a Black Blonde...some advice please.

vic

After quite some searching I found this vintage Fender cab (2*12 Oxfords) as a partner to my '64 Bandmaster head. Tiltback legs and mounting screws for the head all still intact... Perfect!..... It pre-dates '64 by the looks of the older style Fender logo (no clear date codes on the speakers unfortunately except for a cone code P4643).
Bad thing is that this was a blonde cab with wheat coloured grille cloth...painted black all over.
I want to restore this if at all possible by stripping the paint from the cab at least.
Question....any advice on a mild stripping agent that will do the job ? bearing in mind there's a valuable piece of historic tolex underneath. The paint isn't too thick as the original tolex is showing in places

AlanRatcliffe

Argh! No chemical stripper will do it - anything that strips the paint will likely mess up the Tolex. You can try a quick wipe down with plain old lacquer thinners (underneath just in case), but I suspect the most efficient way to do it will be with a scouring pad and Vim. Lots of elbow grease and fiddling to get the paint out of the creases in the Tolex though...

makepeace

eish. either way you're going to have a tough time.. and you wouldn't consider a recover?

vic

makepeace wrote: eish. either way you're going to have a tough time.. and you wouldn't consider a recover?

I know....grrr. I will definately have to do a re-grille.
Meanwhile I've been experimenting with meths and a coarse kitchen spunge and this is getting the paint off...but only slooowly hey. The problem is, as Alan pointed out, to get the paint out of the small creases in the tolex.
BTW, the original blonde tolex is still in amazing condition...no rips or cuts...and I would very much like to see if I can't rescue it.

shaunf

It it were me, I'd try some of that stuff you clean kids drawings off the walls of your house with - Think it's called Sugar Soap or something like that, and a stiff-bristled brush.

vic

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Argh! No chemical stripper will do it - anything that strips the paint will likely mess up the Tolex. You can try a quick wipe down with plain old lacquer thinners (underneath just in case), but I suspect the most efficient way to do it will be with a scouring pad and Vim. Lots of elbow grease and fiddling to get the paint out of the creases in the Tolex though...

Thanks Alan.
I've been using some meths and an old tooth brush and it seems to work....just to give you an idea of "what lies beneath".....the blonde stuff some of us drool over.... ? However it's gonna be a long and messy journey I think. The original tolex is still in such good condition.....it may be worthwhile saving it.
What is most annoying is that the person who did the paint job did not even bother to remove the chrome tiltback legs...just painted it over ?

vic

shaunf wrote: It it were me, I'd try some of that stuff you clean kids drawings off the walls of your house with - Think it's called Sugar Soap or something like that, and a stiff-bristled brush.

Thanks Shaun...sugar soap will get rid of the paint but it may damage the tolex as it is very caustic.

shaunf

vic wrote:
shaunf wrote: It it were me, I'd try some of that stuff you clean kids drawings off the walls of your house with - Think it's called Sugar Soap or something like that, and a stiff-bristled brush.
Thanks Shaun...sugar soap will get rid of the paint but it may damage the tolex as it is very caustic.

Perhaps try a bit underneath the cab? Sugar soap doesn't damage acrylic wall paint, so I'd tend to think it would be ok on something like tolex. In anycase, I think a brush would get you further removing the paint than those dishwashing scouring pad, which is very abrasive and likely to damage the tolex finish.

vic

shaunf wrote:
vic wrote:
shaunf wrote: It it were me, I'd try some of that stuff you clean kids drawings off the walls of your house with - Think it's called Sugar Soap or something like that, and a stiff-bristled brush.
Thanks Shaun...sugar soap will get rid of the paint but it may damage the tolex as it is very caustic.
Perhaps try a bit underneath the cab? Sugar soap doesn't damage acrylic wall paint, so I'd tend to think it would be ok on something like tolex. In anycase, I think a brush would get you further removing the paint than those dishwashing scouring pad, which is very abrasive and likely to damage the tolex finish.

Thanks Shaun...must say I'm getting good results with the meths.

singemonkey

You're a very patient man, Vic ?

Congrats on a great cab.

People should think before they act. If this person knew the trouble they'd be putting you through... ?

Still. Looks like, in a bizarre way, they've actually preserved the tolex. Albeit in a rather annoying way.

vic

singemonkey wrote: You're a very patient man, Vic ?

Congrats on a great cab.

People should think before they act. If this person knew the trouble they'd be putting you through... ?

Still. Looks like, in a bizarre way, they've actually preserved the tolex. Albeit in a rather annoying way.

LOL....thought the same thing earlier. I really hope it comes out OK. (The painter took the Stones' song quite literaly ? )

vic

Joe Moore wrote:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=ie7&q=how+to+remove+paint+from+tolex&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ACAW

I'm sure you've 'googled' this already , :-[ , but in case you haven't , .... theres lots of people with a similar enquiry .......... graffitti remover ( http://www.liftoffinc.com/product-graffiti-remover.php) , seems to be a popular choice in lots of the above results . Depending on what type of paint it is painted with in the first place .....Builders Warehouse normally have this type of product in the thinners , meths , masking tapes aisles...good luck 8)

No I have not....thanks Joe.

vic

making some progress....

JeremyE

Beautiful!!! I would love a cab like that for my bassman head!

vic

JeremyE wrote: Beautiful!!! I would love a cab like that for my bassman head!

Thanks Jeremy...what year is your BM ?

vic

Joe Moore wrote:

So besides a lot of

What are you using to remove the paint ?

At this stage I'm using only meths (blue bottle) scrubbing lightly with a kitchen dishwasher spunge. Fortunately the old paint does not bind very strongly to the tolex. The hardest part is to get it out of the creases in the tolex (as Alan pointed out)...but it's coming on, slowly but surely. Definately worthwhile as the original blonde tolex is still in very good condition.

makepeace

keep posting progress pics, would love to see how its coming out.

even if you don't manage to get all of the paint out of the creases it could still look mighty cool! like a sort of dropped-in-engine-oil relic'ing ?

vic

makepeace wrote: keep posting progress pics, would love to see how its coming out.

even if you don't manage to get all of the paint out of the creases it could still look mighty cool! like a sort of dropped-in-engine-oil relic'ing ?

it's coming on nicely....

JeremyE

vic wrote:
JeremyE wrote: Beautiful!!! I would love a cab like that for my bassman head!
Thanks Jeremy...what year is your BM ?

I have a 68 silverface with the AB165 circuit. Very nice tone but modding will happen at some stage! Need to get a speaker cab now as well as I got rid of the old one (was not a matching cab but a cheaper make do). Will probably load the cab with greenbacks ?

singemonkey

vic wrote:
makepeace wrote: keep posting progress pics, would love to see how its coming out.

even if you don't manage to get all of the paint out of the creases it could still look mighty cool! like a sort of dropped-in-engine-oil relic'ing ?
it's coming on nicely....

Nice going Vic. That's a damn lot of work. But it's really starting to look good. I think once the paints off the tilt-stand and the grill-cloth is replaced, it'll be obvious how much of that gunk you got off.