Vinyl amp covering, what is there besides Tolex? - created 04-22-2007

Rychener, Scott - 04/22/2007.11:50:46
Lots of wood shavings, but few guitars.

I have been searching for a while now, for a covering material for an extension cab I am making for my Epi Valve Head. I looked at black Tolex and other black vinyls on the web, music suppliers, upholstery suppliers and boat shops. Some were very thin and all were very pricey (To me anyway.)

This weekend I was looking to buy felt and I stumbled onto a find. I purchased 2 5/8 yards of heavy un-grained black vinyl with a cloth backing on a remnant roll. The cost for all of it was about half the cost of a single yard of anything else. WOW, I'll take it!

I found it at Jo Ann Fabrics, of all places I would not have thought to look. Un-grained does not look quite as nice as Tolex, but will do for my project and it is heavy enough that I think it will be durable. If this stuff works good I may go back for the six yard roll they had also. The nice lady stated that they get them all the time in a variety of colors, if the other roll happens to sell before I get back and they are usually available in all the stores.

This one was so cheap I had to share it.

I build amps... and I'm always building and covering cabinets. I've tried about every type of vinyl that I could come across. A few notes about vinyl types in regards to cabinet covering...

The vinyl type that we refer to as "Tolex" is very durable because the vinyl is not "expanded" (Cushiony, foamy..) It's the same stuff that your old 1974 Plymouth Duster's vinyl top was made from. Most upholstry vinyls are expanded, and quite thick and as a result is not very durable against abrasions and indentation marks... (You'll know what I mean if you lean any thing against it for any length of time.

After trying to use alternatives and having covered more that 35 cabinets I go for the real stuff from Mojo-Tone, AES, and others. (Mojo has most excellent prices on most thing they carry if you get a wholesale account with them. They are starting to carry quite a line of guitar parts too. AES Has a wholesale front end as well, CE Distribution, and has really good wholesale prices too.)

Most upholstry vinyls are......not very durable against abrasions and indentation marks

I have found this to be true as well. The stuff from the fabric store does not hold up nearly as well as tolex.

All I know for sure is that I prefer fabric that looks like an ocelot 'cause it don't cost a lot.

Tweed and Tolex rock, but I really do prefer a good quality upholstery fabric. It's less predictable and there's more fun options.

I'm with Ellie on this one. I covered my bass rig amp rack in Egyptian motif upholstery fabric and got a lot of comments on it at gigs. It's available in all sorts of weights, many very similar to standard tweed fabric, which I also like to use. More folks really should "think what's on the outside of the box". Another benefit of fabrics is you can apply them quite successfully with normal old titebond and not have to deal with that nasty old contact cement.