Remember when "rat fur" cabinets were the latest thing?

[azureblue]

LOL my rat fur memory - guitar player's cat peed on his rat fur cabinet so not so smart guitar player doused the cabinet with Brut cologne. And brought it to practice. Even after 6 months of gigs, it still reeked.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

I hate the stuff. Sucked up the smell of cigarettes from the bar, dog and cat hair stuck to them like glue, etc. etc. etc.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

 

[ToneMonkey]

So what is an option when the fur is damaged or unsightly, stripping and staining the wood, Tolexing, or just leave it nasty?

Or this...
View attachment 4397916
:Ol

I'm telling ya, I tried that sort of thing... A disposable razor works 1000x better. For about $1.

 

[bassically_eli]

I owned an Eden EX112 sort of briefly, and I actually didn't mind the rat fur on that. Maybe it doesnt look as bad on a small cab? I kind of liked being able to Velcro things directly to the cab too. Of course, I didn't use it long enough to put any significant wear and tear on it. I don't know how it would've looked after a few years of gigging

 

[dalkowski]

"were?!?"

 

[Yellow Bang66]

Yup, but hey, yeah, I go all the way back to "tuck'n'roll". First band guitarist had one of these:

View attachment 4397781

(and talk about a wear maintenance nightmare - they don't look so cool patched with electrician's tape all over).

Me too, 2 guitarist Metal band, older guy had 1 we thought it was silly but cool,looked like a bar booth. other guy saved his money for a roland jazz chorus! Ihad a Yamaha cover in tolex, just one trip to the studio & back. it got scuffed right in the middle, Front! fingernail sized scar! tried gluing back but still visible! it got rippedrto shreds along the bottom edges! Swore to never buy tolex if there was a choice! My old work friend made bass tubes for cars, told me to stay away from rat fur, My last cab ( 2-12, avatar) had the option to spray duraliner for $40 more. work friend said it was a good deal, Love it lasts long & its tough! Looks great, so glad i listened! I was on the fence, cause it was already quite expen$ive! but it was worth it! work friend showed me how dirty Rat fur got on his car cab& is now coating them with bedliner!

 

[SturmUndDrang]

“From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee.“

Strange coincidence of the day, my new primary care doctor's name is Khan!

 

[agedhorse]

I'm a tolex type through and through, but you're right that it can get scuffed and badly torn if you don't take care of it and use covers when toting it. But I will agree with you about rat fur...read on

I know this will make @hasbeen smile...I've owned a handful of rat-fur covered gear, and it does hold up exceedingly well under less than ideal conditions. One of those pieces is an old Tube Works 410T I bought off Dave LaRue that I believe was made under Jeff G's, Roger's, and Andy's auspices (Tube Works morphed into Genz Benz at some point).

It's covered in gray rat fur, and not only did Dave use the heck out of it the first few years he joined up with Steve Morse, but I toted it for another 10 years in a trailer to gigs, and all that's happened to it is the grill has some scratching and it lost the name plate, and the rat fur has a couple minor tears. Plus they had the good sense to use a grayish color that didn't show the dirt like black.

There are different grades of Rat fur just like there are different grades of Vinyl.

We used a very high grade of carpet covering at Genz Benz, as well as the cabinets we built for TubeWorks. What really gave
Carpet coverings a bad name was the low quality, inexpensive material used to save cost.

Dr Bass "claims" to be the first in 2003, but there are still a bunch of customers that were claimed to be delivered cabs, still waiting.

Genz Benz offered real brand name Linex (a catalyzed 2 part process) in the 1990’s, mostly on pro audio cabinets but also available on bass cabinets. I have some of these here at my shop. By 2003, we were quite experienced with the process.

 

[JimmyM]

I have played a number of outdoor gigs and the pine needles stick to this like crazy, so this may not be the gray that you refer to.
View attachment 4399021

Nope, lots more black in with the white.

 

[DwaynieAD]

I had an ex-bandmate who was a smoker and used to put his cigarettes out on his rat fur covered cabs

Needless to say, they always smelled great and looked amazing...

On some level I have a modicum of respect for someone who realizes these things are to be used and not put on pedestals. He obviously is gross and extreme but....

 

[Jim C]

There are different grades of Rat fur just like there are different grades of Vinyl.

We used a very high grade of carpet covering at Genz Benz, as well as the cabinets we built for TubeWorks. What really gave
Carpet coverings a bad name was the low quality, inexpensive material used to save cost.

This!
I have 2 GB NeoX cabs and a Bergantino cabinet and all 3 have held up very well.
One of the GB cabs (bought very used and for cheap) was beat to death and the covering is still in pretty good shape all things considered.
A shop vac and Spray 9 keeps them looking good.

Never could understand how all the Kustom heads I've ever seen (and one I owned) all had cigarette burns on them.
And even the low budget Peavey amps with Tolex from the 70's have held up very well.

 

[agedhorse]

Peavey used a very robust vinyl covering for several decades. Like carpet, vinyl comes in different grades and there are some that are in fact brand names.

The origins of the carpet and vinyl coverings come directly from the automotive industry, the carpet materials were used to cover trunk deck areas and similar surfaces. The vinyls were used in upholstery and especially the vinyl tops (which I think was the grade that Peavey used to use, a good quality material). Ozite and Tolex are brand names for these materials, there are others too.

 

[jeff7bass]

Rat fur got less popular because it soaked up all the smoke in the bar and made cabs stink bad! Now that indoor smoking has been banned, rat fur is not a bad feature because it is durable and cheap.

 

[Doner Designs]

Markbass still uses it

 

[Analogeezer]

I will go out on a limb and say that rat fur was used for cost-cutting.

I suspect you are correct, beyond the cost of the material I imagine it is easier to apply (at a factory) and more forgiving to apply as well. It's probably a bitch to do correctly as a homemade thing but in a factory setting it did not show flaws in the application as well as tolex did.

Thread drift has taken this far from where we started; I'm not dogging rat fur cabinets, if you own one don't be insulted, hell as I pointed out I own all total SEVEN of them (one is a guitar cabinet).

The point was the promise of rat fur for durability, funny how some people talk about how great theirs have been but follow it up with their sessions of electric razor trimming, duct tape sessions (hint, use gaffer tape, it's a lot less sticky but still works LOL), lint rollers, etc. Sure that's just maintenance I guess

All total (not counting PA cabinets, PA Monitor cabinets - hell four of those have rat fur, and studio monitors) I own ten cabinets (two are homemade) and seven of them have rat fur.....that's 70% of the cabinets I own but given the timeframe(s) of when I bought them (late 90's) it makes sense.

Analogeezer

p.s. In terms of the aesthetic, or the reality of perceived durability, etc. it seems the market has spoken. I had forgotten about MarkBass and a handful of others but these days you have to go out of your way to purchase a cabinet or amp covered with the stuff

p.s.s. One thing I will grant you rat fur excels at though is "edge dings", Tolex is fairly susceptible to damage on the edges of the covering whereas rat fur just shrugs it off. Even if the underlying wood gets dented the rat fur hides that, unlike Tolex which showcases an obvious mark

 

[bigtone23]

Markbass still uses it

My CMD121P has it!

I had a Genz Benz 210XB in the 90s with Rat Fur. It held up well. My SWR Workingman's 12 combo didn't do as well since it was inside with the cats.

 

[frankie5string]

Ozite and Tolex are brand names for these materials, there are others too.

Now I remember where I heard the term Ozite... Yorkville advertised it for their PA cabinets. As kids playing in bands, we kept seeing references to it because you didn't need gloves to carry the speakers around - durable but softer so it didn't burn your hands when you carried the cabinets around.

 

[Milo Spleen]

The origins of the carpet and vinyl coverings come directly from the automotive industry, the carpet materials were used to cover trunk deck areas and similar surfaces

Also in the marine industry. I wrapped many a v-berth wall with carpet and contact cement (before we knew about Spray 90). There is lightweight carpet used as a wallcovering in theaters for it's smoke/burn ratings. It's been around for a long time.

 

[agedhorse]

Also in the marine industry. I wrapped many a v-berth wall with carpet and contact cement (before we knew about Spray 90). There is lightweight carpet used as a wallcovering in theaters for it's smoke/burn ratings. It's been around for a long time.

Yes, don’t forget Super 77 also,

The acoustic carpet used in theatres and other spaces carries a specific flame spread rating for vertical surfaces, something different than carpet used for floors.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

The acoustic carpet used in theatres and other spaces carries a specific flame spread rating for vertical surfaces, something different than carpet used for floors.

And then there's aviation... Super durable and smoke rated.