'86 San Dimas Soloist Headstock Paint/Decal?

[sharpjimbo]

Hi guys,


GAS struck again; I've recently picked up an 86' soloist in platinum pink. I've just got a couple of questions about the face of headstocks on the San Dimas era Jacksons...

So... I was giving her a good clean and re-string, and I noticed that when I was polishing the front of the headstock, it was making kind of a tacky crackling noise... Almost like I was rubbing a thin(ish) film. Upon closer inspection, yup, the face of the headstock appears to be one whole piece of semi black plastic, perfectly cut to shape (the Jackson logo is printed directly on it, it would appear...). You can see in the following picture where it's not perfectly smooth over the face of the headstock...





Was this a manufacturing procedure they used back in the day, or is this something more sinister..? It's got me a little confused as I'd always thought that the headstocks were first sprayed black, and then a white Jackson logo was applied after?

The rest of the guitar looks absolutely legit, original pickups, Kahler, etc. There's no damage to the back of the headstock/neck, all the paint is original etc... When the decal is fully pressed down (you can see it's very slightly lifting in the last picture at the bottom) it's absolutely flush with the binding, almost like the binding was applied after this face was in place...

The only other thing that's a little weird is the truss rod cover, it's not the two part one that you'd exact to see on a Kahler, it's a regular Floyd cover with the Kahler locking clamp screwed into it...

I've never seen the question come up on here and I can't find anything else on the internet so figured I'd ask...

Thanks,

James.

[BLOOD SPLATTER]

Yup known as a "plastic cap"...the string-lock over the truss cover was standard @ the time too

[sharpjimbo]

Arrrrh, perfect thanks for clearing that up!

Yeah, a search for plastic cap immediately turned this up:

http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/39273-Easiest-method-of-removing-black-cap-off-headstock

[rjohnstone]

The plastic cap used back then was nearly 1/16" thick.
You would never mistake it for a thin film.

Looking at those pics, the jagged edges on the logo font suggests this is a repaired logo cap.
The font edges are supposed to be smooth. I see a lot of stair stepping here.

[sharpjimbo]

The plastic cap used back then was nearly 1/16" thick.
You would never mistake it for a thin film.

Looking at those pics, the jagged edges on the logo font suggests this is a repaired logo cap.
The font edges are supposed to be smooth. I see a lot of stair stepping here.

Yeah, a quick google tells me that 1/16 of an inch is about 1.53mm - that's about right, it just sounds like its a thin film when you press it down. Pulling the cap up a little, I can see it's about that thickness.

Hmmm, the stepping on the logo, I did think that was a little odd. Who/why the hell would anyone need to repair a logo cap and nothing else on the rest of the headstock? Could you even make a replacement logo cap in the same way the originals were made?!

Has anyone else got any close ups of similar San Dimas era soloists?

[Catharpin]

Yeah, a quick google tells me that 1/16 of an inch is about 1.53mm - that's about right, it just sounds like its a thin film when you press it down. Pulling the cap up a little, I can see it's about that thickness.

Hmmm, the stepping on the logo, I did think that was a little odd. Who/why the hell would anyone need to repair a logo cap and nothing else on the rest of the headstock? Could you even make a replacement logo cap in the same way the originals were made?!

Has anyone else got any close ups of similar San Dimas era soloists?

Really no stepping here in comparison to the OP

[sharpjimbo]

Hmmmm, your logo has TM next to it rather than the R? Hmmm, it would seem to me to be massively difficult to recreate/manufacturing this logo in the black plastic?

[Catharpin]

Hmmmm, your logo has TM next to it rather than the R? Hmmm, it would seem to me to be massively difficult to recreate/manufacturing this logo in the black plastic?

"TM" is the earler logo before ®

[Axewielder]

It's called a phenolic cap. Generally speaking they don't come apart, although clear coats are notorious for starting to lift and peel. The logo does seem a bit odd, perhaps it was refurbished/relogo'd?

[sharpjimbo]

It's called a phenolic cap. Generally speaking they don't come apart, although clear coats are notorious for starting to lift and peel. The logo does seem a bit odd, perhaps it was refurbished/relogo'd?

Hmmmm, so I was a little bothered about the logo, so I took the strings, locking clamp/truss rod cover and tuning pegs to get a closer look...

The plastic cap defo goes right under the but, I'm pretty sure I've captured this in these two pictures...




Looking down the tuning peg wholes, you can see how thick the cap is, plus it's also got some pink paint under the high E peg...



You can just see where it's lifting off a little along the bottom edge.



Do these scrawlings tell me anything more about the guitar's story?



There's defo nothing else that's been overlaid on top of the plastic cap, there's just the clear coat that has gone a little funny in places like you've said... It seems highly unlikely that this has been replaced given the original paint on the front? I dunno, was there a period in 86 where the logos weren't as crisp? They made a crappy batch?

[BLOOD SPLATTER]

Legit


8945 is the workorder #

[rjohnstone]

Agreed, the guitar is legit, just one shitty quality logo cap.
The font edges are supposed to be nice and smooth. Must have been a bad batch of caps.

[Axewielder]

So I guess I'm questioning that this is a decal. From the photos I'm not seeing the telltale outline around it. Most of those R logos were silk screened.

[sharpjimbo]

So I guess I'm questioning that this is a decal. From the photos I'm not seeing the telltale outline around it. Most of those R logos were silk screened.

I have literally no idea what manufacturing process is used to get that logo on the plastic? Like you said, it doesn't look like a decal there's not outline around it, it just looks like the usual way that it's put on there, just the picture that Catharpin posted... Just not as smooth round the edges.

Has the logo that Catharpin posted been silk screen printed or another method?

[j2379]

Looks more like an 87 than 86. What's the rest of the guitar look like. My 86s all have decal logos and the ON touch. My 87 has that exact same logo and does seem to be silk screened. BTW I have a few from 86, they used 3 or 4 different variations of logos at least that I own.