Rise of the Reptile
There’s one in every crowd, I think. There’s always that one person that just has to have something different. Not long ago, I spruced up a Marshall JCM800 head for a customer, and it revived the sonics considerably. When he came to pick it up, he mentioned that he would like to get it recovered, and did I do that sort of thing. At first, I kind of demurred and kind of deflected the request. Actually, I didn’t want to mess with it. Tolex is not my favorite part of building, in fact it’s probably the first thing I would farm out given half a chance. However, he persisted and I relented. Part of my attempt to dissuade him was that he wanted it in Snakeskin. Now I like my Rock just as much as the next guy, but I have never been a animal-hide type of person, and especially not a reptile fan. So the thought of doing a Marshall head in faux snake skin was a little too Spinal Tap for me, (he actually wanted the “SpinalTap” – goes to eleven faceplate too!). Now I couldn’t source the faceplate, but I could get my hands on the snake (er the tolex).
I was also worried that it would be so outrageous, that he would come back for it and stand there slack-jawed, pointing his finger and stammering. “What have you done to my amp?” I had visions of the Titanic in my mind, or the Bismark or the Lusitania, you fill in your favorite wreck here… But, in the end, I relented and set about measuring and ordering the material.
Now, doing a later model JCM head requires one continuous piece of material as there is only one seam. so even though the stuff comes on a 54″ wide roll, I would need to order 3 full yards to get enough to wrap.
I can’t begin to tell you what was going thru my head upon unrolling this bundle and spreading it out on the living room floor. “Honey come quick…I’ve decided to redecorate.” It was so overwhelming at first, kind of like stepping out of a dark cave into the sunlight and being blinded by the light and having to pause with hands over my eyes to allow my pupils to adjust. It was that kind of sensation. After my eyes became accustomed to the enormity of reptile on the floor, I set about to get the best pattern to show on the finished project. Fortunately, I didn’t have to waste too much to get a cool pattern for the head. I began my task in earnest. I had already stripped the box of the old tolex and sanded it clean. The removal process actually went real smooth. The old vinyl came off easily with the help of my trusty heat gun and getting the old glue off was as slick. I just put some #100 grit in my finish sander and had at it. Unlike paint that gums everything up, the glue just balled up underneath and I would stop every so often and brush it off with my hand, the sandpaper stayed clean the whole time.
Naked Marshall head box
With each side completed, I got more excited and as every corner got nipped & tucked into place, I could see that the finished product would be very special. Even my wonderful wife, who humors me, thought it was quite attractive. At least that’s what she said, as she slowly walked the long walk back upstairs shaking her head.
Now would be a good time to do an advertisement for a new tolex glue that I tried for the first time.
“How many times has this happened to you? Just as you start to glue your favorite vinyl down, your overcome by the smelly fumes. The two pieces won’t stick and you spend hours rubbing and scrubbing only to have it all fall apart? Well wait no more! Try the new and improved Tolex Adhesive” I thought I’d try a glue that’s supposed to be specifically for tolex and hopefully never have to use contact cement ever again. CE Distribuiton sell it, also Mojotone sells what I think is the same thing. Just a generic looking white plastic bottle called tolex glue. Let me tell you, this stuff is the bomb-diggity. One even coat of glue on both surfaces, wait 20 minutes, affix the two pieces and yer done. No having to re-glue all the edges, cause they came apart, virtually no fumes and it’s done. It worked great and was so easy compared to all the different versions of Weldwood Contact cement I’ve tried, it was nothing short of amazing.
If you have to glue tolex, do yourself a favor and get some, you will not regret it! One final note would be next time, I will get a package of new brass rivets and not try to re use the old ones. First of all, they are a b*^@$h to get out, and then I had to reshape them and carefully either press them with a clamp or re drill and hammer them back in. Now matter how careful I was, they would start to drift off crooked as I hammered and it was just a pain.
Do yourself a favor and get new ones, they are not that much and it will save a lot of grief!!
Before...
One more thought before you go… You might be wondering, “What are you going to do with all the rest of that material??” Well, turns out the happy customer also wants the 1960TV “Tall” cabinet to get covered to match. Then he will have a veritable wall of snake skin. I can’t wait. Oh, and one other thing. When the owner came down to my shop and I unveiled the amp, he stood there exclaiming and swearing (literally) that it was without a doubt the coolest thing he’d ever seen. My work here is done!
After
MillerAmpwerks 