Hey guys! I had the incredible opportunity to give Roger Christian an interview via email yesterday. He revealed previously unknown information about the screw that was used to hold the D-ring on, among other interesting things.
Here is the interview:
1. You've said in multiple interviews, that when making Luke's lightsaber from A New Hope, you screwed in the D-ring on the bottom. Do you remember what kind of screw that was? Slotted or Phillips? Flat Head or Pan Head? Did you take the screw out of anything to be used for the D-ring?
RC: I had hired a prop maker Roger Shaw to help make special props for A New Hope. As I made each lightsaber for Luke form scrap and junk based on the grafted in my office, the sabres are all different. They were not manufactured in a normal way because the budget was so low. I gave each one to Roger Shaw to add the D Ring as he had the tools in his small workshop. My first ones I made, about 5 in all had more like a round head with a square holes. The confusion lies in collectors who base all the versions on one model but they varies like everything I made on Star Wars I used whatever I could lay my hands on.
2. There is a lot of debate over which model of Graflex 3-cell was used in ANH. The red button says it was a newer model, but the glass eye says it was an older model. Do you remember ever changing those pieces out to fit the look of the prop better?
RC: No, I used exactly the grafted as I found it, with both red button and glass button, they really appealed to me as a great look for the lightsaber.
3. The T tracks for the grips are very interesting. Although they are certainly black on the saber, the Gary Kurtz lightsaber that was sold to Ripleys a while back looked like it had brown grips that were painted black. Do you remember if the T tracks used on the Graflex were brown & painted, or did they simply come black?
RC: They were black. The 1st two sabres I made, I used the T Strip from the stormtroopers blaster left over and then ran out and used a very similar kind of t track, again in Black. The Ripleys is presumed mine but its not, its from Empire Strikes Back and they didn't use my bubble strip in the clip, some piece of circuit board that I'd never have used, as not suitable for a Jedi weapon in my eyes. Plus yes looks like they painted the stripes black. Lazy work to me.
And now I'm on the lookout for a vintage Robertson screw, haha.
-Daniel Tesenair
Here is the interview:
1. You've said in multiple interviews, that when making Luke's lightsaber from A New Hope, you screwed in the D-ring on the bottom. Do you remember what kind of screw that was? Slotted or Phillips? Flat Head or Pan Head? Did you take the screw out of anything to be used for the D-ring?
RC: I had hired a prop maker Roger Shaw to help make special props for A New Hope. As I made each lightsaber for Luke form scrap and junk based on the grafted in my office, the sabres are all different. They were not manufactured in a normal way because the budget was so low. I gave each one to Roger Shaw to add the D Ring as he had the tools in his small workshop. My first ones I made, about 5 in all had more like a round head with a square holes. The confusion lies in collectors who base all the versions on one model but they varies like everything I made on Star Wars I used whatever I could lay my hands on.
2. There is a lot of debate over which model of Graflex 3-cell was used in ANH. The red button says it was a newer model, but the glass eye says it was an older model. Do you remember ever changing those pieces out to fit the look of the prop better?
RC: No, I used exactly the grafted as I found it, with both red button and glass button, they really appealed to me as a great look for the lightsaber.
3. The T tracks for the grips are very interesting. Although they are certainly black on the saber, the Gary Kurtz lightsaber that was sold to Ripleys a while back looked like it had brown grips that were painted black. Do you remember if the T tracks used on the Graflex were brown & painted, or did they simply come black?
RC: They were black. The 1st two sabres I made, I used the T Strip from the stormtroopers blaster left over and then ran out and used a very similar kind of t track, again in Black. The Ripleys is presumed mine but its not, its from Empire Strikes Back and they didn't use my bubble strip in the clip, some piece of circuit board that I'd never have used, as not suitable for a Jedi weapon in my eyes. Plus yes looks like they painted the stripes black. Lazy work to me.
And now I'm on the lookout for a vintage Robertson screw, haha.
-Daniel Tesenair
