Comin' Clean

[Fred Cook]

Some like their vintage gear to show its age. I want mine to look new. At the suggestion of one of our members, I have attempted to clean the grill cloth of my ‘69 Sceptre and speaker with Oxy-Clean. Herewith the saga.

I worked outside on a patio on a sunny day. (Pun?) I removed the amp from its case for safety.

I mixed the Oxy-Clean with a bit of dishwashing detergent and sponged the mixture onto the grille cloth. I stroked, did not scrub, with a clean dishwashing brush and rinsed with a sponge with clean water. Obviously, when cleaning the speaker, I was careful not to wet the drivers.

The sight of 30 years of stale nicotine flowing out was most gratifying!

One huge caution, however. The wood of my Sunn was treated with a mild black stain which is not water proof and while the grille cloth no longer has a brown stain, it is definitely darker. This is most noticeable on the amplifier. It can also be seen in the lower left corner of the speaker. I was able to reduce the discoloration of the speaker by dabbing it with a damp sponge as it dried.

Bottom line, I am pleased with the results, but you must be aware that the stain may leach out.

There is a like to a photo. Warning - It is a 5 MP photo, so it may be slow!

http://www.pbase.com/image/6106769/original

[Geoff]

Thanks for the description of your process and caveats.

My Model 2 and 215B grilles were severly beer and dirt stained.  Every gentle method I tried to clean them with didn't really cut it -- so I got angry and went caveman-style.  This entailed taking off the grilles, bringing 'em to the local spray-off car wash...and really letting 'em have it with the pressure washer!  I too was quite concerned about the black stain leaching out and leaving a crappy appearance.  I think I negated much of this through concentrating the stream only in the areas not backed by the wood frame.  I was surprised to find that even though some stain had come out, most of the original appearance remained.  In any case, the look of the whole grille after washing is far superior to what it was before!

Of course, my models have the see-thru plastic grille material and not the woven fabric/fiber that your amp had...so I think even more caution should be taken in these cases.  I wouldn't try this with my 412 cab with the silver cloth, for instance.

YMMV.  I wouldn't recommend pressure washing your grille as a whole but in a moment of weakness I tried it and it worked out okay for me.  I use my gear and they weren't (and still aren't) museum pieces but I think the appearance (and smell) is much better since the cleaning.

I am curious if anybody has unstapled their cloth, gently cleaned it, and then restapled it to the frame (after possibly re-staining it).  I think this would be ideal if done properly.  I might try this with my next project.

Geoff