Tolex covering question

[Fiat_cc]

Hi all.
I've recently built my first amp cab. It's a Marshall 18 watt combo cab. I've covered it in Tolex, and everything worked out great except the heat vent. What's the trick here? It got a bit messy and I'll cover the much up by cutting patches to fit, but in the commercial cabs I've seen, there don't appear to be patches. How do I get this part right?

 

[Fiat_cc]

I have just gone back to it to cut the patches to put in, and the vinyl has lifted slightly in the curve of the vent. Any ideas for how to get this to sit down and stay stuck? I don't want to lift the whole top panel and redo it, as I don't really have the time.

 

[JuneauMike]

I've had great luck using heated weldwood on the cabinet, let it flash. Then I spray 3M adhesive on the fabric, let flash. Then stick it and roll it. If you are nervous, add some heat, but not too much (put a towel on the cab and run an iron or just use a blow dryer over it for a bit just to activate the glue.)

 

[Axis29]

I watched a video on Youtube last week and the guy used a heat gun to get the tolex to stretch a touch. I also do a bunch of carpentry work for a marine upholstery shop and they use heat on the vinyl to get around the tight curves, or to stretch out a wrinkle here and there. Sometimes, it's the only thing that will get a flat thing to adapt to a curved (or compound curved) thing.

**EDIT** - In both cases I stated above, the folks use heat guns... carefully.

 

[Bill Moore]

When I covered my first 50's Fender style amp with tolex, I couldn't figure a way to make the bend in the chassis opening. I layed a patch down in the bend before covering. I had to slit quite a bit, but it is hardly noticeable.

I am also a fan of closing the rear of a cab with an oval opening, (produces more low end). I usually use 1/4" ply, and have no problem stretching the tolex around the opening, but I've found that a staple on the inside to keep the material tight while the adhesive is curing helps.

 

[Whatizitman]

I have just gone back to it to cut the patches to put in, and the vinyl has lifted slightly in the curve of the vent. Any ideas for how to get this to sit down and stay stuck? I don't want to lift the whole top panel and redo it, as I don't really have the time.

Practice, I guess.

I just finished my first cab build, and working with the tolex was enlightening to say the least. Tolex sticks great to bare, flat wood. To itself, not so much. Any overlapping, if not secured well enough, will leave some bubbles. I had to go back and reglue any overlapping tolex.

I do see some carefully cut areas of tolex on production amps and cabs. I purposely avoided any rounded areas on this build, figuring it would be harder. For corners I tried to cut and and not overlap edges as best as I could according to some videos I found. It proved way too hard with just a cutter. I finally had to put steel corners on, which I wasn't necessarily planning on doing.

I think it just means we need to keep making them. Practice makes perfect. It was a fun project, so I'm not against doing another.

 

[sds1]

I usually use 1/4" ply, and have no problem stretching the tolex around the opening

So do you find the curvature easier to deal with on 1/4" boards versus 1/2" or 3/4"?

So far I've done 1/2" and 3/4" and they both came out bad (needed patch).

But in Uncle Doug's tolex tutorial video he does a nice job on what I think is 1/4" board. So I was wondering if the thickness of the wood comes into play?

 

[corliss1]

Putting the patch in the corner area is the proper way to do it. Here's a 50s tweed bassman where you can see the corner patch

 

[JuneauMike]

I watched a video on Youtube last week and the guy used a heat gun to get the tolex to stretch a touch. I also do a bunch of carpentry work for a marine upholstery shop and they use heat on the vinyl to get around the tight curves, or to stretch out a wrinkle here and there. Sometimes, it's the only thing that will get a flat thing to adapt to a curved (or compound curved) thing.

**EDIT** - In both cases I stated above, the folks use heat guns... carefully.

I use the idiot's heat gun because I'm a danger to myself and others; just a blow dryer set on high. I use it on all corners and bends.

I'll lay the tweed flat on the surface squared up to its index marks and then hit the tweed side of the break with a blow dryer, you can watch it wilt toward the direction of the bend. Then when it's got some temperature in it, I gently stretch it around the corner, don't need to pull very hard. Then run the blow dryer along the edge and smooth the corner out. The material cooperates very well that way.

If I'm a novice, I'd be very wary of a heat gun. It can drive up the cost of your project pretty quickly. YMMV.

 

[JuneauMike]

Practice, I guess.

Tolex sticks great to bare, flat wood. To itself, not so much. Any overlapping, if not secured well enough, will leave some bubbles. I had to go back and reglue any overlapping tolex.

I purposely avoided any rounded areas on this build, figuring it would be harder. For corners I tried to cut and and not overlap edges as best as I could according to some videos I found. It proved way too hard with just a cutter. I finally had to put steel corners on, which I wasn't necessarily planning on doing.

This looks like a job for Uncle Doug (this guy deserves a Nobel Prize for DIY).

 

[Bill Moore]

I haven't tried 1/2", but it is much easier to stretch tolex around a 1/4" opening without a gap.
I too have problems with corners, Whatizitman, (even my "50's" cab has metal corners).
Someday I'll get the corners covered without a gap!

 

[Axis29]

Putting the patch in the corner area is the proper way to do it. Here's a 50s tweed bassman where you can see the corner patch

View attachment 511211

Tweed is different. Tweed is a woven cloth that doesn't have a lot fo stretch to it. Tolex is a plastic material that has a little bit of stretch to it.... Like the vinyl in the boat shop I mentioned.

 

[JuneauMike]

Tweed is different. Tweed is a woven cloth that doesn't have a lot fo stretch to it. Tolex is a plastic material that has a little bit of stretch to it.... Like the vinyl in the boat shop I mentioned.

Yes, but both have a pattern. Tolex generally has a discrete pattern. If you heat it excessively and pull too aggressively or unevenly you can disrupt the pattern in places and get uneven seams and swollen areas that may be a problem later. Good stuff to be cautious with if this is a first time Tolex job.

Same cautions apply to grill cloth. I've done a crappy job with that to where I could see the uneven stretch in the pattern. Afterwards, my eyes went to it automatically every time until I finally did it over.

I wouldn't trust myself to use a heat gun on any of this.

 

[Axis29]

LOL - I agree, @JuneauMike, caution is advised!

 

[sds1]

I sprayed glue on my tolex outdoors this week, it was nice working with the material just having been in the sun for a little bit. Heat definitely helps a ton. I skipped heat on the grill cloth this time and it came out fine, but I think it's important to use heat on the tolex.

 

[corliss1]

I use the patch when I do those type of corners in tolex too.

 

[Fiat_cc]

So here it is. My first cab. I'm pretty happy with it really. I used the patch method for the control panel cutout, and it looks good enough. It's the heat vent I had trouble with. I've seen real Marshall's with the heat vent, and there is no patch there. I couldn't get it to work. There's also not a lot of material to work with since you've only got the slut down the middle of the vent and it leaves little margin for error. I tried to patch here, and the patches look ok, but the main part of the tolex keeps lifting off the contact adhesive. Can I use super glue, or PVA, or should I try to force a bit of contact adhesive into the gap? Currently the name plate glue is drying, but once that's done, I'll take a close up of the area.

 

[Fiat_cc]

Here are the lifted bits I need to restick. Any ideas on the best glue, and how to get it to stay in place? If I'd done it right the first time it wouldn't be an issue, but I don't have time time to redo the whole thing as I need to give it to my dad for his birthday.

 

[JuneauMike]

Hmm. Localized repair. I'd probably just use super glue to nail it down and then fashion something with weight to hold it in place momentarily (maybe a baseball). Its hard to get the tolex glue in that area without slopping it all over the place.

But that's a new one on me. So if you get any other advice below mine, just ignore my suggestion.

 

[flyswatter]

Agreed with JuneauMike.

For those hard to stick down bits, a little CA (Super Glue) can do the trick as long as you paintbrush it carefully under the seam and don't squeeze it directly from the tube. Wipe off any excess or drips immediately or it will dry into a white crust. The CA works better from those little corner and seam lifts, because you can't get contact cement onto both surfaces, and any other glue is going to take so long to dry that the piece will lift and you'll be back where you started.