cleaning tolex?

[Jimbilly]

What's your favorite cleaner? I've been told by a good source that simple green, followed by pledge works well. I was thinking maybe a car type rubber/vinyl cleaner. I've got a '60s Hilgen and my '76 Dlx Rev could both use a good cleaning. What do y'all use?

[Guest pirateflynn]

I have used Armor All in the past with good results.

[DEMENTED]

Dawn dish soap and warm water with a stiff bristled brush.

[gwayne]

Dilute Simple Green 1:4, followed by 303 Aerospace Protectant. It comes out looking new without the greasy feel.

[kenjones]

This is not a joke - it works.

1. Remove the chassis, speaker, and grill cloth from the amp.

2. Take the cabinet to a car wash - the kind with the hand-held high pressure wands.

3. Get a can of of the Armor All (or equivalent) tire cleaner - the kind you spray on a tire and fifteen minutes later the tire is black and shiny. Spray down all the tolex on the amp.

4. Let the tire cleaner work for about five minutes. Then spray down the tolex with the high pressure wash on the rinse setting to remove all of the tire cleaner and dirt.

5. Take the amp cabinet home and allow it to dry for a couple of days before putting the amp back together.

Remember - amp cabinets are just wood, glue, and tolex. I did this with my 1976 SFDR and one other amp and both turned out great. The best thing about this technique is that it is quick, easy, and it cleans out the dust from all the crevices. Cleaning it all by hand would take you hours...

[Stokesdead]

wow!

sorry ken but no thanks

[jgmoyers]

Peter at Diaz amplifiers told me that they use mop and glow. he said that any old fender that comes in, he'll scrub the tolx with mop and glow and it looks like new. Well, I tried it on my 64 bassman, and it worked great! It will leave it streaked if you do not evenly apply it, or clean it off well, but it sure made an old amp look great again. It is worth a shot.

I would be afraid to spray down a wooden cabinet at a car wash. I am sure it gets the tolex looking great, but what would all that moisture do to the cabinet? Structurally and tone wise?

Jeremy

[tomteriffic]

Peter at Diaz amplifiers told me that they use mop and glow. he said that any old fender that comes in, he'll scrub the tolx with mop and glow and it looks like new. Well, I tried it on my 64 bassman, and it worked great! It will leave it streaked if you do not evenly apply it, or clean it off well, but it sure made an old amp look great again. It is worth a shot.

I would be afraid to spray down a wooden cabinet at a car wash. I am sure it gets the tolex looking great, but what would all that moisture do to the cabinet? Structurally and tone wise?

Jeremy

Five minutes in a car wish with a rinse wand to a solid pine cabinet (or decent plywood) is about like the amp living in New Orleans for a couple of weeks. No big whoop.

[kenjones]

Yeah - everybody is afraid to put any water on their amp cabinet, but they'll put chemicals like Mop and Glo, Simple Green, and Armor All all over them. I'd think Mop and Glo would make the tolex sticky?

Like I said - I've cleaned two amps using this technique. In fact - I just remembered that I cleaned the grill cloth with the high pressure car wash too. No problems. Just let the cabinet dry out really well for a couple of days. I live in Houston where it is VERY humid, so I bring the cabinet in the house where the air conditioning keeps the humidity low. I learned this technique from a close friend who has worked on and built amps for years. He learned it from Gerald Weber at Kendrick Amplifiers when he worked there back 15-20 years ago.

Amp cabinets are wood and tolex. Wood dries - it is covered in tolex anyway, so it doesn't really get all that wet. Tolex is basically some kind of plastic or rubber material. Grill cloth is plastic.

I've posted this on here once before a couple of years ago and had several people tell me I was a moron...

[tomteriffic]

I've posted this on here once before a couple of years ago and had several people tell me I was a moron...

Well, I was goin' to bat for you here, Jonesy, but, you DID buy one of my Specials, so, about that moron thing.....

[serial]

Do not use Armor All on tolex.

Do NOT use water on black Marshall grilles (JCM 800s at least) unless you're trying to repair a dent or tear. I thought that they were spun/woven paper.

[Stokesdead]

I never said you were a moron Ken. Sorry if I seemed like a know-it-all. I wouldn't use armor-all either. I have used windex sprayed on a paper towel to wipe it down but that is about as far as I would go with it. Wood is pretty porous stuff I would think especially old very dry wood could absorb quite a bit of moisture relatively quickly. But as the saying goes Your Mileage May Vary.

~CS

[Jeff R]

+1 on NOT using Armor All. If the tolex is not absolutely showroom new clean, it will trap crap to the tolex like a little shell, not to mention the amp will have this unnatural glow like Xhibit and the West Coast Custom boys pimped it.

[serial]

I used to Armor-All the Peavey Classic 50 that I had in high school and it got really nasty looking. I didn't know that there were simpler options out there.

[tafkathundernotes]

I've used Spic-and-Span diluted with hot water, worked in with a stiff-bristled brush and had good results. The Simple Green worked great on cleaning a saxophone I was rebuilding, so I may try that next.

[Guest pirateflynn]

+1 on NOT using Armor All. If the tolex is not absolutely showroom new clean, it will trap crap to the tolex like a little shell, not to mention the amp will have this unnatural glow like Xhibit and the West Coast Custom boys pimped it.

An onslaught against Armor All !

I probably should have listened more closely to the question. I've never had to clean a terribly dirty amp and so for me it has been the obvious warm water and mild soap followed, by Armor All. Use it sparingly and buff it out. Neither the slickness nor the shine last very long but the tolex gets closer to it's black color and it minimzes some scuff marks and stuff. If it is not good for tolex let me know ..... Quick!

[kenjones]

Not to beat a dead horse, but...

No offense taken guys - please notice that the moron comment has a "smilie" next to it.

In my mind, the best thing about the tire cleaner/car wash technique is that the tire cleaner cleans out all the dust from the crevices in the tolex, and then the the car wash rinse removes all of the tire cleaner, dust, dirt, and grime. It leaves the tolex clean without leaving behind any residue. If I do put Armor All on the tolex afterwards, I use it sparingly and do NOT use it for cleaning the amp - I just use the Armor All to bring back a little bit of the shine.

As noted by Serial, some cabinet and grill cloth materials are not suitable for this technique. Both of the amps I've subjected to this technique had Fender style tolex and grill cloth. Specifically a 1976 Fender SFDR and a Boogie MKIIC+ cabinet. Both of these amps have plastic grill cloth and the same kind of "rubbery" tolex.

I emailed my buddy who has cleaned a bunch of amp cabinets using this technique and asked him if I was missing any critical steps from the process. Here is what he sent me:

It was in one of Gerald's books or columns....basically it's:

-take out the electronics (need I mention?)

-take out the speakers (need I mention again?)

-cover any tube charts with plastic and tape to seal it

-spray with tire cleaner (the kind that foams up works best)...don't get any on the grill cloth

-you could use an old toothbrush (or your current one) to help work it in the "grooves" of the tolex

-use the pressure car wash hose to wash it all off

-set out in the sun too dry

-finish with some armour all if you like

-put it all back together

TC

Anyway - TC (Tom Callins) and I are the guys that produced all three of Gerald Weber's instructional Tube Amp videos (if that holds any water with anyone!

[hamerican gigolo]

I have used Murphy's Oil Soap on my vintage Fenders in the past with great results. Apply

with a sponge or a brush if the tolex is really dirty. Rinse with a damp (not wet) sponge.

[hamertek98]

Dilute Simple Green 1:4, followed by 303 Aerospace Protectant. It comes out looking new without the greasy feel.

Ditto!

The 303 aero is great! I think they make a cleaner, also. I need to get to the local marina and buy some. Anyone out there with boats needs this.

[Brooks]

only posers clean their amps

[Eric Weston]

only posers clean their amps

+1 I just let the beer & smoke build up to a crust, THAT'S protection!!!

[Brooks]

i saw corrosion of conforminty several years back;

when the lights hit their giutars just right, you could see sweat & gunk caked up on there thick. i don't think they EVER wiped their guitars down. ewwww.

[thecajunboy]

Very interesting reading. I don't agree with some things that have been posted. I'll share my experiences.

Armor All - I've used it and other similar products. It won't clean it, but it'll help hide some imperfections and make it shiny and slippery. It'll also make any future repairs that require adhesives a really tough thing to do. I don't use it anymore.

Car Wash Trick - I haven't tried this, but I have a pressure washer at home. I wouldn't be scared to try either, unless I knew the grill cloth wasn't wicker or organic based that water would cause shrinkage issues with. I'd also use my brain to figure out if the integrity of the cloth would be compromised by the high pressure blast. I doubt I'd try it unless the tolex was seriously munged up, or had something on it that I really needed the high pressure for. For dirty Fenders, what I've noticed is that the tolex seems to break down in the small crinkles in the pattern. I believe that the coloring actually comes off in those areas. I've cleaned them with ammonia and other cleaners with a toothbrush until nothing else comes off, and the discoloration in the crinkles remain. As for wetting the cabinet, hell, its wood, its gonna dry. and in many cases, the inside is painted.

Toothbrush and ammonia - My favorite method so far. I'm usually in no big hurry to get through these types of tasks, and I feel I can do a more complete job that way. You can also imagine you're hand building a Ferrari while you're at it. I've tried the foaming bathroom cleaners, but the foam is a pain in the ass.

Mop and Glo - I wouldn't use it. It's acrylic, and it's gonna be shiny, then it's gonna turn brown, and then it's gonna scratch and rub off. Then you'll have to strip and reapply.

Liquid Shoe Polish - I just thought of this. I wonder how that would work to fill those little crinkles in Fender tolex. I may try this on my SF Bassman.

[Steve Haynie]

Searching through old threads offers a wealth of knowledge! This thread came in handy today.

I cleaned the cabinet for one of my 1968 Fender Bassman heads this morning. The head came out of an attic. It was full of mouse droppings and coated in dust, but it works with no problems. The black tolex looked like it was blonde in the crinkles. I took out everything that could come out, took off the metal corner protectors and the cloth covered front panel, taped some plastic over the paper label and went to town cleaning.

I tried a little Simple Green on one spot and Greased Lightning on another. The results were OK, but not really clean. Westley's Bleche-Wite whitewall cleaner and Black Magic Tire Wet Foam were the other two products I tried in spot tests. The whitewall cleaner was the best. Without even scrubbing the chemical got the dirt out of the amp's tolex.

I took the cabinet outside and sprayed a little bit of the whitewall cleaner on the top and swished around a soft bristle car washing brush. I did each side quickly then sprayed the whitewall cleaner off with water at a fairly low pressure. For good measure I followed up with the foam tire cleaner that leaves a little shine on tires. I hit that with the brush, too, and sprayed it off quickly rather than go for a glossy finish. The dust in the bottom of the cabinet was really thick, so I hit that with the brush and sprayed it down. Everything got wet, but an effort was made to spray the water as little as possible. The wood was soaked, but not as bad as it would have been if it was submerged for a long time or sprayed under high pressure.

Water got under the tape around the plastic over the interior label, but it is still intact. The head cabinet is dry to the touch now, but I will wait at least a day for the rest of the moisture to leave the wood. Removing the chassis and all the exterior parts may have taken ten to fifteen minutes. The actual cleaning time was ten minutes or less. The chemical did the work.

What does not come out is glue or paint that may have gotten on the tolex, but that rubber coated cloth is in really nice shape now. So, to get the job done right in the least amount of time use whitewall or tire cleaner, a soft brush, and the hose outside of your house.

[mrhappy]

I cleaned an amp a couple of months ago using my pressure washer and it worked great. Just left it in the sun to dry.

So... you're supposed the take the chassis and speaker out first??