logo is raised) 
follow the same procedure, just be sure to carefully position the edges of 
all of the sticker letters and shapes perfectly along their mating edges on 
the synth ... this is why you should get several stickers made ... just in 
case you screw up and need to start with a fresh sticker.

Anyhow, the end result if done with patience and care will be every bit as 
good as new, if not better.  I have used this method on a variety of projects 
including award winning show cars.

Drop me a line if you need any further info.
-Doc-

--- In vintagesynthrepair@y..., "will7370" <will7370@s...> wrote:
> I have a synth I'm starting to restore whose gold painted logo 
has 
> started to fade and turn green. 

This might be redundant info, but the reason that most gold 
paints turn green lies in the fact that they're actually based on 
copper, not gold. This CAN be a problem if you just glue some 
decals over it, because it will continue to corrode... and interact 
with the glue. I'm not sure how to remedy this, though... I'll check 
this out tomorrow with a friend who does metal conservation. It's 
a common problem, so there surely must be some info on that 
topic.

if it is a metal issue, try some strong vinegar on a rag---preferably 
[industrial-strength] concentrate and only on the green sections.  
Afterwards, use a clear lacquer to protect the metal. hope this helps,
max
--- In vintagesynthrepair@y..., "rikdeclercq" <rikdeclercq@y...> 
wrote:
> --- In vintagesynthrepair@y..., "will7370" <will7370@s...> wrote:
> > I have a synth I'm starting to restore whose gold painted logo 
> has 
> > started to fade and turn green. 
> 
> This might be redundant info, but the reason that most gold 
> paints turn green lies in the fact that they're actually based on 
> copper, not gold. This CAN be a problem if you just glue some 
> decals over it, because it will continue to corrode... and interact 
> with the glue. I'm not sure how to remedy this, though... I'll 
check 

> this out tomorrow with a friend who does metal conservation. It's 
> a common problem, so there surely must be some info on that 
> topic.