Serial # Letter Font Project...Help Needed

[pinefd]

After a very successful attempt at re-creating the look of Gibson's vintage serial number font (thanks to all your help), I've been asked by a few people here to try and come up with a matching letter stamp. I don't know if there were any vintage guitars that had letters in their serial numbers, but if there were, I'd love to see pics of same. I don't really want to spend much time re-creating an obscure font, however. But I would like to try and find an off-the-shelf font that could work for our needs.

As a starting point, Freddy G provided this pic of the font on a modern AL-355:

And here's a photo showing a serial number from a chambered reissue guitar:

I started searching through some of my fonts that might be close to the "A" and "L" in Freddy's photo above, and came up with the following, which is your basic "Cambria" bold font:

If there are any type/print/font/graphics experts out there who could share some of your expertise in finding a font that might be a good match to our serial number font (shown below), it would be much appreciated. Also, again, if you can provide any pics of any letters in serial numbers, that would be great.

Thanks!


Frank


p.s. While we made every attempt during the re-creation of the number stamps to get the font vintage correct, I realize that all the numbers may not be perfect. So, if there are any further tweaks to the numbers that you can recommend, based on some good, hard evidence, please let me know!

 

[Freddy G]

Good work Frank!
Those letters look pretty good to me

 

[ledlover01]

ill get the serial number from my 61 melody maker if you want?

 

[x_archangel_x]

Frank,

I would say that you are in the right 'family', if you will, but definitely looking at a cousin.

I will dig through my font-lab and see what I have; I may have something much closer.

Nice progress, though. And I LOVE the serial stamps.

 

[pinefd]

Thanks guys!

ill get the serial number from my 61 melody maker if you want?

I'd say, if it's a real clear number, sure, why not?!?

Frank,

I would say that you are in the right 'family', if you will, but definitely looking at a cousin.

I will dig through my font-lab and see what I have; I may have something much closer.

Nice progress, though. And I LOVE the serial stamps.

Hey Pancho, long time no hear! How are you? That would be great if you could help with this project! Thanks!


Frank

 

[duff]

Something like this?

The original ones are definitely a olivetti variant.

Olivetti Typewriter « MyFonts

 

[ptate]

My Les Paul Custom and the serial number ink stamper test (only to see how it would align) for my home build.

I bought the stamper from e-bay a while ago, it should have been $250 (new), but good old bidding ended at $22...!

Not sure of the font, but I'll have a look if you're interested

 

[emoney]

Although this is of absolute zero value to OP.......I'm going to use an "All 7s" serial
number for my first build just because I think the "7" is so cool looking in this font.

On a serious note; thanks Frank for your attention to detail.

 

[voices]

Frank,

I'm sure you know that the Modernes from the 80's had letter prefixes for the s/n's. I have literally gobs of photos of those.

Hit me up if you need them.

Example:

 

[x_archangel_x]

Frank.

I hope that this has not died.

I am sorting through my fonts, and getting close, but not quite there yet.

It's driving me batty, in a good way. Just thought I would let you know. I have a metric crap-ton (yes, it it 10% larger than a standard crap-ton) of fonts to sort through, so... yeah, it is taking a while.

 

[pinefd]

Pancho, thanks for checking in. And no this project hasn't died...I've actually been waiting to see what you're able to come up with.

Coincidentally, today I received an order that I placed a couple of days ago for a stamp making kit. With this kit, I should be able to make my own polymer stamps. I just don't yet know the level of quality that I'll be able to product myself. I plan on using this as a way of experimenting with the letters, and with producing already set serial numbers. I don't plan on getting into the stamp making business myself; I just hope to use this for prototyping. I hope to report back soon on my progress.


Frank

 

[Jb3]

I know the post is six years old, but for what its worth that font looks to me like
"Thorowgood regular" Kind of obscure ...


https://www.linotype.com/de/893680/thorowgood-regular-product.html

 

[jkes01]

^ Well, since you resurrected the thread anyway...

I worked pre-press lab for a few years way back in college and when a font couldn't be found, we made our own. Software has come a long way since then and there are a few more options available. Found this interesting read How to create your own font | Creative Bloq.