I'm ready to put on some grill cloth and I was wondering if anyone has tips. I plan to use contact cement (i already tried a sample piece on plywood and it stuck pretty good).
Any tips on how to make sure its tight, straight and secured. I'm sure it'll come out allright but any tips would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Usually, it's folded arounf the edges of the front panel, or speaker baffle and stapled.
Sometimes it's folded around so that a inch or so can be stapled to the rear of the panel. .
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I wouldn't cement it. It'd be hell to replace if the cat peed on it...ya know!
Just wrap and staple.
If, at first you don't succeed, don't try skydiving.
Two leaps per chasm is fatal!
With great difficulty is the short answer.
I've done it three times and it only worked once and then by accident.
Folding and stapling sounds so simple, but in fact it's tough - as is cutting Fender grille cloth without blunting several pairs of scissors.
Corners fray where they have been folded, the cloth bunches etc etc.
I would not glue either - I was tempted to once and all it did was to mess up my trying to get the weave pattern straight.
Keeping tension on all the time is a key element... my best advice - it's either a two-person job or else get a pro to do it.
I did it years ago on my Super Reverb. Here's how I did it:
I started by putting one staple at the top (the back of the top, actually). Then I stretched it straight down & put another staple on the bottom. Then I put one on the left side, & one on the right. That will provide the tension that harrycat mentioned. So then I had four staples all around, one in the middle of each edge. From there I put staples between those staples, & so on & so forth until there were staples about every inch. It's just like stretching a canvas. Make sure the grillcloth overlaps & is stapled onthe rear of the panel like NeoFauve said.
How to regrill?
What kind of amp?
The baffles are different.
Do not use glue.
Staple as per factory.
every one i've seen has been stapled. but i have heard of people using that 3m spray glue for both the vinal and grill cloth
, but they probley do it every day and got it to a art
Very few amp designs use glue. Most, like old fenders, don't have naywhere to hold the glue or grill cloth.
Glue is actually not a good idea for a number of reasons. First, it wont hold under tension, second, there's not enough edge to hold it, third, what a pain in the ass to use. A big waste of time for something that will probably not hold, will be fucked up for when you need to try to fix it.
Wht bother? It's just plain stupid for most amps.
I ended up scrappin the new silver cloth I bought and used the original black stuff that I had so gingerly removed. (thank god)
But i had tried the glue (cause that's what was on the original) and the cloth pattern kept gettin' screwwwwweeewwd!!
But i whenever i get around to it I should post some pics of the amp.
With all due respect_john,
You're an idiot.
Jeez, lighten up! It's just the Internet. If somebody wants to ask advice & then blunder ahead heedlessly, that's his entitle. He must have money to burn.
Fender uses staples. Marshall uses staples. Boogie uses staples. Rivera uses staples. Soldano uses staples. Peavey uses staples. Hiwatt uses staples. Gibson uses staples. Guess what I'm gonna use? :lol
let me guess.........70's loveseat upholstery? just kidding.....nice job on the re-grill.
To heck w/Tolex!;)
Not re-grills, but a couple of homegrown 2x12s I made this summer. The oxblood was the first attempt & I've had to fix it since I took the picture. You can see all the lines don't match up. But I have to say I used a LOT of staples on both of them.
if you're going to be doing more tell me what company's staples you use, i might just have to invest...
j/k man, looks great.
"don't worry, i'm a professional!"
Yup, 71818 has the method. Same technique for pull-over dining seats and most simple wrap jobs. I 'tag' the centers (hold gun at angle so only one staple leg goes in) as I know I'll be pulling it out later to fine tune the grain. Watching your lines, pull towards the corners and tag. Grille cloth is stiff and making a corner fold requires cutting most of the excess cloth off so you don't get a fat pleat. A few taps with a hammer will smash down the pleat flat after you have it stapled. Tolex is another story...stiff mutha fabric, use contact cement and a few staples. Even with 30 years upholstery under my belt, I break a sweat. Those factory workers covering amps could probably crush walnuts with bare hands.
Hopeless modaholic...
You know, if you put the cloth at an angle, you don't have line up the lines! :hee
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You know I was just capping off an old thread because I had finished that project.
I did use staples, lots of them with a light coat of contact cement because there was definately glue on the original. I never tried to use just glue if that's how it sounded. I can only imagine that it helps to keep the cloth from rippling or something over time. I don't know.
The part that got screwed was I couldn't get the cloth straight to my satisfaction and I didn't like the color when it was all put together.
This project was rebuilding an old fiberboard amp cab out of maple (which turned out great BTW ) the original grill cloth (black) looked better than the silver.
Sorry for the confusion, thanks for the advice.
Whew...
Glad to see you're at least coherent. Sorry 'bout the insult, but really, if you had only used glue gainst all advice, historical precedent, and common sense then you would certainly have deserved it :lol
If you hunt around the web there are at least two "tutorials" I know of w/phtots that demonstrate how to install this stuff correctly. You're right though; if you don't line up the cloth correctly along the edges it looks pretty bad. Just a sixteenth of an inch makes a BIG difference across the whole surface!
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