Hi all,
Wanted to post this recently completed project to replace the plastic back plate on my German Corvette Standard Fretless.
Love this guitar and it's excellent Teutonic workmanship, but always thought the cheap electronics compartment cover in back was a buzz kill. I had a plan for a custom replacement job and my friend and top Southern California coppersmith Jim R. fabricated it.
The first step was to cut the copper sheet to size. A few rounds of grinding and this was accomplished.
The biggest challenge was to come up with an engineering design that would allow the new plate to attach and work as well as the original, only using much better materials. Replicating the clip-in action proved to be difficult.
After welding two stabilizer tabs on the new cover, Jim also attached a pair of screw-in anchors to the existing collar. Following a few millimeters of adjustment, his plan worked.
The collar was remounted and the completed plate was fitted.
(All copper pieces were buffed and treated prior to mounting.)
Enjoy the pix!
Wanted to post this recently completed project to replace the plastic back plate on my German Corvette Standard Fretless.
Love this guitar and it's excellent Teutonic workmanship, but always thought the cheap electronics compartment cover in back was a buzz kill. I had a plan for a custom replacement job and my friend and top Southern California coppersmith Jim R. fabricated it.
The first step was to cut the copper sheet to size. A few rounds of grinding and this was accomplished.
The biggest challenge was to come up with an engineering design that would allow the new plate to attach and work as well as the original, only using much better materials. Replicating the clip-in action proved to be difficult.
After welding two stabilizer tabs on the new cover, Jim also attached a pair of screw-in anchors to the existing collar. Following a few millimeters of adjustment, his plan worked.
The collar was remounted and the completed plate was fitted.
(All copper pieces were buffed and treated prior to mounting.)
Enjoy the pix!
