I have made the nameplates for just about every coin piano made.
I have dies for the Seeburg 'loud', 'soft' and 'off' on curved plates
as these were indeed stamped and not acid etched.  The Seeburg
nameplates are all acid etched.

I was in a real need for some Cremona name plates for a Style G once
and tried to find someone to make them with no takers.  I drove all the
way to Dallas which is 200 miles one way trying to get the one company
in Dallas that still makes them to do a run for me with no luck.  My
art work was not good enough for them, which is another way of saying
you are too small to mess with at this time.

An engineer from Beard Industries in Shreveport was in the store and
I showed him what I was trying to have made.  He brought me some clear
sheets of some kind that I run in the photocopy machine.  The artwork
was transferred to the sheets.

With a hot iron (my wife was out of town) I then laid the sheets onto
brass stock where I ironed the sheets onto the brass.  The sheets then
lifted off and left a nice black design onto the brass.  I used some
glass pans (square for baking something or making banana pudding).
There was two of them.  One fit inside the other with lots of room
around it for warm water to circulate around the inside pan which was
filled with ferric chloride.

I cut the name plates so that the would fit into the smaller pan and
dropped one in.  The acid the etched the brass except the part with the
black print.  I now had my raised letters and the nameplate.

Originally the black portion of these nameplates was a plating that has
been discussed in a past MMD by Don Bryant.  I did the black paint and
steel wool method that resulted in a very nice nameplate that matched
the original in looks very well.  I have never found these clear sheets
for the photocopy machine again and have ordered products that claimed
to be them but did not work.

I have since had silkscreens made so that I can make a better looking
nameplate.  My first attempt was in the kitchen, and I would like to
warn people that this acid, even with lots of water running, will also
etch the kitchen stainless steel sink.  One should also coat the back
side of the brass, or the brass will be etched on the backside making
a very thin nameplate.

This acid also cleans spots off the driveway but do not use it for that
purpose.  I bought the brass plate stock from McMaster Carr and the
acid from a company in St. Louis.

Don Teach