I need help wrapping my 8x10 ampeg with tolex. The cab is just sanded down wood so it's already good to go. I actually just wrapped a Mesa guitar cab myself and I have all the tools and tolex. Wrapping the ampeg seems much harder because of the angles so if anyone has done this before please help with any tips! Oh
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How to wrap an 8x10 ampeg with tolex. Please help!
- Thread starter Anissa
- Start date
Personally, I'd find a Line-X truck bed liner place and have them spray the Line-X on the cabinet. We had a bunch of monitors and subs covered and it's held up amazingly well. If you are looking to keep the cabinet like original, this might not be the best idea, but I keep things until they fall apart, so that's not a concern for me.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Hi.
Welcome to TalkBass Anissa.
It's been a sweet while since I re-covered a cab (2 decades or so), but two things come to mind.
#1 If in doubt or if the material is expensive as it usually is, cut a template first.
#2 "Cheat", = overlap and cut trough.
Kudos for sticking with tolex
.
Regards
Sam
Welcome to TalkBass Anissa.
It's been a sweet while since I re-covered a cab (2 decades or so), but two things come to mind.
#1 If in doubt or if the material is expensive as it usually is, cut a template first.
#2 "Cheat", = overlap and cut trough.
Kudos for sticking with tolex
.Regards
Sam
Link Removed
I'm to rough on the gear for tolex... so just in case you are inclined, these guys have a nice sample sized kit. Probably need 2 or 3 for your project.
I'm to rough on the gear for tolex... so just in case you are inclined, these guys have a nice sample sized kit. Probably need 2 or 3 for your project.
There have been some good how to threads posted here. I did a quick search on TalkBass (I'm on the road), and couldn't locate the one in particular that I was looking for that went into great detail. Worth reviewing the various threads here and on youtube.
If you are using vinyl such as Marshall Black Levant (about 56" wide), you can do it with 4 or 5 yards, depending on how many seams you want. You will need two yards of grille cloth. There are different ways to lay out the vinyl. Take a look in a music store at how Loud covers their cabs. They minimize the amount of vinyl used with separate pieces on the sides. You can use one piece to wrap around the top, sides and bottom, then a piece on the back. It looks neater with less seams. With less vinyl you can wrap the top, sides and have an insert with two seams on the bottom, and then a piece for the back. http://www.talkbass.com/threads/trying-to-figure-out-how-much-tolex-i-need.834639/#post-11883590
With bottom seams, if you position them near the left or right edge, the metal corner will cover the seam when you look at it from the front. A nice way to do it.
There are also different ways to do the seams. Ampeg does an overlap which gives you a bit of a bump. A better way to do it is to butt joint the vinyl. You overlay the two pieces, cut through both pieces of vinyl, then remove the piece underneath. The two pieces of vinyl lie flat with the seam mating. It looks a lot neater. I use kitchen parchment paper on the glue to prevent the vinyl from sticking down before you make your cut. Seeing some pics helps make this easier to understand but it does take a little more skill. You can see demos of tolex butt joints on youtube.
If you are using vinyl such as Marshall Black Levant (about 56" wide), you can do it with 4 or 5 yards, depending on how many seams you want. You will need two yards of grille cloth. There are different ways to lay out the vinyl. Take a look in a music store at how Loud covers their cabs. They minimize the amount of vinyl used with separate pieces on the sides. You can use one piece to wrap around the top, sides and bottom, then a piece on the back. It looks neater with less seams. With less vinyl you can wrap the top, sides and have an insert with two seams on the bottom, and then a piece for the back. http://www.talkbass.com/threads/trying-to-figure-out-how-much-tolex-i-need.834639/#post-11883590
With bottom seams, if you position them near the left or right edge, the metal corner will cover the seam when you look at it from the front. A nice way to do it.
There are also different ways to do the seams. Ampeg does an overlap which gives you a bit of a bump. A better way to do it is to butt joint the vinyl. You overlay the two pieces, cut through both pieces of vinyl, then remove the piece underneath. The two pieces of vinyl lie flat with the seam mating. It looks a lot neater. I use kitchen parchment paper on the glue to prevent the vinyl from sticking down before you make your cut. Seeing some pics helps make this easier to understand but it does take a little more skill. You can see demos of tolex butt joints on youtube.
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Mine went from this:
to this:
Using the Duratex paint. Much easier than Tolex, and much easier to touch up. A gallon costs $55.00.
The refinish thread is here:
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/svt810e-refinish.1079427/
to this:
Using the Duratex paint. Much easier than Tolex, and much easier to touch up. A gallon costs $55.00.
The refinish thread is here:
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/svt810e-refinish.1079427/
Interesting, I never knew the company was in my town (and about 4 blocks from Jaco Pastorius park too!) I guess I should give that stuff a try sometime.
As for the OP's question, I use the old covering as a guide for where to cut. I lay the cabinet on the glue side of the tolex and draw lines where it will line up with the edges, then lay down a coat of contact cement on both pieces and wait for it to skin over. I lay a couple of small sticks of scrap wood (1/2" square) across the tolex and put the cabinet on top to line up the marks I made with the edges of the cabinet. Lift the cab slightly and remove the sticks one at a time while keeping the material taught to avoid the dreaded wrinkle of death. Repeat for the other 3 sides then move to the back and front.
For what it's worth, I don't waste much time sanding off the old glue, the texture of good tolex will hide minor roughness underneath. With dark tolex, I like to lay down a coat of black paint on the edges where impacts are likely - it will be less noticeable if the covering gets torn.
Here's a little guitar combo I re-covered last year:
It looked like this when I bought it:
