Tolex Recovering Tips for Fender Blackface Amplifiers
1. Completely disassemble amp. Remove chassis, speakers, speaker wire harness, reverb pan and cables, all cabinet hardware and soundboard.
2. The cabinet is covered with 4 pieces of tolex. One piece wraps around the top. Another similar piece wraps around the bottom. Then there are two sidepieces, cut the same, only being a mirror image of each other. Start removing tolex by removing the top piece first. Use a putty knife and lift a tolex edge on the inside of the cabinet. By using the putty knife and delicate pulling and lifting, most original Fender tolex will pull up nicely only leaving the dry and harden glue behind. On tough spots, you may need to be a little more aggressive with the putty knife. For really troublesome spots, try using a hair dryer on a low heat setting to help lift the tolex.
3. The top and bottom pieces are easy to re-fit without a pattern, but the sidepieces are challenging to cut without a pattern. So try to remove at least one sidepiece in tack so it can be used later as a pattern.
4. Once the tolex has been removed, the cabinet residue harden glue will need to be completely sanded off. All scratches and gouges that were caused by removing the old tolex needs to be filled with wood putty and then sanded smooth. The procedure of wood putty filling and sanding may take several applications. The ever so small bump, lump or scratch will show through the new tolex, so this step is essential to spend the extra tender loving care time to get the cabinet nice a smooth. For really tough glue residual spots, a glue remover like, “Oops” can be used.
5. For holes that have become too loose from using oversized screws or from dry rot, drill hole out, plug and glue with wooden dowels, then sand until smooth. Dry rot holes commonly occur at the cabinet feet glides, 3 lip cabinet corners and back panel screw holes.
6. Cut tolex by using old tolex as a template with a good large pair of scissors. There is no need to try to cut the tolex that fits on the inside of the cabinet exactly since extra tolex is easily removed with a razor blade later.
7. Start by first gluing the side tolex pieces followed by the top and bottom pieces. Just about any kind of rubber base contact cement will work. I’ve used the original Dap contact cement with good results. Just be sure to work in a well-ventilated room. I used fans to blow the toxic flumes away from where I am working. The water base contact cement, although not as toxic, doesn’t work as well. Spray adhesives can’t apply enough glue to the cabinet or tolex surfaces. So I would not recommend using spray adhesives. Larry Rodgers sells special tolex glue that he uses exclusively for his tolex work. It works great and is not nearly as toxic smelling as Dap contact cement.
8. Apply glue to surface of cabinet to be tolexed and to the inside of the piece of tolex using a cheap throw away paint brush. Use a hair dryer on a low heat setting to speed up the drying process of both the glue on the cabinet and tolex. Do not apply the tolex to the cabinet until both the glue on the cabinet and on the tolex piece is tacky. For the sidepieces start by applying the tolex to the top of the cabinet aligning to the chassis strap holes and then roll the rest of the piece of tolex down the side of the cabinet while using your hands to smooth out any bubbles. Continue to apply low-level heat to the tolex while smoothing with your hands. If the tolex get too hot, it will stretch and thin. The tolex requires a unique amount of heat to help make it workable, but not so much heat as to make it stretch thin.
9. Allow sufficient time for each tolex piece to dry before applying the next piece of tolex. During the drying period, continue to visit the cabinet and re-smooth tolex piece with hands. This process of re-smoothing can take up to 12 hours before the tolex, cabinet and glue cures.
10. Once all pieces of tolex are applied to the cabinet and tolex is relatively dry, a new razor blade can be used to clean up excess tolex that resides on the inside of the cabinet. Complete cure time can take up to two weeks depending on temperature.