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Help with Vintage St. Louis Blues customization


DiscoStu

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Hello,

My name is Guy and I have an odd NHL replica jersey collection. Because of my name, I've decided to collect NHL replica jerseys of the six NHL players named Guy who played roughly 500 games or more. For those of you scoring at home, that is: Lapointe, Lafleur, Charron, Chouinard, Carbonneau, and Hebert.

Four of these guys played for the St. Louis Blues, so I am currently in my blue note period of collecting. I already have this nice blue one of Guy Lapointe, circa 1982-83:

pyx1.jpg

I also am in the process of getting a Guy Hebert blue circa 1992-93, and I have a Stanley Cup centennial patch for this purpose.

Here is where I get into trouble.

I purchased a CCM late 1990s white Blues authentic a few years ago when I was fortunate enough to find one, and on clearance too. On the same day, I scored a purple (eggplant, yeah I know) Mighty Ducks authentic which I have already turned into a Guy Hebert.

I would love to turn that jersey into this:

j9db.jpg

This is apparently a photo of an actual game worn Carbo which the owner was nice enough to provide for me. Mine is blank. The trick is finding someone who can do the Blues zigzag style numbering.

Also -- I am hitting a little snag on the fourth Guy, which would be Chouinard. He finished his NHL career in St. Louis in 1983-84. Rather than get yet another blue jersey, which would look exactly like the Lapointe except a different name and number, I would like to get a white jersey from that period. However, the only one I've been able to find other than expensive Mitchell and Ness is this jersey, a CCM Vintage replica, whose owner tells me that he bought it at the Blues official store at the arena.

smk8.jpg

I have tried e-mailing the Blues official store, but no response yet.

Does anyone here know of a place which could letter my blank 1990s white jersey??? And does anyone know where I can buy a white 1980s jersey and do they offer customization?

Thanks,

Guy

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Truman at GameDaySportsArchives made me a very nice zigzag Gretzky Blues kit for me.

The original jerseys had a layer of rubbery vinyl which may or may not be on your crest of the jersey you own but the customization from Truman does not replicate the vinyl. Not sure who would do it, but I believe they were customized back in the day from Custrom Crafted.

I would post pictures but my picture company is moving the servers currently.

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I know what you are talking about, re: the vinyl. Both my early 1990s replica and mid 1990s authentic have it.

I have a new wrinkle: the True Blues shop can sell me this style jersey:

smk8.jpg

The trouble is that they want $130 and it is probably a replica. The other trouble is that I am having a hard time finding this one anywhere else. Does anyone know of another source for this style jersey?

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Some information on this style of customization: During the 2003-04 season, when the Blues went Vintage with CCM, they actually decided against replicating the gorgeous triple-layer twill numbers that were used in the 1970's and 1980's. Instead, they did their numbers up the way they did the home and roads at the time. There was a bottom layer, a middle layer...which was actually the top color layer...and then there was a thin layer of vinyl pressed onto the top layer in the color of the middle layer to give the illusion of triple-layering but really with only two layers of twill. They then sewed thread over the vinyl in the same color to give an even deeper illusion of all-sewn numbers. Very intriguing indeed. At least to me anyway.

Also, for the record, the 1983 version of the Blues' Sandow SK durene jerseys is still one of the most beautiful designs ever put on the ice. I would KILL for one of those.

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I decided to order the Blues vintage jersey from the Blues themselves. When it arrives, I will be sending them off to a forum member who is an expert on Blues customization. I will post many pictures on this thread detailing the progress. Thanks to everyone who contributed ideas.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Some information on this style of customization: During the 2003-04 season, when the Blues went Vintage with CCM, they actually decided against replicating the gorgeous triple-layer twill numbers that were used in the 1970's and 1980's. Instead, they did their numbers up the way they did the home and roads at the time. There was a bottom layer, a middle layer...which was actually the top color layer...and then there was a thin layer of vinyl pressed onto the top layer in the color of the middle layer to give the illusion of triple-layering but really with only two layers of twill. They then sewed thread over the vinyl in the same color to give an even deeper illusion of all-sewn numbers. Very intriguing indeed. At least to me anyway.

Also, for the record, the 1983 version of the Blues' Sandow SK durene jerseys is still one of the most beautiful designs ever put on the ice. I would KILL for one of those.

That's the work of Custom Crafted. Their number fonts during the early 2000s were almost identical to the Bruins'. It wasn't vinyl, but screen-print that they used for the illusory layer.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You can find closeups of Custom Crafted's 1990s Blues numbering here:

http://www.dropthepucks.com/sotg/Blues.htm

Custom Crafted mostly works in single-layered sublimated twill nowadays, but you can try contacting them at (508) 695-2878 to see if they can recreate this old style. Rick Cavallaro is the proprietor.

97-98_STL_hm_Courtnall_2.JPG

94-95Brotenbk.JPG

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