Early Mark I rear logos

[Alan Lenhoff]

I recently bought a 1974 Mark I Stage.  On the back, there's a large Fender Rhodes logo. (Or, at least most of a logo.) It's entirely black, with no sign of any chrome plating on it.  I've seen photos of other pianos of that era that whose rear logos also appear to be black only.

I'd think these originally had (not very durable) chrome plating.  (The logo is practically invisible without it.) Can anyone confirm this?  I'd like to find a replacement FR logo, and I've only seen ones with chrome plating.

Thanks,

Alan

[Ben Bove]

It definitely would have had a chrome colored overlay of some kind, the black logo against the black tolex wouldn't have made sense.  So it's very possible it easily rubbed off or came off some how.  Definitely was chrome colored originally

[Alan Lenhoff]

Thanks for confirming that. Yes, black-on-black really makes no sense. But the loss of the chrome is so complete that it made me wonder. The latter Rhodes logos seem to have retained their chrome finish far better.

Alan