Retolexing a cab.

[Stanley Design]

I need a how to. Google isn't being much help and to my surprise the search here is only showing finished products and no walk throughs. I just picked up an SVT410HLF for 250 bucks and want to make it blonde. Link Removed is where I'll be getting it from, what I need help with is how to do the corners neatly and around the towelrack etc. Any advice would be appreciated. I read on here that a water based spray on contact cement would work best for the adhesive. Thanks.

 

[Crescent Seven]

It's not as tough as it seems. I've done a few and the biggest issue I had was that I did it on the floor and burned out my back. Step by step:
-Get a sturdy table to work on, I cannot stress this more, and put it in a place that you can walk all the way around it. Working on the floor is a pain in the ass and you'll have a backache when you're done guaranteed.
-Measure and cut the baffle piece, and set it aside.
-When you cut the width of the tolex, leave yourself ample surplus. You don't want to come up short. Lay the tolex down on the table and put the cab on it, bottom side up, with the cab positioned so that the straight edge is on the baffle side of the cab, and position the cab so that if you wrap the edge around the lip of the cab, it's flush with the baffle. This eliminates having to trim excess tolex when you wrap the lip.
-Cut the tolex to the length of the circumference of the cab plus about 6", and staple the start of the tolex down about 2" from the corner on the bottom. Apply the glue, then stretch it gently, smoothing out the bubbles all the way to the corner (a rolling pin works great for this), and allow to dry. I put a board and some weights on it to hold it in place while the glue dries, but if you use contact cement you shouldn't need to. Turn the cab and repeat until you're all the way around, and glue to the edge. Make sure with each rotation that your lip flap is still straight. Make a cut on each corner, diagonally, all the way to the corner of the cab. Overlap the two ends and cut with a straightedge through both pieces for a clean seam.
-Cut the piece for the back the same size as the entire back of the cab and glue it in place leaving about a 3" border that's not glued down.
-When you fold over the flap of tolex, use tacks or double sided tape to hold it down, overlapping the back piece. Then use a long straightedge and slice through BOTH pieces of tolex, about 2" from the edge of the cab. This will give you a perfect seam every time. Do this for all 4 edges, making sure the corners of your seam match up. After you've made your cuts, glue down the seam flaps.
-Fold the tolex over the lip, and cement it down to both the front edge of the lip and the inside edge. If you don't use contact cement, you can take a strip of 1x2 cut to the length of the inside of the lip, and hold it in place with some C-clamps until the glue dries. I like to start with the bottom lip first because there is an additional seam to match up since there's a flap.
-Glue on the baffle piece at this point.
If you have any other questions, PM me, I'm glad to help!
C7

 

[Tactician]

+1

Try using a couple of glues on spare wood/tolex to try them out and get confident that you'll know what to expect when everything is gluey and tacky. Learning this live on the real thing is stressful (I've done it - trust me). I used a contact adhesive on one surface - but that wasn't really enough although I got away with it. Both the tolex and wood surface should have been covered. But this is expensive (you'll be surprised at how much you get to use) and very messy. I was also advised to try using PVA glue (cleaner and water soluble) and that would have been OK on one surface so long as it didn't all soak in to the wood - you might want to seal the wood with a coat before applying a second coat of PVA before sticking the tolex to it. But try a couple of methods on some scrap before you start for real so you'll know what to expect.

Agree also with Crescent - get it off the floor if you can - but using a big floor space is handy - but you will have serious back ache for certain this way.

Take a look at a few cabs - you'll see they put the top, bottom and sides on in one piece with the join at the bottom and fold in the edges around the front and back. You'll find that the tolex is quite flexable and will kinda bend around the corners if you cut it carefully to butt it up, edge to edge, over each corner. If you use 24 hour PVA you won't have to rush this, take your time. If you cock it up you can always use corner protectors in black plastic or chrome to cover the edges. Stick the back and the baffle on last to cover the side edges. Make sure the raw edges are well stuck down - you might have to do this again with a stronger glue. Clean off all excess glue as you go and then have a final clean up with glue solvent, whatever. at the end. Takes time; but quite easy.

 

[62bass]

I once did about a dozen beat up large speaker cabinets with tolex and all the above points are valid. If using contact cement, use the latex, water based stuff. The fumes on the solvent based contact cement will knock you over and are very hard on the liver. Remember, contact cement grabs instantly and you don't get any second chance, so practice on scrap first.

I've also used a craft glue, called Weldbond, which is a water based glue but different from carpenter's glue, and it needs to be held in place until it sets up, usually about 15 minutes. It's very strong when dried and will stand up better than contact cement. You can find it in up to 1 gallon sizes in some home center stores. It's fairly inexpensive and works better than carpenter's glue. Stays a little more flexible when dried.

It's also a good idea to clean any old glue off the cabinets by sanding before you start. Any glue will work better if you do.

And yes, get the cabinet up off the floor when you work and get a helper if you can. I didn't and I couldn't walk for days after. Of course, that was about a full day's work with all those cabinets. But even one can be a fair bit of work.

 

[gotbass1228]

Do not do it. Strip it of all tolex, unscrew everything and go buy some Rhino's truck-bed-liner and give it a few coats.

 

[Tactician]

I think this guy might have finished this job by now unless he's like me and put things off. I must cover some cabs that have been in the garage for a year. Even I haven't managed to leave a cab covering job more than two years.

Anyway. There are some specialist paints for doing cabs now. Easier to get one of those. I still think chrome corners and tolex still looks the best - whatever color. Painted cabs still have the feeling of a charity outdoor fair about them. But that's just me.