I prefer "rat fur" under Tolex, not over it.
In all honesty I prefer DuraTex.
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Does anyone else prefer Rat Fur over Tolex?
- Thread starter Jugghaid
- Start date
In all honesty I prefer DuraTex.
I have animals, and rat fur + cat fur love to be friends, so tolex for me. Hardwoods work too.
I can use a sweater shaver to tidy up my rat fur cabs...
BBB
BBB
My only fear is of the guy who invented "rat fur" coming up with another so-called great idea.
Rat fur gives me 80s/90s vibes. Perfect for the $5000 stereo in your $500 car.
+1 on disliking fuzzy cabinets. I'll take Tolex, liner, etc. any day. Easy to clean (especially beer spills), doesn't get smelly, doesn't trap allergens... I'm glad "rat fur" is not as much a thing any more. Rat fur would be a nightmare at a punk show. If beer spills on it, you need some carpet cleaner to get the stain and smell out, and how many people carry Woolite in their gig bags? Plus, by the time I get home from a gig to put some rug shampoo on a rat fur cab, the beer stain's already seeped in, I'm probably too dead tired to clean after dragging my carcass home after a show... so my rat fur amp will stink like stale skunky piss-beer stained frat house couch.
With Tolex or something like that, I could easily rip off my shirt and wipe off the spilled beer.
And I also think that tuck 'n roll needs to make a comeback. Being a Jersey guy who's all about "shiny diners," tuck 'n roll makes perfect sense to me. Ain't nothing finer than some post-gig grub at a 'Jersey diner
With Tolex or something like that, I could easily rip off my shirt and wipe off the spilled beer.
And I also think that tuck 'n roll needs to make a comeback. Being a Jersey guy who's all about "shiny diners," tuck 'n roll makes perfect sense to me. Ain't nothing finer than some post-gig grub at a 'Jersey diner
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Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
If I can't have outrageous purple sparkle Tuck-N-Roll, then my preference in order is:
Duratex
Tolex
rat fur
Duratex is absolutely indestructible in my experience. I like it so much that I have used it on plywood surfaces in the basement. Yeah, it's expensive, but it will survive nuclear war and then nuclear winter.
Tolex gets dinged up in time, but I don't routinely beat the living crap out of my gear. I'm not sure how many gigs I have on any given piece of equipment with Tolex, but aside from some small issues, it's holding up well.
Rat fur is a royal pain. Everything sticks to it. It smells funny in time if there's any smoke/animals/dirty hippies/scented hippies around. Once it's managed to stick to every pine needle, dust bunny, and cigarette ash that it encounters, it keeps them forever. I have PA speakers covered in rat fur. One of these days when I have nothing but time and money to spend solving problems that probably don't need to be solved, all rat fur will be torn off and replaced by Duratex. I might even do the same with a few select Tolex covered bits and pieces.
Duratex
Tolex
rat fur
Duratex is absolutely indestructible in my experience. I like it so much that I have used it on plywood surfaces in the basement. Yeah, it's expensive, but it will survive nuclear war and then nuclear winter.
Tolex gets dinged up in time, but I don't routinely beat the living crap out of my gear. I'm not sure how many gigs I have on any given piece of equipment with Tolex, but aside from some small issues, it's holding up well.
Rat fur is a royal pain. Everything sticks to it. It smells funny in time if there's any smoke/animals/dirty hippies/scented hippies around. Once it's managed to stick to every pine needle, dust bunny, and cigarette ash that it encounters, it keeps them forever. I have PA speakers covered in rat fur. One of these days when I have nothing but time and money to spend solving problems that probably don't need to be solved, all rat fur will be torn off and replaced by Duratex. I might even do the same with a few select Tolex covered bits and pieces.
Duratex for me. But ****** it's expensive. I wish I knew the secret of what generic black paint would work as well, and came in really small quantities. Rust-Oleum is too gummy.
They all have their benefits and drawbacks. And honestly, thinking of them all at once, I'd have to say I kinda don't look at any of them overly fondly, nor preferred...
- Tolex is less likely to stink. But hit something sharp against it and you have the beginnings of a tear.
And if you've ever bought an incredibly low priced Peavey amp/cab from the 80s/90s that is tear free, but lived in a garage or basement... you know that no level of toothbrush-scrubbing-with-soapy-water will EVER remove the dinge from it. You can get it okay for a minute, you can gloss it up with Armorall or mineral oil or tire shine... but it will hold onto dirt in those crevices for eternity.
- Rat fur is the preferred claw sharpening material of cats worldwide (I purposely don't have a cat, by the way). Many a decent cab has been really turned uggo by that fact. And that's if they were lucky enough to ONLY be used as a scratching post and not a litter box.
You can actually use clippers to smooth it out. I've given my cabs a bit of barbershop treatment to help not look nearly as bad.
If you have a cab with clean rat fur that has avoided Mr. Whiskers, you would only truly be lucky if it also lived a clean life. Because in a jam spot where people smoke, use incense, spill beer, or exude sweat, there is a possibility of being funky for life. And not in a way that gets people on the dance floor.
- Rolled on finish (not sure if they are all Duratex or even if that is what GK uses on the 2nd gen MB210 combo, but that is what I have for comparison) would be removing 2 of the issues above:
1) It doesn't get a tear in it which is unlikely to hold glue well enough for repair like tolex;
2) It doesn't attract murder mittens, nor does it hold onto stank, as the rat fur tends to.
But... it's NOT super durable. Or at least my GK is easily dinged and it shows.
That said, I don't mind using a sharpie or some nail polish to hide it in a pinch. I wouldn't buy a can of it for touchups, but if I had to redo any cab with anything from scratch, I think this method would be the easiest one to manage. I have painted cabs with house paint (it was cheap and the end result was good enough, like the car interior overhaul in Pulp Fiction), the process was comparably simple.
I've attempted fabric work on cabs and it's a nightmare.
For me, cabs (cases, heads, racks, etc) with these options don't really play into my choice if the price is compelling. And I see all of them as "wear items" to some degree, as they do move around and get worn from it. So if it's structurally sound, not reeking in a way that can't be fixed, makes proper noise, and comes in where my budget finds it acceptable... I'll get it.
- Tolex is less likely to stink. But hit something sharp against it and you have the beginnings of a tear.
And if you've ever bought an incredibly low priced Peavey amp/cab from the 80s/90s that is tear free, but lived in a garage or basement... you know that no level of toothbrush-scrubbing-with-soapy-water will EVER remove the dinge from it. You can get it okay for a minute, you can gloss it up with Armorall or mineral oil or tire shine... but it will hold onto dirt in those crevices for eternity.
- Rat fur is the preferred claw sharpening material of cats worldwide (I purposely don't have a cat, by the way). Many a decent cab has been really turned uggo by that fact. And that's if they were lucky enough to ONLY be used as a scratching post and not a litter box.
You can actually use clippers to smooth it out. I've given my cabs a bit of barbershop treatment to help not look nearly as bad.
If you have a cab with clean rat fur that has avoided Mr. Whiskers, you would only truly be lucky if it also lived a clean life. Because in a jam spot where people smoke, use incense, spill beer, or exude sweat, there is a possibility of being funky for life. And not in a way that gets people on the dance floor.
- Rolled on finish (not sure if they are all Duratex or even if that is what GK uses on the 2nd gen MB210 combo, but that is what I have for comparison) would be removing 2 of the issues above:
1) It doesn't get a tear in it which is unlikely to hold glue well enough for repair like tolex;
2) It doesn't attract murder mittens, nor does it hold onto stank, as the rat fur tends to.
But... it's NOT super durable. Or at least my GK is easily dinged and it shows.
That said, I don't mind using a sharpie or some nail polish to hide it in a pinch. I wouldn't buy a can of it for touchups, but if I had to redo any cab with anything from scratch, I think this method would be the easiest one to manage. I have painted cabs with house paint (it was cheap and the end result was good enough, like the car interior overhaul in Pulp Fiction), the process was comparably simple.
I've attempted fabric work on cabs and it's a nightmare.
For me, cabs (cases, heads, racks, etc) with these options don't really play into my choice if the price is compelling. And I see all of them as "wear items" to some degree, as they do move around and get worn from it. So if it's structurally sound, not reeking in a way that can't be fixed, makes proper noise, and comes in where my budget finds it acceptable... I'll get it.
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
Rat fur. I had a tolex cab once. The minute you ding/dent/tear it, it looks horrible. Once I got proper covers for my rat fur cabs, my cats never bothered them again. Not once has any of my cats ever peed on my cabs either. If your cat is doing that, they're telling you their litter box is in horrible shape, or that they're sick!
Thankfully, smoking indoors was outlawed here in 2007 (should have been much earlier but I digress) so I haven't had to worry about that smell on my basses or cabs in almost 20 years, but I did hate having to air out the cabs for days to get that smell out.
Thankfully, smoking indoors was outlawed here in 2007 (should have been much earlier but I digress) so I haven't had to worry about that smell on my basses or cabs in almost 20 years, but I did hate having to air out the cabs for days to get that smell out.
I used to gig with a Cerwin Vega B36MF. It was pretty close to the size of a stove, but taller and heavier. It survived many a load in and load out, even 6 inches of water in the basement and still looked great when I sold it . My Ampeg combo is smaller and has a cover. But the tissue paper tolex will probably look like crap before I'm through with it
I don't mind minor wear on tolex. My lighter cabs survived lots gigs with minimal damage.
My 50# plywood 115 cabs have a lot of superficial wear but no structural damage at all. They are pretty much retired now.
My rat fur sub for my key rig is a pain, always covered in dog hair and druff /straw/whatever
My 50# plywood 115 cabs have a lot of superficial wear but no structural damage at all. They are pretty much retired now.
My rat fur sub for my key rig is a pain, always covered in dog hair and druff /straw/whatever
Definitely tuck&roll Naugahyde for me!
It's surprising how many of them are still in really good shape after 55+ years
It's surprising how many of them are still in really good shape after 55+ years
I believe Naugas have been on the endangered species list for several decades now, so it won't be making a comeback any time soon! ;-)
I have some vintage rat fur that are still presentable 20 years later. That said, I also agree with you that if I was not gigging as much, I'd rater have Rolex.
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