Channel letter font help

Even if I was promised the CNC outlines from the original sign company I would be hesitant to try replacing just the face of a channel letter. Has anyone ever successfully done this?

 

Put paper on the face and trace the letter...
Scan and digitize... I feel like I'm missing something because this is pretty much
everyday problem/solution.

 

what happened to the original face?

 

we do it all the time and dont have a problem if its not one of ours (just got to remember how much to make it grow for the trim)

exactly you need to get the exact tracing and grow it for the trim etc

i would also take down one of the other letters so you can match the red acrylic face ....BUT if its the only job you are completing for this client i would try and find out who made the original one and get them to ship it to you ready made. if you need to order a full sheet of red acrylic it may be more expensive and time consuming etc

 

Yes, people replace faces all the time. You might want to advise them that all the faces may need replacing to make the colors match perfectly...

 

It's pretty difficult to pin down the exact ID of the typeface used for "BAR." It could be an extra-bold variant of Avant Garde or something else. Certain typefaces, such as Futura, have numerous variants from different companies (Adobe, Bitstream, Neufville Digital, etc). None of them are the same! They're all slightly different in various ways, different enough where a replacement face will not line up with the existing letter return properly. You have to have the original art files or you're forced to create a paper pattern and make letter face replacements from that.

Another hazard with channel letter faces: way too often you'll have some hack who created the original sign layout squeeze or stretch the typeface out of its normal proportions. So even if the typeface in question is very obvious you end up having to create a paper pattern from the sign anyway. I personally hate distorted type on signs; it's one of the fastest ways to make a sign design look completely unprofessional.