Choosing and Installing Tolex Covers

[admin]

Charlie: I am wondering if you have any comments to make about choosing tolex covers and how they should be used when restoring amplifiers? What type of adhesive is best? What are some of the common mistakes made when applying the tolex? Is some product better than others?

[soundmasterg]

Most vintage amps were covered using animal hide glue, but you need a hot glue spreader to do this. Another way to do it is to use contact cement, which works well, but is harder to work with than the animal glue, and also has some bad fumes to deal with. I'd guess that the biggest mistake made when applying tolex is to cut to the wrong size, or not do corners correctly to where it doesn't look so well, or to leave air gaps. It is certainly something that has an experience curve to it. The thicker cotton backing on the tolex will stick better and resist punctures and tears better than something with little or no cotton backing.

[jingle_jangle]

I would not use hide glue, and in fact this stuff was out of fashion for cabinet covering in the USA by the late 1950s. In the UK it lasted about a decade longer.

There is a water-soluble latex emulsion contact cement which is much better than the toluene-based stuff used in most cabinet shops. It does not soften the Tolex and cause it to distort, it's odor-free, and it cleans up with water. The first speaker cabinets I ever did with this stuff, back in 1965, are still in use.

The old-timers still use the toluene-based brain cell killer stuff, and spray it through a gun from a pressure pot. 3M makes a couple of good spraycan contact cements. I sometimes use 3M #90 for small jobs--it can get pricey at $15.00 a can.

Real Tolex has a very thin cotton scrim backing to keep it from stretching. Some naugahydes (try not to use them) have a foamed layer under the leather texture and are backed with a stretch cotton fabric, which is also not desirable.

To do Tolex properly, you need to be able to measure and cut very straight lines very accurately, and learn how to properly do six different joints and corners. You should have a large layout table, a metal straight edge and a long metal T-square. I'm not aware of any reference material on this, but some Googling would probably turn up something.

I'm going to recover a couple of my combo organ cabinets sometime next year (same techniques as amp recovering), and will post a "how-to" if anybody's interested.

[soundmasterg]

That would be great Paul! Do you know if the contact cement that Antique Electronics sells is the water based stuff or if it is the toulene based stuff? I've used it to cover a cabinet recently and it worked pretty well. A friend of mine who co-founded Sunn amps showed me how to use it. The tolex I was using was a little thinner than the standard Fender stuff, and there was not much cotton on the back compared to the Fender tolex, but it worked fine and looks nice.

[jingle_jangle]

Greg, do you remember the cement you used as having a very strong "model glue" smell? If it did, it was toluene-based. If not, it was probably the water-based stuff. Also, the toluene stuff has an ugly yellowish cast to it, whereas the water-based stuff is white like Elmer's glue and dries clear.

The stuff I use is made by Weldwood under their "DAP" brand. It's available at woodworking stores, large hardware stores and plces like Home Depot. You can even use a roller to apply it.

[soundmasterg]

It was hard to tell because we had a fan on to help it dry quicker, but it was white, and dries clear, so maybe it was the water based stuff.

I've heard of DAP before, so I'll check into that.

[jingle_jangle]

It was water-based. You'd remember it if it wasn't!

[triode]

I am not an expert in this area. Ron Veil
www.unclespot.com

is an expert in Tolex and amp covering. He is located in Modesto, CA. He would be happy to answer any and all questions related to this subject. His rates are extrememly reasonable as well.

contact him at: ron@unclespot.com