Where can I find material to cover my self-made guitar case - created 02-19-2009

Daves, Ron - 02/19/2009.13:04:27
I love to make sawdust

I am making a guitar case for the classical guitar that I just finished. I would like to oover it with some of that stippled vinyl that the pros use on their cases. Anyone know where to get this stuff?

Check fabric stores or if you have to, go to an upholstry shop.

It's vynil- marine grade vynil usually.

I've used material from various sources for covering guitar amps; I (and other on the MIMF) have found that the fabric store vinyl can be a bit soft, making it tear-prone.

One option that should be a bit more durable is from PartsExpress:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=261-618

Pricier "tolex" can be bought from amplifier parts sources, such as

http://www.ampparts.com/products/628/Fender-Style-Black-Tolex-Amplifier-Covering.htm

Google up Tolex, and you'll get a number of hits for dealers in the product.

Antique Electronics has all kinds of tolex, grill cloth and piping. http://www.tubesandmore.com/

Or you could look up local upholtery shops in the yellow pages.

Unless you're going to be touring with it, most upholstery fabric will work. I've got a few here that saw a lot of mileage and are still holding up fine.

Here's one of them.

Ron this place has everything you need for this project. By the way, I did the same thing, built my own case, and these were the people I used. They are out of North Carolina and extremely frienly.

http://www.mojomusicalsupply.com/

Ellie:

And Joe; I wish I had gone to the guys you referred me to for the Tolex and Glue.

As it turned out, I made a case that was kindof shaped like a regular case, with the body of the case narrowing down for the neck of the guitar. It was poorly planned and had lots of angles. Plus I didn't shape the case correctly so I could put hinges all the way down one side. I kept on struggling and got the darned thing built of 1/4-inch plywood and fiberglass cloth on the stress points. I went out and purchased vinyl at an uphostery supply house and spray glue at a hardware store. Turns out that the glue was for vinyl and foam rubber, but not wood. It didn't stick. I spent about $100 on the !@#$%^&*()+ thing. The vinyl not sticking was just too much. I threw the whole thing out and went to the local music store and bought a really nice used case for $50.00. However, now that I see what you guys did, I might try again after I make another guitar. Thanks for the help.

Yea, I think that I used contact cement, this is the same stuff that you would use to lay down a piece of laminate or formica. Don't give up, it's still rewarding when you do these projects, even if you ef em up. One thing you might try next is finding a beat up old case and strip off the old covering down to the wood and recovering it, this time try the contact cement. Good luck!