Gearjoneser
Gear Ho
This thread is dedicated to restoring worn amps and speaker cabs, featuring everything from gluing down a tear, to cleaning and rejuvenating vintage amps, all the way to changing grill cloth and tolex. Let's limit it to informational tips and tutorials, without dumb stuff please.
I'll start with some of the tricks that have worked for me, having done this since I was a teen on about a hundred amps.
First, remove the chassis and get the loose hardware off.
Use Murphy's Oil Soap and hot water with a brush to thoroughly clean out all the crevices in the tolex. I've used dish soap and hot water, and also Fabuloso kitchen cleaner and water. Have a dry towel handy as well.
You just need to get it as clean as possible.
In order to fully erase ALL traces of crevice dirt, and restore the tolex to dark black, use black shoe polish and a shoe brush. Make sure you don't let this get on light colored cloth like silver Fender cloth. As a matter of fact, you can use this same technique on faded Marshall grill cloth. Just do it very lightly. Brush the black polish onto the Marshall cloth and work it in, but don't make a gunky mess of it. Wipe off the piping and logo.
To remove something like paint, don't EVER use paint remover or acetone, or you'll smear the texture in the tolex smooth and it'll look terrible. You're better off using Goof Off and scrubbing with a stiff bristled brush, and even picking away at it with a knife.
Besides looking at the tubes, I take the chassis and spray contact cleaner into the pots and turn them 50 times or so. Replace if necessary, by looking up the amp schematic on Google and finding the pot values.
For gluing down torn flaps of tolex, I like Super Glue Vinyl and Leather Mender. I've had decent results with a clean wood glue job too, but NEVER use regular Super Glue. It leaves white residue in the surrounding area and can melt plastic.
Try not to cover torn out scuffs with a Sharpie marker. It cheapens the look of vintage amps that collectors would rather have unfixed. If you must, cut out a clean circle or square, and patch a piece in that you cut from an inside top flap. Nobody will notice it missing from there. If you do a clean patch job, the scuff will be gone.
To retension grill cloth, get the grillcloth frame out of the amp, pry the old staples out on one side, pull it tight from the middle out while stapling with a staple gun. Do the same on any side needed to make the cloth straight and tight. Pay attention to the cloth pattern so it's straight top to bottom and side to side.
And please...don't spray paint your amp or do irreversible mods to great vintage pieces.
I'll start with some of the tricks that have worked for me, having done this since I was a teen on about a hundred amps.
First, remove the chassis and get the loose hardware off.
Use Murphy's Oil Soap and hot water with a brush to thoroughly clean out all the crevices in the tolex. I've used dish soap and hot water, and also Fabuloso kitchen cleaner and water. Have a dry towel handy as well.
You just need to get it as clean as possible.
In order to fully erase ALL traces of crevice dirt, and restore the tolex to dark black, use black shoe polish and a shoe brush. Make sure you don't let this get on light colored cloth like silver Fender cloth. As a matter of fact, you can use this same technique on faded Marshall grill cloth. Just do it very lightly. Brush the black polish onto the Marshall cloth and work it in, but don't make a gunky mess of it. Wipe off the piping and logo.
To remove something like paint, don't EVER use paint remover or acetone, or you'll smear the texture in the tolex smooth and it'll look terrible. You're better off using Goof Off and scrubbing with a stiff bristled brush, and even picking away at it with a knife.
Besides looking at the tubes, I take the chassis and spray contact cleaner into the pots and turn them 50 times or so. Replace if necessary, by looking up the amp schematic on Google and finding the pot values.
For gluing down torn flaps of tolex, I like Super Glue Vinyl and Leather Mender. I've had decent results with a clean wood glue job too, but NEVER use regular Super Glue. It leaves white residue in the surrounding area and can melt plastic.
Try not to cover torn out scuffs with a Sharpie marker. It cheapens the look of vintage amps that collectors would rather have unfixed. If you must, cut out a clean circle or square, and patch a piece in that you cut from an inside top flap. Nobody will notice it missing from there. If you do a clean patch job, the scuff will be gone.
To retension grill cloth, get the grillcloth frame out of the amp, pry the old staples out on one side, pull it tight from the middle out while stapling with a staple gun. Do the same on any side needed to make the cloth straight and tight. Pay attention to the cloth pattern so it's straight top to bottom and side to side.
And please...don't spray paint your amp or do irreversible mods to great vintage pieces.
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