DIY Marshall style faceplate

[copperheadroads]

I piecing together my next build ,A 50 watt jcm Marshall 2204 but i want to use a custom 18" chassis i recently purchased so the cab I'm building will be the old super lead style Not the metal panel ,so basically like an old Plexi or jmp with only 2 inputs & the old style switches & square lamp .I was wondering if any one had any luck making there own gold color faceplate from plexiglass ? maybe waterslide printed decals may work .
Any one have any luck doing there own possibly painting plexiglass with good results . or where could it done at a reasonable rate .

[olddawg]

I piecing together my next build ,A 50 watt jcm Marshall 2204 but i want to use a custom 18" chassis i recently purchased so the cab I'm building will be the old super lead style Not the metal panel ,so basically like an old Plexi or jmp with only 2 inputs & the old style switches & square lamp .I was wondering if any one had any luck making there own gold color faceplate from plexiglass ? maybe waterslide printed decals may work .
Any one have any luck doing there own possibly painting plexiglass with good results . or where could it done at a reasonable rate .

Good question. I have an amp in a Marshall box that I've left the chassis raw for years. I was just recently thinking of cutting and drilling a piece of plexiglass to fit and paint it gold on the back side. Maybe cut a G,T, B, and M out of tape or just leave it unmarked. If you know a clean/easy way to do it I'm all ears. Not sure a waterslide would work. It's usually silk screened.

[52 Bill]

The first time I saw a nice looking plexi copy, I looked at the faceplate and saw that the legend copy was printed on a thin clear sheet like an overhead projection sheet. The back of this sheet was spray painted metallic gold. Then a thicker piece of clear plexiglass was in front of this to make it look more like a real one and to protect the thin sheet underneath.

Unless you looked really closely, you could hardly tell that the panel was made up of two pieces. The spots where the two sheets separated was the tell tale sign of the sandwich.

And if you don't know what an overhead projection transparency is, then I'm just too old for my own good.

[The Dude]

I'm not sure how authentic it would look, but you could print the faceplate on photo paper and cover it with plexi. It wouldn't be difficult to do. I've made pickguards this way.

[cyclone]

i have done exactly that for back plates for years. I use the Front Panel Designer software and get custom aluminum engraved and backfilled front panels but the software is great for a lot of things. For back panels I trim cost by designing in the sw then printing and using plexiglass. You can also save as a vector graphic file and get it printed on plastic sheet at Kinkos or a sign shop. Or on photo paper or a sticker. It won't look exactly like a Marshall but it will look better than 99% of new production amps, most have very crappy crooked silkscreen panels front and back