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Topic: How do I remove old Tolex from amp? |
Lee Dorrell
From:
Marceline,Mo USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2003 6:09 am |
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| I was wondering if anyone out there has ever completely stripped an old amp. I've got an old one that I'd like to take the tolex off, sand it down, perhaps stain and varnish it. I thought of taking a heat gun and try to warm it up enough to peel the old stuff off, but can't make up my mind if this is the right thing to do, because of maybe harming the wood. any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Lee |
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Herb Steiner
From:
Spicewood TX 78669
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Posted 5 Aug 2003 6:20 am
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You might find that the wood underneath the tolex is quite unattractive to the eye, or that the adhesive used initially has discolored the wood to the extent that stain and varnish won't be able to conceal irregularities in the wood. Or that the original adhesive has made the wood unable to evenly absorb stain. It might be an ugly plywood amp. Unfortunately, these are things you won't know until you get the tolex off.
I'd use a hair dryer on high patiently to loosen the glue, it won't hurt the wood. Then lightly sand the surfaces just to get them smooth, you don't want to have to take off a lot of wood. Then I'll bet you'd want to recover the amp with a tolex of your choice.
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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association
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Bill Terry
From:
Bastrop, TX
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Posted 5 Aug 2003 8:31 am
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What Herb said works.. patience... 
You didn't mention what kind of amp or how old it was, but you might not want to remove tolex, no matter how bad the condition is if it has any vintage or collectible value.
If you don't intend to ever sell it, no problem, it's your amp do what you want. But recovering a vintage amp can instantly devalue it 50% or more.
I have a '59 Bassman I'm buying from a forum member right now that had a recover job sometime in the past. Even though the amp is in good condition, original speakers, transformers etc., it lost about 60-70% of it's vintage value due to the recover. Have you priced an original Bassman lately? That's a lot of dough... |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2003 9:04 am
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| Since it's about amplifiers, I'm moving this to the 'Electronics' section of the Forum. |
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