Damaged amp cabinet...Fixable?

Fender Pro Jr I bought cheap from a fellow forumite, needs to be patched up. Doesn't have to look perfect, I don't want to completely dismantle and retolex it. Wondered if there's an half-assed way to make it look okay again.

I'll let the pics speak for emselves:

epoxy putty and a small patch carefully cut and aligned?...you'll need a recover to make it look good though

get jimsz to do it! (or give u a scrap)

Yeah, that doesn't look like that big a deal if you're willing to settle for "okay". My only reservation about epoxy type fillers is that they're so hard and tough to work after you get em in place. I might try something a little softer, and then maybe put some kind of sealer on it after you get it shaped the way you want it.

I would probably use good old automotive "Bond-O". It's easy to work with and is dressable with carpentry grade sanders & grinders. Then Tolex it which is pretty easy to do.

Good luck on your restoration

Looks like a dog chewed it. Good luck; I prolly would try Casey's suggestion. Fortunately my dogs don't chew stuff. I'd be woking a dog if that happened.

No dog, it fell on it's way to the guy that bought it before me.

If I wasn't so damn honest, I'd do a small insurance scam through paypal.

I'll try the 'Bond-O' stuff, thanks for the tip. So where can I score a tiny patch of tweed tolex for cheaps? In case anyone knows, preferably europe...

I;d peel back the current tolex, use wood putty or epoxy putty.

Build it up, sand it down with a wood block and sand paper so its smooth,

then buy a chunk of tween tolex, cut it to size and match the pattern and

glue it on there. You'll have a seam but what the hell. Fold the existing tolex

over the patch so the overlap faces down and you wont see the line from above.

Cost to fix, maybe about $10

I agree with your suggestion except for one part...where can you find a yard of tweed for $10? The putty will cost a few bucks as well. I'd guess probably $40 or so to fix it, including shipping for the tweed, but that's much cheaper than a new cabinet. You might be able to replace the tweed on that whole side of the cabinet, by the looks of it, so, assuming you do a decent job with that, you should be able to make it look like new.

I think given some time, you could make that look almost good as new. It's a good thing the damage is close to the underside and not on the top or front.

Many of the suggestions here should get you there. One thing to remember is that the tweed on your cab has probably been treated or aged. You could do a bang up job with filling in the damage and cutting a nice piece of tweed to match the pattern, but it will kind of stick out if the patched tweed doesn't get treated to look similar if not the same as the rest of the cabinet.

Perhaps, you might be able to find out from the manufacturer what they used on it and try to do the same thing. It might be a bit of leg work for that one detail, but it will make a world of difference in the looks if you can match it.

I think I would go with the Bondo, but I have a lot of experience working with it so it seems like an easy fix. Peel back enough of the tolex (and cover it while you work) so you don't compound the mess and problems. If you work with small batches and build up thin layers you should get away with minimal sanding.

Bondo isnt all thet fun to work with. Its really not made for wood either.

For auto bodies, its fine, but on an amp cab where it might take a shot

on its corner, I think the epoxy putty would be superior. Allot cheaper too.

Wood filler isnt too expensive either. Only problem with it is it shrinks over time if you trowl

it in there to build it up.

Don't you know anybody who works or worked in construction?

Check around and see if you can get a Cabinetmaker to make you a new cabinet out of some shop scrap plywood. It shouldn't cost much, and they should be able to pull that off in about an hour or less.

Beat me to it. It's just a box and you could reuse your speaker baffle. Then spend twenty bucks on a quart of Duplicolor truck bed liner and apply it with a 1/2" nap roller and a few 1" paint brushes (don't use foam, they melt). If you're careful you'll have a cab that looks like it's covered in black tolex from 3 feet away.

Also don't use that Herculiner stuff. It's got small rubber chunks in it and it's hard to get an even, tolex like finish. The Herculiner doesn't make you higher than a hippie on a helicopter ride like the Duplicolor, but the latter isn't bad if you make sure you have adequate ventilation.

Thanks. I'd much rather stay with the current tweed look though, even with a patched up corner. Impo the damage isn't severe enough to put in the work and materials to build a new cab that looks "like it's covered in black tolex from 3 feet away"...

Don't have the amp yet, I think it's supposed to get here by monday. Or at least I hope so. I'll post back when I'm done with it.

I would have to try to do something different with it. My current stupid project is using the brain of an "Epoch 10" practice amp that was left in my classroom years ago. I have an Eminence 12" speakeer that's not doing anythiing so I am putting them together in a pine cabinet and I may try to do a fancy finish on it. When it's finished I'll have a ten watt amp with a good speaker that's a one-of-a-kind. It may sound great, it may not but I'll let you all know.

How much of the original tweed fabric is left? Would it be possible to glue it in place after cab repair? If it will mostly cover the repaired area it would be another 3 foot repair. With it being a bottom corner it may work.

Not sure, since I don't have the amp yet, but judging on the pics I'd say most -if not all- of the tweed is destroyed in the damaged area.

Another idea/question that's probably impossible and stupid: I don't suppose it'd be at all possible to peel of the tweed fabric from the back plate and use that to cover the corner once it's fixed?

I often cannibalize covering material from under the headshell or some invisible area for small patches (some old material is damn near impossible to perfectly match). Just be sure to cut carefully and use a glue which doesn't out-gas and mess with the material; several 3M spray products are made to do upholstery and a can is ~$20, I'll even make texture templates with soft epoxy putty on virgin material sprayed with nonstick and then press on a little black RTV on tolex until it hardens but tweed complicates everything

Thats whatI was thinking, cut a square from the bottom where it cant be seen and glue it on the side

after you patch it up.