Warmoth Jazz Bass Decal based on Fender Logo

[deejaysham]

In my current Warmoth build I've thought a lot and read a lot about the Fender decal debate. And I think every side has valid points and ultimately I think as long as you're not trying to pass off a fake on the market, it's nobody's business what someone does in their own build. But in considering my own decision for my Jazz Bass build, some points that resonated with me have led me to decide to put a modified decal on. The points that ultimately tipped me towards using the decal:

1.) Bill Nash's philosophical essay that points out that everyone, even Fender themselves are making Leo Fender clones.

2.) My strong feeling that the logo on the headstock is part of the aesthetic of the instrument as much as clover tuners, thumb rest, and a metal control plate.

But I'm also proud of my build's Warmoth construction and there are things, like the chambered and short scale body that I'm using which are unique and stand apart from Leo Fender's contribution. So I played around in Adobe Illustrator to create a modified decal design which represents both, honoring Leo's design but giving the Warmoth parts their due representation. I patterned the design after the mid-60s jazz bass headstocks. I have seen someone else do a 50s spaghetti Warmoth logo but not the thicker 60s yet. I'll probably play around with applying this to some wood blanks to see how it goes.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Very nice.

 

[stratamania]

Looks good, how do you plan on printing it out etc ?

 

[deejaysham]

I printed it out on laser printer compatible waterslide paper (not easy to find in San Francisco but I think I got the last pack!). If you print in reverse and leave blank (white) the parts you want to be gold, then those parts will be clear on the waterslide decal and you can fill in the back side with Testor's gold enamel model paint and a very fine brush. Here's what it looks like after being painted and applied to a piece of basswood. The wood was unsanded so it's a little bumpier than it would ultimately be but it totally work. Next I'll try doing one on a smooth piece of maple and then lacquering and wet sanding to get the decal to disappear into the finish.

 

[Cagey]

That's a nice design! What is that font?

Incidentally, it's easy to find waterslide paper online. I have a pack of 25 sheets from decalpaper.com that I have yet to use that was only $23. That's enough to make a lotta mistakes. They make a variety of types so you can do inkjet, laser, ink, paint, etc.

At almost a buck a sheet, you don't experiment too much - you just come up with a design and print/modify it on regular printer paper until you're happy, then feed a sheet of waterslide in.

 

[deejaysham]

That's a nice design! What is that font?

It's not a font. It was a two step process. First I took the fender logo in Photoshop and chopped it up to see what parts of letters I could recycle. The idea being that the more I could mine from the Fender logo, the more it would be instantly recognizable as an homage to the original. Turns out you can spell nearly the whole word "Warmoth" with letters from Fender!" It looked like this:

After I had this plan, it was a matter of putting it into Illustrator, tracing the parts that work into vector graphic curves, modifying the parts that needed tweaked, and creating a "W" that would match the same style.

 

[swarfrat]

I know "homage" has come to mean blatant ripoff in internet speak. I'm mostly sorta OK with this one, but sticking patent numbers and stuff gives me the willies. I know they're expired and it is made of parts made under license but...I dunno it just screams Rolecks to me

 

[deejaysham]

I'm mostly sorta OK with this one, but sticking patent numbers and stuff gives me the willies.

Well actually the numbers on my headstock are all unrelated to the patent numbers. They're other numbers that have significance to me in some way. The bottom row for example is 31.960 and 92.014, which is the month/year that the Jazz bass debuted (March 1960) and the month/year I'll finish my build (09/2014)

My original graphic above had the patent numbers and I changed them for a similar willie-factor by the time I was applying a test decal.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I'm mostly sorta OK with this one, but sticking patent numbers and stuff gives me the willies.

Well actually the numbers on my headstock are all unrelated to the patent numbers. They're other numbers that have significance to me in some way. The bottom row for example is 31.960 and 92.014, which is the month/year that the Jazz bass debuted (March 1960) and the month/year I'll finish my build (09/2014)

My original graphic above had the patent numbers and I changed them for a similar willie-factor by the time I was applying a test decal.

And like you stated, even they were the real numbers, it's your personsl property and not being resold as being the real article.

 

[bmax]

I printed it out on laser printer compatible waterslide paper (not easy to find in San Francisco but I think I got the last pack!). If you print in reverse and leave blank (white) the parts you want to be gold, then those parts will be clear on the waterslide decal and you can fill in the back side with Testor's gold enamel model paint and a very fine brush. Here's what it looks like after being painted and applied to a piece of basswood. The wood was unsanded so it's a little bumpier than it would ultimately be but it totally work. Next I'll try doing one on a smooth piece of maple and then lacquering and wet sanding to get the decal to disappear into the finish.

Resurrecting an old thread here, but I was wondering if you might consider sharing your file for this headstock logo? I think it's brilliant, and I've always liked the idea of having a logo on my Warmoth Pbass, but never wanted to stick a Fender one on there.

 

[Cagey]

If he doesn't answer, you might be interested to know Warmoth has recently restocked their embossed metal logos...

They also come in chrome and black.

 

[bmax]

Awesome, thanks! I really do love the Fender-font Warmoth logo. It clearly says Warmoth, so it's not trying to fool anyone, but maintains the design aesthetic of the original instrument.

 

[Fat Pete]

If deejaysham doesn't respond (or not positively), and nobody else jumps in, I could put one together for you.

 

[BigSteve22]

A couple of other sources:

J Bennett-
http://bennettdecals.wixsite.com/decals

He does a nice Fender script. I sometimes had a little trouble getting my ideas across, but it worked out nicely in the end. (The "B" character is really a German Sharfen S. That's the part that took a lot of going back and forth to get right. His "B" was very nice, but not what I wanted.)

=or=

Rothco & Frost-
http://www.rothkoandfrost.com/custom-waterslide-decals-uk-for-guitars-bikes/

I used them for my new build. Sent them my own design, and they did an EXCELLENT job!


Good luck!

Pics attached: (1) Bluescaster" decal made by J Bennett. He uses the gold paint method mentioned in the OP. (2) I don't have a photo of the "Jazz Baron" decal as it isn't mounted yet, but this is the design I sent Rothco & Frost. The gold is metallic ink and looks really nice.

 

[bmax]

Those are pretty fantastic! I was planning on printing them out and painting them gold myself, but if I decide against it, I'll likely order a few from Bennett. Thanks for the tip!