Altec 288 driver restoration

[jmyres]

I recently picked up a pair of 288-16G drivers. The drivers are in nice condition, but the rear covers have a bit of cosmetic wear. I'd like to restore them, and wanted to get opinions on the best way to go about it without hurting their value.

- Would it be reasonable to refinish the rear covers, assuming I have it professionally done?
- Has anyone safely removed their rear labels (using low temp on a heat gun) prior to re-painting?
- Is there a color code available for the grey paint used on rear covers?

Also, if any of you have spare rear cover gaskets, terminals, or even a clean pair of rear covers you'd like to sell, I'd be interested in buying them.

Thanks

[Altec Best]

In my opinion they don't look that bad.. Not bad enough to restore them me thinks.. But you can buy new labels if you need them.. They aren't cheap.

There's a guy on ebay who makes these.

I had these made for my 511E horns.



And These for a pair of 802-8G's/033952

[Phil-G]

have you ever watched antiques roadshow? leave them alone.
painting and swapping stickers will make most people (myself included) wonder what else has been tampered with. about the only thing that wouldn't raise eyebrows would be a new pair of GPA diaphragms. if the old ones still work hang on to them.

[mah]

The CDs are usually out of sight. I left mine showing the scars of life. If the chips really bother you, do a matching paint touch-up of them with an almost dry brush.

[gdmoore28]

It just dawned on me that if you need to perfectly match the original colors, all you need to do is take one of your drivers to an automotive paint dealer. They have a machine that will scan your original color, then spit out the formula that the dealer uses to mix your new paint. I hear that the matches are perfect.

GeeDeeEmm

[bowtie427ss]

They have a machine that will scan your original color, then spit out the formula that the dealer uses to mix your new paint. I hear that the matches are perfect.

This would be great if Altec had sourced one color, from one supplier, and had a consistent method of applying it. They didn't.

Take a few random 288G's and park em next to each other, at least one won't match the others in terms of paint color and texture, and you may find they all differ to a degree. They vary as much in color as they do in texture.

Earlier examples seem to have an even, smooth, solid color. At some point they went to an epoxy spatter/texture paint. This is tricky stuff to spray, you NEED a texture gun to spray it properly, and it is very sensitive to technique. A novice spraying this stuff can end up with a beautiful, accidental "hammertone" finish, but it's not supposed to look like that.