Ampex 220 Cyrillic Caps

TheInverseKey · 09 Jan 2019, 02:38

Hi All,

I finally have gotten around to getting a better camera and lighting. Here is a find that I got a decent while ago with NMB Hi-Tek 725 Series 2 Eye Linear Switches. Additionally, the caps sub legends seem to have been done by had and filled by hand as well.

: Ampex 220 with Hi-Tek 725 2 eye white linears; P1010072-min.JPG (923.14 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010074-min.JPG (600.05 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010075-min.JPG (479.46 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010076-min.JPG (478.21 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010077-min.JPG (478.98 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010078-min.JPG (871.74 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010080-min.JPG (596.04 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010081-min.JPG (823.97 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010083-min.JPG (808.64 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010084-min.JPG (980.28 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010085-min.JPG (783.15 KiB) Viewed 1838 times

: P1010087-min.JPG (1.43 MiB) Viewed 1838 times

Thanks For Looking

Muirium · 09 Jan 2019, 05:12

Hard to tell with the rich colour of the legends, but are they engraved (cut into the cap surface) and painted? The O key in particular looks like it's been chiselled out and inked. Seems like a lot of work if so. Could be fairly durable though, I suppose.

TheInverseKey · 09 Jan 2019, 05:49

Muirium wrote: 09 Jan 2019, 05:12 Hard to tell with the rich colour of the legends, but are they engraved (cut into the cap surface) and painted? The O key in particular looks like it's been chiselled out and inked. Seems like a lot of work if so. Could be fairly durable though, I suppose.

Yes they seem to be hand chiselled out either through melting or drill/engraver bit. After they are filled with ink and some of the ink has smudged out of the engraving as per the photos. As for durability, this is NOS so hopefully they last a long time.

Muirium · 09 Jan 2019, 06:08

NOS is good news, because the one thing that would really test them is a good clean! Painted on legends (like those on the front of many vintage caps) are fragile compared to impervious doubleshots or dyesubs. But they do tend to be put places that aren't subject to as much finger wear. Yours have the extra factor of an offset from the surface. Typing shouldn't involve touching their ink.