Touch up paint for PFR or Premiere 11

[artm]

So, has anyone found a touch up paint for either the PFR or Premiere 11 faceplate?

I'm assuming they're the same color.

[AnotherJohnson]

I am unaware of any CJ faceplates that aren’t anodized, either black or gold.

If there is a ding, it is not fixable with touch up paint.

If the color is black (rare), you might try one of the Birchwood Casey touch up sticks for blued (blacked) gun barrels. These are available at many gun stores, but also over the internet.

I’ve never seen a touch up stick for champagne or gold color for this sort of application where the original finish is not paint.

A further complication is that the CJ faceplates age differently, depending on the environment where they are installed. A new faceplate is nearly always noticeably different than a 20 year old faceplate.

CJ used to offer customers replacement faceplates, but that inventory is virtually completely gone for older models at this point.

You could have a faced restored at significant cost. After removing and photographing the faceplate, you could have it cleaned of lettering, reanodized, and lettering restored. This is generally not a good path for most antiques… but it might suit a particular bucket lister who had to have a vintage piece that looked new.

My advice is to forget about it and worry instead about the aged interior parts which affect performance.

Best of luck with your project.

[Wildcat]

I had the same luck with C-J several years ago. I had asked if they had the rarer black faceplate for my preamp, and a couple years later, if they still had the gold faceplates for Premier 12s, as I had found a pair that were functionally good but the faceplates were in sad shape. Both times, I was told they stock very few metal parts for older models and, once they're gone, that's it.

I had considered that a business making reproduction faceplates would be a cool idea, but I would also imagine the legal issues surrounding it would make this impossible. Think of someone who builds a cheap knock-off Premier 12 and slaps a C-J faceplate on it, in an attempt to pass it off as the real thing. (The only solutions there would be for a manufacturer to approve a company to make reproductions, and only if the original faceplate were traded in to the company first as a way to prove ownership.)

[admin]

I agree, there is very little you can do to restore the face plates as it is not painted. With the black you may be able to cover a small scratch with marker to hide a blemish that can be seen from far away, but the surface damage is still there. As for the Champagne,... forget it.

[AnotherJohnson]

I agree that you would need permission to go into business manufacturing vintage CJ faceplates, but I don’t think you would need permission to restore a damaged faceplate. Nicks could be dealt with by milling the damage off the face plate before reanodizing and screening back the lettering. It would not be cost effective… and for a guy trying to put together an inexpensive vintage system, it would be cost prohibitive. It would probably kill any collector’s value too.

Asian counterfeiters have already shown that they have the ability to manufacture complex casework like that of the KSA series Krell amps.

[AnotherJohnson]

As an aside, I’ve always been curious about how some vintage pieces get so bunged up. I’ve seen casework with squeezed and broken fins, flattened corners and scratches indicative of gross mishandling. I’ve wondered if these were from poor packaging during shipping, or alcohol/drug induced mishandling during installation. Even with my bad shoulder problems, I’ve never dropped or scratched any of these pieces in my own handling.

[Wildcat]

As an aside, I’ve always been curious about how some vintage pieces get so bunged up. I’ve seen casework with squeezed and broken fins, flattened corners and scratches indicative of gross mishandling.

I have wondered about that myself. How could anyone spend so much on a component to treat it so poorly? The Premier 12s I saw years ago had some deep scratches on the faceplate or gouges on the edges of them. (Not many but enough to be noticeable.) The tube cages were missing also, and the black chassis has some scrapes that could have been more easily covered up. That even made me wonder if they performed as well as advertised--were they ever dropped or mishandled to the point of breaking solder joints inside? As sad as they were, though, the price was so good that I would have taken the gamble, had they not sold.

I often wonder if some of those components are stolen. Sure, I can see mid-fi getting banged up. But, high end? I'm happy to say that everything I've purchased used has had perhaps just the slightest flaws, where you'd have to be up close to notice. And in many cases, the sellers overstated the damage.

[AnotherJohnson]

I often wonder if some of those components are stolen. Sure, I can see mid-fi getting banged up. But, high end? I'm happy to say that everything I've purchased used has had perhaps just the slightest flaws, where you'd have to be up close to notice. And in many cases, the sellers overstated the damage.

I think thievery is a worthy guess too.
Looks valuable, so toss it in the bag. But a lot of this stuff is so heavy, it doesn’t lend itself to theft.

Another is angry spouse syndrome. “You love that stereo more than me!” Followed by a hammer or a keying.

Or maybe friends helping you move. Three beers and it’s time to move the music. Uh oh.

[Wildcat]

I don't have an issue with the angry spouse syndrome. If anything, everyone in the family is afraid to touch the system--I can't even convince them to simply use it!

Theft, pawnshops, estate sales, resale shops...there's no telling where some of these pieces have been. And on moving day, my components go with me in the car, separate from everything else. We're at the point now where, next time we move, we're hiring someone to help move all the boxes and furniture. I don't think I have it in me to move it all again!

[AnotherJohnson]

I generally transport any audio gear in my own vehicle rather than on the van. But I do let them load it into and unload it from my vehicle, under close supervision.