Cost of replacing tolex

sandman72202 · February 10th, 2006, 08:33 PM

I just picked up a 74 twin covered in a surf green tolex. was wondering what it would cost and actually whether i should. i don't know if this was original, and if it was.....i'm sure there aren't too many this color out there.
anybody help me out with some info on this ?

winny pooh · February 11th, 2006, 11:28 AM

Not cheap, but ampwares.com has a whole range of stuff

BrianF · February 11th, 2006, 01:30 PM

mojotone.com probably has some too. Do a search on tolex. It's not that hard to put on. If you can put up wallpaper...it's not that much more difficult. I've put tweed on my tweed deluxe clone cabinet. I used carpenters wood glue (like elmers except stronger). It gets a little messy but it came out great. You can always buy a new repro all-pine cabinet pre-covered with tolex.

Ringo · February 11th, 2006, 03:44 PM

I'm sure that it's not factory, never saw anything but black on the SF Fenders, some of the Rivera era Fender amps came with snakeskin tolex.
But before you go recovering it, did whoever covered it in green do a good job?
If you just can't live with the green a cheaper and easier alternative would be to spray the green tolex with some black vinyl dye as long as they did a good job covering it. I can give you some pointers if you want to try that.
If it's not a good recover then strip and retolex is the way to go.
There are lot's of places to buy amp covering vinyl these days, it's not too expensive, I think there is even a Tolex tutorial link at the Weber VST BB's.

Caper · February 11th, 2006, 04:02 PM

Years ago when a lot of cars had vinyl covered roofs you could buy a product that was applied with an applicator sponge. All we had to do was outline the glass and chrome with 1 strip of masking tape and spread it on with the sponge applicator, it looked great.

A friend of mine bought a 62 Fender Deluxe a couple of years ago for $300. The previous owner bastardized it by painting it first green than later painted it bright blue. I tried without success to get the old paint off. There was not so much as a scuff on the original brown tolex, I guess the guy wasn't in to brown I guess

Anywho I took everything out of the cabinet, masked off the bare wood interior and sprayed it black for him, he was pleased with it.

sandman72202 · February 11th, 2006, 07:10 PM

although green is my fav color, not sure i want an amp in this shade of it. i was also wondering if this wasn't some strange color off a short production run. if so......i'd keep it.
i like the idea of sponge dyeing it. i'll research that. sounds like an easy way to go it i can find a good procedure to do it. sure someone has done it out there and posted something.

Caper · February 11th, 2006, 09:31 PM

SEM

Another One

WickedGTR · February 11th, 2006, 09:45 PM

I redid a twin cabinet last year. LINK Here.

Expect Tolex and glue etc. to run around $40-$50. I redid all the hardware, grill cloth, legs, faceplate etc, and it was closer to $200.

If you recover it, be sure to carefully peel the old tolex and save it to make patterns. It makes it MUCH easier. You can do a twin cab in a couple of hours.

Came out decent and was fairly easy to do. Glad I did, because the work that Dario did on the inside of the amp was so good. It's a like brand new 1967 amp, with improvements.

I don't believe the new black tolex has the same texture (it's smoother) as the old Fender amps if that sort of thing matters to you. I don't go around touching my amp.....

[img][/img]

Nub · February 11th, 2006, 10:56 PM

A couple of years ago, I was in a store that had a brand new Vibro King, in surf green with cream knobs. It was one of the coolest amps I've ever seen; it was too big for me to haul around, but I wanted to buy it just to sit & look at it! :)

BrianF · February 11th, 2006, 11:04 PM

nice project and great job!

Ringo · February 12th, 2006, 02:07 AM

SEM is good stuff, I've been doing auto interior work since 83 and I use SEM Colorcoat a lot.
They used to make some waterbased brush on vinyl top dye but I haven't seen it in years.
The aerosol can Colorcoat will work fine, just make sure to clean the tolex really good first with a detergent cleaner , something like Simple Green, then I'd follow that up with a solvent cleaner, rubbing alcohol will work fine.
If you pull the chassis and baffle and hardware it's easy to spray the tolex.
Take some before and after pics.
Good luck

WickedGTR · February 12th, 2006, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianF

nice project and great job!

Thanks-! the cab was easy- the real work went in the amp. Sounds better than it looks.

winny pooh · February 13th, 2006, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianF

nice project and great job!

Will second that! It seems like an insanely big job though. Did you replace it with a 60's repro board? From who? Would it not have been easier to have a tech do less major "blackfacing" by replacing small components etc?
Apologies on sidetracking this thread.

WickedGTR · February 13th, 2006, 01:56 PM

Like I said the cab was a couple of hour arts and crafts project- no biggie.

I bought the amp for $200 at a swap meet, and used it for a few years.

I took the amp to Dario (Cancerleocam here), as it was not functioning. He knew it needed caps etc, and I wanted the (non original) master volume removed. When he opened it up he saw it had been modded very poorly and had some other problems as well....So he decided to strip it down to the original circuit board and rebuild from scratch using high quality components and certain mods to enhance the tone stack, tremolo etc.

Best sounding twin I have ever played thru- Best reverb and Tremolo too.

CancerLeoCam · February 13th, 2006, 03:01 PM

...I could have spent the time doing the piece-meal upgrades ad infinitum as it was going to be a troubleshooters paradise. This amp reflected the transitional period Fender had in going from BF to SF. The wire was ultra thin and flimsy, parts/mods were installed that shouldn't have been, caps were shot, many resistors needed to be upgraded, etc.

However, my time's worth more. So, I thought it best to just upgrade it all and leave the aggravation of swapping in LOTSA new necessary parts for old behind. Obviously, it was the better decision.

I used the original board, but installed new caps, resistors and wire. The specific brand, values and composition of parts used were incorporated for the style of JCW's playing and for the possibility of heavy gigging. A lot of thought and sweat went into making it the amp it is. A "Custom Twin" if you will.

The fact that he's very happy with the amp always brings a smile to my face. I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to do the work and I got to know a very nice and cool friend in the process. Can't beat that. Thanks J. 8)

BrianF · February 13th, 2006, 03:55 PM

I agree ...good choice! Looking at someone else's rats nest... I would have done the same thing..strip it and chuck those components in the trash... There's plenty of quality electronic components available today that are as good if not better than was in that amp to begin with..

February 10th, 2006, 08:33 PM	#1 (permalink)
sandman72202 Tele-Meister Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Arkansas, currently on walkabout Posts: 476	Cost of replacing tolex I just picked up a 74 twin covered in a surf green tolex. was wondering what it would cost and actually whether i should. i don't know if this was original, and if it was.....i'm sure there aren't too many this color out there. anybody help me out with some info on this ?

February 11th, 2006, 11:28 AM	#2 (permalink)
winny pooh Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: South London Posts: 1,615 7 Photos	Not cheap, but ampwares.com has a whole range of stuff __________________ my afro ambient side project: http://www.myspace.com/theswyambusessions

February 11th, 2006, 03:44 PM	#4 (permalink)
Ringo Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Memphis TN Posts: 1,925	re Tolex I'm sure that it's not factory, never saw anything but black on the SF Fenders, some of the Rivera era Fender amps came with snakeskin tolex. But before you go recovering it, did whoever covered it in green do a good job? If you just can't live with the green a cheaper and easier alternative would be to spray the green tolex with some black vinyl dye as long as they did a good job covering it. I can give you some pointers if you want to try that. If it's not a good recover then strip and retolex is the way to go. There are lot's of places to buy amp covering vinyl these days, it's not too expensive, I think there is even a Tolex tutorial link at the Weber VST BB's.

February 11th, 2006, 07:10 PM	#6 (permalink)
sandman72202 Tele-Meister Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Arkansas, currently on walkabout Posts: 476	thnx guys although green is my fav color, not sure i want an amp in this shade of it. i was also wondering if this wasn't some strange color off a short production run. if so......i'd keep it. i like the idea of sponge dyeing it. i'll research that. sounds like an easy way to go it i can find a good procedure to do it. sure someone has done it out there and posted something.

February 11th, 2006, 09:45 PM	#8 (permalink)
WickedGTR Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Hillbilly Hollywood Posts: 2,150 4 Photos	I redid a twin cabinet last year. LINK Here. Expect Tolex and glue etc. to run around $40-$50. I redid all the hardware, grill cloth, legs, faceplate etc, and it was closer to $200. If you recover it, be sure to carefully peel the old tolex and save it to make patterns. It makes it MUCH easier. You can do a twin cab in a couple of hours. Came out decent and was fairly easy to do. Glad I did, because the work that Dario did on the inside of the amp was so good. It's a like brand new 1967 amp, with improvements. I don't believe the new black tolex has the same texture (it's smoother) as the old Fender amps if that sort of thing matters to you. I don't go around touching my amp..... [img][/img] __________________ http://www.myspace.com/jameswilsey

February 11th, 2006, 01:30 PM	#3 (permalink)
BrianF Friend of Leo's Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Carlsbad, Ca Posts: 2,179 7 Photos	mojotone.com probably has some too. Do a search on tolex. It's not that hard to put on. If you can put up wallpaper...it's not that much more difficult. I've put tweed on my tweed deluxe clone cabinet. I used carpenters wood glue (like elmers except stronger). It gets a little messy but it came out great. You can always buy a new repro all-pine cabinet pre-covered with tolex.

February 11th, 2006, 04:02 PM	#5 (permalink)
Caper Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 2,169 7 Photos	Years ago when a lot of cars had vinyl covered roofs you could buy a product that was applied with an applicator sponge. All we had to do was outline the glass and chrome with 1 strip of masking tape and spread it on with the sponge applicator, it looked great. A friend of mine bought a 62 Fender Deluxe a couple of years ago for $300. The previous owner bastardized it by painting it first green than later painted it bright blue. I tried without success to get the old paint off. There was not so much as a scuff on the original brown tolex, I guess the guy wasn't in to brown I guess Anywho I took everything out of the cabinet, masked off the bare wood interior and sprayed it black for him, he was pleased with it.

February 11th, 2006, 09:31 PM	#7 (permalink)
Caper Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 2,169 7 Photos	SEM Another One

February 11th, 2006, 10:56 PM	#9 (permalink)
Nub Tele-Holic Join Date: May 2003 Location: SoCal Posts: 920	A couple of years ago, I was in a store that had a brand new Vibro King, in surf green with cream knobs. It was one of the coolest amps I've ever seen; it was too big for me to haul around, but I wanted to buy it just to sit & look at it! :)

February 11th, 2006, 11:04 PM	#10 (permalink)
BrianF Friend of Leo's Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Carlsbad, Ca Posts: 2,179 7 Photos	Wicked... nice project and great job!

February 12th, 2006, 02:07 AM	#11 (permalink)
Ringo Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Memphis TN Posts: 1,925	re SEM SEM is good stuff, I've been doing auto interior work since 83 and I use SEM Colorcoat a lot. They used to make some waterbased brush on vinyl top dye but I haven't seen it in years. The aerosol can Colorcoat will work fine, just make sure to clean the tolex really good first with a detergent cleaner , something like Simple Green, then I'd follow that up with a solvent cleaner, rubbing alcohol will work fine. If you pull the chassis and baffle and hardware it's easy to spray the tolex. Take some before and after pics. Good luck

February 13th, 2006, 01:56 PM	#14 (permalink)
WickedGTR Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Hillbilly Hollywood Posts: 2,150 4 Photos	Like I said the cab was a couple of hour arts and crafts project- no biggie. I bought the amp for $200 at a swap meet, and used it for a few years. I took the amp to Dario (Cancerleocam here), as it was not functioning. He knew it needed caps etc, and I wanted the (non original) master volume removed. When he opened it up he saw it had been modded very poorly and had some other problems as well....So he decided to strip it down to the original circuit board and rebuild from scratch using high quality components and certain mods to enhance the tone stack, tremolo etc. Best sounding twin I have ever played thru- Best reverb and Tremolo too. __________________ http://www.myspace.com/jameswilsey

February 13th, 2006, 03:01 PM	#15 (permalink)
CancerLeoCam Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Mule Deer-Mt. Lion Safari, CA Posts: 1,692 5 Photos	Well.... ...I could have spent the time doing the piece-meal upgrades ad infinitum as it was going to be a troubleshooters paradise. This amp reflected the transitional period Fender had in going from BF to SF. The wire was ultra thin and flimsy, parts/mods were installed that shouldn't have been, caps were shot, many resistors needed to be upgraded, etc. However, my time's worth more. So, I thought it best to just upgrade it all and leave the aggravation of swapping in LOTSA new necessary parts for old behind. Obviously, it was the better decision. I used the original board, but installed new caps, resistors and wire. The specific brand, values and composition of parts used were incorporated for the style of JCW's playing and for the possibility of heavy gigging. A lot of thought and sweat went into making it the amp it is. A "Custom Twin" if you will. The fact that he's very happy with the amp always brings a smile to my face. I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to do the work and I got to know a very nice and cool friend in the process. Can't beat that. Thanks J. 8) __________________ Everyone's your "buddy" or "friend" when they want you or something from you. If you're not willing to work for free why should somebody else?

February 13th, 2006, 03:55 PM	#16 (permalink)
BrianF Friend of Leo's Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Carlsbad, Ca Posts: 2,179 7 Photos	I agree ...good choice! Looking at someone else's rats nest... I would have done the same thing..strip it and chuck those components in the trash... There's plenty of quality electronic components available today that are as good if not better than was in that amp to begin with..