Grill (grille) cloth over mesh? Redoing some cabs...

[rojo412]

Okay, so here's the plan...

I have an SWR Henry Jr and an Avatar B212 that are about to be a rig together. And just for gits and shiggles, I want to make their grilles look different than they currently do. The SWR is kinda beat, the Avatar is fine, but I want to sauce things up a bit.

I figure I have a few options. I was considering painting them, but didn't really feel that it would stand out enough, plus they'd probably come out terrible (I suck at painting).

So my next thought was stretching some cloth over the existing grille and just doing a ghetto-style "Pimp my Cab". Just wondering what I should be on the lookout for when it comes to grille cloth material. I'm looking for color options and I am looking cheap.

I'm guessing 3rd option is building a frame that would have the grille attached and velcro it in place, but I'd still need to know what cloth to use.

Any thoughts? Personal experiences? Pics?!?

[Floridabwoy]

$30 grill cloth from the vintage sound.
$ 1 flat black spray paint
$ 3 industrial velcro
$ 1 scrap wood (mounting area for velcro)
$ 3 piece of 1/4 fiber board
$ 2 Staples

From this



to this

[BassmanPaul]

Don't stretch fabric over a metal grille. You'll never get rid of the flapping. A wooden frame is the way to go leaving the metal grille off.

[Bassdirty]

I can't remember the thread, but someone here did a few GK Cabs (I wanna say 112s..but I could be lying)..

I think he went over the existing metal grille and used some sticky stuff to keep it from flapping?

Someones got to have seen them..


Who knows , maybe it was a dream?..?..




.

[rojo412]

I'm not opposed to building a frame even, but I don't want to use grill cloth, if possible. Seems kind of pricey. Anyone have a better fabric suggestion?

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by rojo412

I'm not opposed to building a frame even, but I don't want to use grill cloth, if possible. Seems kind of pricey. Anyone have a better fabric suggestion?

This "pet screen" makes excellent grill cloth in many colors...



I used it on my fEARful 15/6, and it works great!

[rojo412]

Now THAT'S what I'm thinking!

I'm assuming Lowes or Pet Supplies Plus might even have stuff like that, right?

OH, BTW...
Issue with frame on this one... the speakers go right to the edges.



Going to Lowes and maybe the fabric store.

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by rojo412

Now THAT'S what I'm thinking!

I'm assuming Lowes or Pet Supplies Plus might even have stuff like that, right?

Not sure. The company I linked to that makes the material sells it pretty cheap.

If you just want black you can get it cheap here too.

[rojo412]

Well, I actually flipped the script for the moment...

I decided to try just painting the existing grille material. As I said, the frame design (on this cab) limits me to just using bent metal, for the most part.
I was going to get some screen material (shiny silver aluminum) and attach it to the black grating... but that seemed stupid.
The fiberglass mesh could have worked, too, but same thing.

So I found a can of Rustoleum Hammered finish in Ivory ($2.70 on clearance) and some new hardware (2.00 or so) and I'm going to see how that turns out.

Worst case, I am going to spray it black again.

[Ursus Tyrannus]

Heres some thing.
I don't remember how much the round metal screens were (I put them on 20 years ago) maybe $20-25 each. Not so cheap but the silver spray paint and glow-in-the-dark Star Trek stickers certainly were. The green glitter I mixed in with glue and applied with a brush were hanging around the house.



I painted the tolex metal flake emerald. DO NOT SPRAY PAINT TOLEX! ...it took 15 years to dry! Now its only sticky on hot humid days.



Around the same time I also bought a scarf from the womens department at K-Mart for about $10 bucks and stapled to the original frame. I would change between looks for the cab depending on my mood or the gig.



*edit* I noticed after posting my cat jumping on the cab as I took the pic.

[BillyIVbass]

Originally Posted by Ursus Tyrannus

Heres some thing.
I don't remember how much the round metal screens were (I put them on 20 years ago) maybe $20-25 each. Not so cheap but the silver spray paint and glow-in-the-dark Star Trek stickers certainly were. The green glitter I mixed in with glue and applied with a brush were hanging around the house.



I painted the tolex metal flake emerald. DO NOT SPRAY PAINT TOLEX! ...it took 15 years to dry! Now its only sticky on hot humid days.



Around the same time I also bought a scarf from the womens department at K-Mart for about $10 bucks and stapled to the original frame. I would change between looks for the cab depending on my mood or the gig.



*edit* I noticed after posting my cat jumping on the cab as I took the pic.

hah that cat shot is hilarious! Also cool idea with the scarf.

I'd suggest, taking off your current grill and building a frame that Velcros on/off. Lowe's has a decent selection of pre-cut would that would work well. That way if you choose to sell, your grill breaks or looks hideous you can always go back to square one.

[mello_bedwetter]

I got a metal grill from the custom grill store that advertises on this site...I guess it's on the TB home page sometimes. The grill itself was very reasonable but they kill you on the shipping.

[rojo412]

I have seen that ad, but never needed to click it until now.

Okay, so here's the result of the paint:

BEFORE



AFTER



It's a pearl-ivory-textured finish. Looks AWESOME!!!



I will make an attempt on a cloth grille soon, though.

[rojo412]

On a related note, where does one acquire "Piping" for the edges? Same places?

[Energy]

Originally Posted by BassmanPaul

Don't stretch fabric over a metal grille. You'll never get rid of the flapping. A wooden frame is the way to go leaving the metal grille off.

You have to glue the fabric to the metal grille. That's what I did.

[Floridabwoy]

Originally Posted by Energy

You have to glue the fabric to the metal grille. That's what I did.

That actually looks really good. I made a baffle because I thought it might look bad... hmmm....

[Robby Hoinsky]

A super cheap, colorful grille cloth would be to go down to joann fabric and have someone lead you through the maze of fabric to 'jet set fabric' it is 100% polyester, very stretchy, and $3.99/yd. Comes in a lot of sharp colors. It is very thin, but is surprisingly durable when stretched tight. It will still tear, but I have several projects that use them and they're still holding up.

The red in the background of this pic is actually acoustic panels I made and wrapped in red jet set.



Robby

[rojo412]

Some very cool looking stuff there! I'm thinking a trip is in order...