How many yards of tolex to cover a Bassman (5F6a) cabinet?

[nuke]

How many yards of Tolex does one need to cover a 5F6A cabinet. The only difference may be Tolex not needing any alignment between the tweed patterns.

[statorvane]

I covered a narrow panel-esque cabinet for a Supro 1688 amplifier using one yard of this stuff: https://www.amplifiedparts.com/products ... al-54-wide. Note my cabinet does NOT have a sloped speaker baffle.

I used the following plan to cut the tolex from one yard. Grid is 6" squares.

[Phil_S]

Most fabrics have directional orientation and pattern repeat. Ideally, you'd want the top and 2 sides to appear as if they are one continuous run of fabric or as close as you can get to that. This often creates some amount of waste. 54" is typical standard width and it is sold by the yard, meaning one yard is 56 x 36. This includes the selvedge -- the useless edge that has to be cut away, so you lose an inch or two on the edge -- figure you are working with 50" to be safe. A typical 5F6a cabinet is about 24" square and about 10.5" deep. Your actual dimensions may vary so adjust accordingly. You will need to allow extra fabric width to accommodate the wrap around the edges. I'd add 4" to be safe and you can cut away the excess once you have a good layout. Basically, for the two sides and the back, I'd try to do that with one piece -- about 72" long x 15" wide. To do that requires you to buy two yards of tolex. Hopefully, your cab is closer to 23.5" per side, so the 72" piece will wrap around all 4 corners and this bypasses attempting to match the repeat. It also simplifies the job, though working with a long piece can be awkward. Cut a filler piece from the remainder -- in the same direction -- for the bottom. Because it is the bottom and not the full length of the bottom, you can ignore the repeat. Also, you need to wrap around to the bottom otherwise, if you end the piece at the corner, the adhesive will not hold and the tolex will lift. For the back panel, I'd want the pattern orientation to be the same as the top and, again, I would ignore the repeat.

I'd buy 2 yards. (If the top and two sides plus a little extra to wrap around to the bottom is more than 72" you should be able to buy less than 3 full yards.) You'll have enough to allow for some inevitable waste. If you mess up with the 72x15 piece, it will still be useful for the smaller pieces you need and you'll have enough to cut a second piece. You should have enough to cut a "practice" piece for the top where the control panel faces the ceiling.

You specified tolex and not tweed. Tweed is a little different and I'd say the direction will matter a whole lot more with tweed compared to tolex. Tweed would be historically correct for a 5F6a.

[nuke]

Yeah, I recovered my real 5F6A, a 1960, some 20+ years ago. Long enough I only remember some of the details, one of them being to align the tweed and buy a little extra. I still have the amp. The other thing was the only tweed fabric available at the time was the stuff Fender was using, which is a touch "green" looking. Way better than the black furniture naugahyde and Spanish-Colonial style octagon brass tacks it had when I got it.

The project I have now is a re-issue Bassman cabinet that I've had in the garage. I'm turning it into a lightweight, low-power "Baby Super Reverb". So I want to cover it with Tolex and a different grille cloth. Sort of thinking black nubtex and salt-and-pepper grille fabric. Or maybe something more colorful.

[Phil_S]

Remember to keep track of which side is the top and the bottom. I highly recommend a fat Sharpie to write "Bottom" on the bottom. Otherwise, you end up with the two seams on the top. Realistically, you only get one shot at placing the tolex if you are using contact cement. Please don't ask how I know this. (BTW, I did a good job with it, so you need to get up close to see it.)

[amplifiednation]

Are you doing a one piece wrap? Or a 4 piece wrap? You will need more length to do a one piece wrap...but it's less work.

I'd buy 4 yards...

[nuke]

Are you doing a one piece wrap? Or a 4 piece wrap? You will need more length to do a one piece wrap...but it's less work.

I'd buy 4 yards...

Hmm, that's a thought I hadn't considered.

I was thinking a 4-piece wrap, more or less the same as the tweed-job would be.

The water based glue is pretty forgiving. I covered my Magnatone 260 cabinet rebuild with it. It is slow, but it is removable.

The re-tweed on my original Bassman I put on with liquid hide glue. Also forgiving and slow. But it has done a great job. 25 years later, it's still holding very well.

[amplifiednation]

You will need less tolex if you do a 4 piece wrap...but I still wouldn't buy less than 3 yards. Unless you are using real tweed, it's pretty cheap to buy extra material so I wouldn't cut it close. Some of the cuts around the control cavity are really a pain, 4 piece wrap would give you the ability to re-do that section if you need to, without sacrificing the rest of the job

If you want to do a one piece wrap, 4 yards will give you enough for a long piece, and then you will have plenty of cut off for the back panels.