Original Sunn Tolex and grille cloth

[Doug Pratt]

Howdy guys,
Just got turned onto the site by a friend of mine.  Glad to find Y'all.  Back to the subject.  I'd like to recover my speaker cabs.  They were made in Tualatin in 1969.  I'd like to recover them in original materials, or at least materials that look exactly the same as the originals.  Does anybody out there have any, or know of a source for them?  Also, if I can't match up the materials exactly and went ahead and recovered the cabs with the closest match possible, and also recovered the head in the same new materials, how would that effect the value of the rig?  I ask because the head is about 99% new looking.  Any and all feedback will be much appreciated.  Thank you.
Doug Pratt

[Soundmasterg]

The original tolex and grille cloth is not available anymore and hasn't been for a long time. The closest substitute is probably the ones that Fender uses.

[Robbie Nuke]

try www.kayline.com for the tolex, vibroworld.com for the crill cloth. Not original or exact but pretty damn close.

[broiler]

There's an outfit in SC, Mellotone, original supplier of Sunn grille cloth. They have a near perfect match for the silver late '60's early '70's cloth. They'll send you sample swatches. I used it on 3 2000s heads and two cabs.

[Doug Pratt]

Howdy Guys,
Thans for the input.  My research so far indicates that the Tolex that Brother Sundholm used, prior to selling the outfit to Hartzell, just isn't out there.  At least commercially availiable.  Possibly somebody,somewhere, might be sitting on stash, or unwittingly, they don't know what they have.  The Tolex on my 2000S, is basically a miniscule diamond pattern, with an even smaller line/dash inside of the diamond, creating an overall, geometric pattern (in my opinion).  I looked at ampwares.com Sunn Tolex.  Although it's a geometric pattern, it's not from the Oregon era.  I checked the kayline.com, no dice.  Although I did like the "Hand Tooled Leather" pattern!!  If only they had it in Teal!!  I can imagine a true Sunn worshipper stumbling onto a 2000S w/2 -2X15" rig covered with that!!  I'd be beat into bad health immediately, if not WORSE!!  I'll keep digging.  Somethings bound to turn up.

As far as grille cloth goes,I saw a role of "Mellotone" on eBay, wrong everything, except for the name.  As "broiler" mentioned, if you go to www.wendellfabrics.com, click on mellotone, click on flame resistant fabrics, sample SF 700S appears to be the closest thing.  At least the silver/white is the predominant thread.  I looked at the "vintage Fender Black Face" cloth at ampwares.com, sample FA1030.  Black is the predominant thread in that.  Now that I'm thinking about it, outloud, via this keyboard, I'll Google up Fender grille cloth and see what happens.  Going to Fender. com, was a totally fruitless effort.  Anyway......thanks again!!  If I turn up anything positive, as far as Oregon era coverings are concerned.....
I'll Be Back....
(AHNOLD-'80's)

[rtroast]

Hi all - new here though definitely done some lurking.

Anyway, like everyone else I've been on a long search for materials to spiff up my 200S and Concert bass amps. Can't guarantee this will pass the experts, but it's the closest I've found.

Angela Instruments (angela.com) has Sunn tolex listed at $10/yd. I recently bought some and it looks like the real deal to me. Though it is listed as being sold in 36x54" pieces, when I ordered eight yards, it came in one continuous piece, good stuff as Sunn bottoms only have one seam. Go to Guitar Amp Parts, then Fender Amplifier Parts and scroll down to the covering section. It's listed as "Fender Bravura Black Tolex For '90s Amps." If anyone wants to email me I can send you a 1" square piece to check out, as long as I don't run out. I've seen this stuff appear and disappear on Angela before so you might want to hurry.

Regarding grill cloth, Fender now lists "Sunn" grill cloth on their web site as product number 0037788000. Looks like the normal silver/black grill to me, and I haven't found a way to purchase it yet, but I probably will get some if I figure it out, just to get the ordeal of trying to find parts... over!

[EdBass]

The Wendell Fabric SF7005 is very close. The gray might be a touch more dominant than the original Sunn cloth weave, (all my original grill cloths have too many years and smoke filled gigs behind them to acurately judge) but the colors are right. The biggest difference I've seen is that the rectangles are a little wider than the originals.
I may have found a 50' X 54" role of tolex. Looks correct in a jpeg, but I'm still waiting for a sample piece. I have a pair of 2000S cabs, a pair of 200S cabs, and possibly a 2000S head to recover, but I'll post the remainder of the role here if it works out.
Here's a pic of a 2000S rig I re-grilled with SF7005 last year, maybe a little grayer in color, but awfully close!

[Doug Pratt]

To rtroast and EdBass,
Thanks again for the replies.  I checked out angela.com.  I emailed them, asking to possibly send me a close up picture of the material, or if nothing else, send a sample to the house.  It appears, at least to my eyes, that the grille cloth on Fender .com and the Wendell fabrics - Mellotone, are one and the same.  Tough to tell without having a chunk of each in your hand for comparison.
  If that turns out to be the "Right Stuff" Ed, please give me a yell.
Thanks again,
Pratt

[Johann]

that cloth looks great edbass, I have a 68 solarus cabinet that I am thinking about re-grilling and based on that picture I think I know where I'll get my cloth, thanks

[rtroast]

Just checked back in after realizing there was probably no way for anybody to email me for a sample? My email is randy.troast at sbcglobal.net.

To Doug Pratt: might be tough to get a picture out of Angela but, I can take one and forward it if you want (or just send a sample).

R