What font for the 50's Fender logo?

[KokoTele]

Does anyone know what font works for the 50's style Fender logo? Brush Script and Banff have some close letters, but the F and E don't look right.

Anyone?

[Tony474]

Banff is just Corel's take on Brush Script. What you can do is use an upper-case "E" in a smaller point size, but you have to outline it (stroke it if you're an Illutrator user) so that it'll be the same weight or thickness as the other characters. It still won't look quite the same as the original, though - to replicate that takes a bit of time and skill in a drawing app such as CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator. Convert to curves (or outlines in AI) and node-edit away. May be quicker/cheaper to purchase a ready-made decal.

[Ira7]

Why not just scan it?

[KokoTele]

Tony, the upper case E is the wrong shape in both of those fonts as well. Brush script is close enough for the later logo design, but doesn't match the spaghetti script.

Here's the later logo.




Now look at the spaghetti script design:




Ira, I want the font to work on something else, so scanning doesn't help me.

[Dave Yeats]

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I have never found the time. I wish somebody would take a program like this:

FontForge font creator/editor software

And create a "Fender Spaghetti" font. Not to recreate the Fender logo, but to make it easier for everybody to make a "Ferden" logo or whatever.

Any takers? You should probably be an Illustrator user.

[Nick88]

Originally Posted by Dave Yeats

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I have never found the time. I wish somebody would take a program like this:

FontForge font creator/editor software

And create a "Fender Spaghetti" font. Not to recreate the Fender logo, but to make it easier for everybody to make a "Ferden" logo or whatever.

Any takers? You should probably be an Illustrator user.

To make a ferden logo there is no need for a font. All you do is copy a the fender logo from the internet into an image editing software. From there you can 'cut out' the individual letters and put them in a diffferent order.

Of course this only works if you only need an F, e, n, d and r. For anything else you're a bit stuck

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by eryque

Tony, the upper case E is the wrong shape in both of those fonts as well. Brush script is close enough for the later logo design, but doesn't match the spaghetti script.

See what you mean. As I see it, there are two methods to try, both involving some heavy-duty node-editing in a vector app such as Corel or Illustrator.

The first way would as suggested before be to typeset the name in as close as you can get to the original font, which in the absence of anything better still looks like being Brush Script or one of its derivatives. Then convert it to curves or outlines (whatever the program calls them) and alter the shapes of the letters until you've achieved the desired effect.

The other way is to put an image of the spaghetti logo on the screen and alter the colours until it's pale but visible. Then, I'm afraid, it's a case of starting from scratch and, effectively tracing the original, painstakingly re-creating the logo by drawing curves and editing them to match the original exactly or at least as close as you can get. At least you'll only have to draw the "e" once. It will almost certainly help to work in layers for this exercise.

My experience is that bitmap-to-vector tracing apps such as CorelTrace never quite get it right and you can spend more time in editing the result than in doing it the hard way as described. I guarantee that by the time you've finished, your skills will have improved greatly!

However you do it, it's not a five-minute job. I've had to do similar work more than once (I'm actually doing a hotel chain's logo right now, as it happens) and customers never seem to grasp the involved nature of the task or be willing to pay for the billable hours expended.

However you approach the job, save and backup often!

[Tony474]

Me again. I just spotted that you may want to create additional characters as well. If the font doesn't already exist, the only way to do this is use your creative skills, spend some time and capture the essence of the shapes and styles of the characters you already have. Create and use a grid for cap- and x-heights plus ascenders and descenders. You can actually create a whole new TrueType font this way by applying the appropriate ANSI code to each character as it's created. Check out your program's manual and/or on-screen Help file. Good luck!

[Tele295]

I'd like to have "Fender Spaghetti" and "Blackface Amp" fonts. Wish I knew how

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by Tele295

I'd like to have "Fender Spaghetti" and "Blackface Amp" fonts. Wish I knew how

I just checked through 60 fonts in Idendifont.com and nothing comes any closer than Brush Script, of which there are several versions. As we know, this won't do the job as it comes out of the box, so it's a matter of getting to grips with drawing software as I described above and just putting in the hours. Or paying a graphics pro to do it. Guess it all depends on how much you want or need the item in question...

Sorry I can't be more helpful than that.

[AndreasF]

It's not that hard to make one yourself with a vector drawing program!
Here's one I made:

and here's a quick howto on how I made it.

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by ugle

It's not that hard to make one yourself with a vector drawing program!

I didn't say it's hard to do - I said, or at least implied, that it takes time to get it right. If you're happy with that logo, well and good - but I wouldn't be, for a number of reasons. Maybe, as a graphics professional, I'm being too fussy, but I've always taken the view that there are no short cuts - if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing properly.

[gtech]

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=...g_en%7Clang_fr

http://fonts.goldenweb.it/pan_file/l...b/default.html

And here is a homemade Fender font by someone on that other forum

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum...chmentid=55494

[Poppatwang]

Originally Posted by gtech

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=...g_en%7Clang_fr

http://fonts.goldenweb.it/pan_file/l...b/default.html

And here is a homemade Fender font by someone on that other forum

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum...chmentid=55494

BrushScript with a couple tweaks. Not quite.

[Tony474]

Here you go, look. I just created this one character from scratch - no tracing, took about 15 minutes, and that's before any final tweaking. And this is a fairly easy one.

[Steve G]

Any ideas about the 'Telecaster' font. Seems theres a few that are close.

[AndreasF]

Originally Posted by Tony474

If you're happy with that logo, well and good - but I wouldn't be, for a number of reasons. Maybe, as a graphics professional, I'm being too fussy, but I've always taken the view that there are no short cuts - if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing properly.

Fair enough! This is just my poor attempt at creating something that resembles the original logo, and I must say that it is 103% more satisfying to use my own one instead of slapping a counterfeit F-logo on a partscaster

[AndreasF]

Originally Posted by Steve G

Any ideas about the 'Telecaster' font. Seems theres a few that are close.

I think Futura Light comes quite close to that one. I remember it being discussed in Buckocaster51's first build thread.

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by ugle

I think Futura Light comes quite close to that one. I remember it being discussed in Buckocaster51's first build thread.

I'd agree re Futura Light - also worth looking at Century Gothic. Very nearly the same but the cap R has a slightly wider bowl, which may or may not be what's needed.

[gtech]

Well... I stick to the font I mentioned above...

[seafoamtele]

check out http://www.1001freefonts.com/

but that spaghetti logo comes from the pre-font days, when logos were handmade.
If you use the existing letters from the logo and find something close for the rest of the letters you're home free, because no one know what that spaghetti "font set" looks like

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by seafoamtele

...but that spaghetti logo comes from the pre-font days...

What do you mean, pre-font days? There have been type-fonts around since the days of Gutenberg (no, not Steve) and Caxton. What do you think printers have been using for the last 500 years and more? In the early days they carved their own out of wood before casting them in metal, basing their designs on handwritten and engraved styles going back to Roman times. Technology has moved on but the principle is still the same - any new face or font gets drawn either on paper or nowadays on the computer screen in the first instance.

Adaptation of existing designs is common, so maybe when someone has the time and inclination they can come up with a whole font. I suggest (you read it here first, folks) that, if the name hasn't already been used for something else, it should be named "Spaghetti Cursive"!

[Steve G]

Interesting thread this. Id also be interested in getting a font close to the early 70's / late 60's Fender Telecaster logo

[monfoodoo]

Fred Flinstones morning paper used fonts.

[telel6s]

Originally Posted by Tony474

What do you mean, pre-font days? There have been type-fonts around since the days of Gutenberg (no, not Steve) and Caxton. What do you think printers have been using for the last 500 years and more? In the early days they carved their own out of wood before casting them in metal, basing their designs on handwritten and engraved styles going back to Roman times. Technology has moved on but the principle is still the same - any new face or font gets drawn either on paper or nowadays on the computer screen in the first instance.

Adaptation of existing designs is common, so maybe when someone has the time and inclination they can come up with a whole font. I suggest (you read it here first, folks) that, if the name hasn't already been used for something else, it should be named "Spaghetti Cursive"!

Tony,

Not meaning to speak for seafoamtele, but I think he means that the Fender logo was not created first as a font and then type-set into the word "Fender". Instead, it was likely created as a logo that happens to be a word. The designer may very well have based it on certain fonts but didn't bother to create x, q, a, j, etc. I know that the company I work for has a logo that spells out the company name. After the fact, the seven letters in the logo were then turned into a true-type font to make it easier to insert the company name into documents and presentations.

But I understand what you mean about how far back fonts go. I'm one of those weird people who actually looks at the back of a book to read about what font was used to print it and why it was selected. My dad worked as a writer/editor and a learned early on that there is often more to a word on a page than what it spells out. Same goes for some advertising copy I worked on in a previous marketing job.

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by telel6s

Tony,

Not meaning to speak for seafoamtele, but I think he means that the Fender logo was not created first as a font and then type-set into the word "Fender". Instead, it was likely created as a logo that happens to be a word.

Oh, yes, I appreciate that and I expect that's indeed what happened. But I just picked up on the notion that fonts have only existed since computers were developed, which of course is very far from the truth.

Actually, like you I'm fascinated by typography; not only is it a part of what I do for a living but it's also an extremely interesting and involving subject all by itself.

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by telel6s

...it was likely created as a logo that happens to be a word.

As a footnote to previous posts, I've had a close look at the "spaghetti" logo on my AV62RI Custom Tele and I'm now certain that this is what happened. It was without doubt originally hand-drawn to represent a handwritten name and the two "e"s differ noticeably from each other. Therefore, even if such a handwriting font did exist, the logo itself would not be possible to re-create accurately simply by typesetting.

That still doesn't preclude the creation of such a font for purposes such as eryque seems to have in mind, but as I've previously suggested each character would almost certainly have to be drawn from scratch in much the same way in which I created that cap F the other day.

[Moggl]

Just a really quick try and I came up with this:

MogglScript0001.png

Plain vector graphics is a lot easier than creating a font.

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by Moggl

Just a really quick try and I came up with this:

Attachment 8990

Plain vector graphics is a lot easier than creating a font.

That's nicely done, but it still has the same limitation as ugle's (our friend in Norway), which is that it's a uniform weight of line. If you look at most of the common "handwriting" fonts, such as Brush Script, Ondine, Mistral, Bickley Script, Nevison Casual and loads more as well as the Fender logo itself, all the letter-forms vary in apparent thickness of stroke to simulate the pressure of a writer's hand. That generally necessitates creating the shape of each character as a vector graphic. If all these characters are then saved as a font, then the fill colour and weight of stroke/outline can be applied to the resulting text subsequently and variably whenever it's used.

What eryque suggested originally was to get hold of a full font in the exact style of Fender's early logotype so that he could compose other words or names in the same style. If such a font can't be obtained because it doesn't yet actually exist, the only way to achieve the object is to create one, and unfortunately there are no short cuts to that.

[ThreePlyGuy]

I have experimented with the Brush MT font with some success a couple of times. I'm sure many are aware, you do have to muck with the F and E some as Leo did!

[Telover]

Originally Posted by Steve G

Interesting thread this. Id also be interested in getting a font close to the early 70's / late 60's Fender Telecaster logo

That's the easiest: Brush Script.

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by ThreePlyGuy

I have experimented with the Brush MT font with some success a couple of times.

Brush Script, Brush MT, Banff - all basically the same thing and OK for approximating the later logotypes but too heavy for the early "spaghetti" style without a whole lot of fiddling about.

[seafoamtele]

Originally Posted by Tony474

What do you mean, pre-font days? There have been type-fonts around since the days of Gutenberg (no, not Steve) and Caxton. What do you think printers have been using for the last 500 years and more? In the early days they carved their own out of wood before casting them in metal, basing their designs on handwritten and engraved styles going back to Roman times. Technology has moved on but the principle is still the same - any new face or font gets drawn either on paper or nowadays on the computer screen in the first instance.

Adaptation of existing designs is common, so maybe when someone has the time and inclination they can come up with a whole font. I suggest (you read it here first, folks) that, if the name hasn't already been used for something else, it should be named "Spaghetti Cursive"!

well,sure, I meant computer fonts. Prior to computer fonts being available via (relatively) easy to use graphics programs, you'd have to get a typesetter to get your work done at a printshop, or buy those old rub-down letter sets at an art supply store. or get a designer to create a new look for you.
that's what I meant.

[seafoamtele]

Originally Posted by telel6s

Tony,

Not meaning to speak for seafoamtele, but I think he means that the Fender logo was not created first as a font and then type-set into the word "Fender". Instead, it was likely created as a logo that happens to be a word. The designer may very well have based it on certain fonts but didn't bother to create x, q, a, j, etc. I know that the company I work for has a logo that spells out the company name. After the fact, the seven letters in the logo were then turned into a true-type font to make it easier to insert the company name into documents and presentations.

But I understand what you mean about how far back fonts go. I'm one of those weird people who actually looks at the back of a book to read about what font was used to print it and why it was selected. My dad worked as a writer/editor and a learned early on that there is often more to a word on a page than what it spells out. Same goes for some advertising copy I worked on in a previous marketing job.

that's exactly what I meant. Thanks.

[Moggl]

Is this one more like it?

MogglScript0002.png

I just added a few irregularities, just to show it can be done.

[Poppatwang]

Doesn't capture the essence of the original. Shouldn't have loops in the descenders on the g nor on the l.

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by seafoamtele

Prior to computer fonts being available via (relatively) easy to use graphics programs, you'd have to get a typesetter to get your work done at a printshop, or buy those old rub-down letter sets at an art supply store. or get a designer to create a new look for you.
that's what I meant.

Yeah, tell me about it! That's what I do, or rather did for a living. Technology has moved on faster in my lifetime than at any other period in history - same as in many other fields, I guess. Back in the very early eighties we invested a large amount in what was then the latest hot poop in photo-setting equipment from Linotype - but it still wasn't WYSIWIG and just produced galleys that had to be physically pasted up. Only a few years later, once desktop publishing had caught on, we literally couldn't give the system away and wound up throwing it in a skip - what you'd call a dumpster.

But although today's technology is available to anyone who wants to invest in it, you still need to know what you're doing and a lifetime in print, typography and graphics is still useful in staying - just - ahead of the game and continuing to buy the groceries.

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by Moggl

Is this one more like it?

Attachment 8994

I just added a few irregularities, just to show it can be done.

I see what you're getting at there, but the only way to do it properly is to create each letter as a fully-formed outline within its own rectangular grid to define its baseline and side-bearings, which can then be filled, stroked, stretched, scaled, tarred, feathered and run out of town... Well, I made up the last three, but I'm sure you get the idea...

[seafoamtele]

Originally Posted by Tony474

Yeah, tell me about it!
But although today's technology is available to anyone who wants to invest in it, you still need to know what you're doing and a lifetime in print, typography and graphics is still useful in staying - just - ahead of the game and continuing to buy the groceries.

Back when "cut & paste" really was cut & paste! I spent plenty of time doing just that; and I agree, you definitely need to know what you're doing.
cheers,
mark

[Moggl]

Originally Posted by Tony474

... but the only way to do it properly ...

I guess if I took a little more time than a meagre five minutes....