Great American Signs Brings New Spirit to NJ Church and School

Gary Johnson operates Great American Sign (Basking Ridge, NJ) as a one-man shop. Yet, his craftsmanship has also earned accolades in ST’s International Sign Contest. Leaders at Somerset Hills (NJ) Lutheran Church wanted a distinctive post-and-panel sign to replace a 40-year-old, changeable-letter board, so they contacted Johnson. He designed the job using Gerber Scientific Products’ Omega 5.0 for the general design, and SA Intl.’s EnRoute® 5 to prep files for production on his MultiCam 3000 CNC router.
Johnson routed the sign’s rough shape with Sign•Foam® 4 high-density urethane (HDU) on the MultiCam, and then fine-tuned its form with Pfeil Swiss-made carving tools. To bolster the signface, he secured the 46 x 87-in. sign panel to layers of PVC, and implemented a post-and-panel system purchased from Charleston Industries. MIG-welded, PVC-reinforced aluminum panels connect the posts. Sign Matters (Branchville, NJ) installed the sign.