Tube Amp Archive

I made a cabinet for a head. The covering is vinyl with a fabric backing. It was not long enough to go all the way around the box, so there is an extra strip in the bottom, overlapping the edges of the bigger strip that covers most of the amp.

I was afraid to leave cut edges exposed, figuring they might fray or something, and I also thought it would be hard to get them straight. The edges of the middle strip are folded over.

The problem is that now the covering is thick where the folded parts are, and the edge of the chassis rests on them. The chassis is raised slightly in front because of this, and that pushes the knobs up just enough to create interference with the front panel when I want to turn them.

Can I get away with just cutting the vinyl and leaving a cut edge exposed, or do the amp makers have special powers that enable them to do stuff I can't do?

Exposed. No problem! Look at all those black faced fenders.

I decided it would be quicker to rout out the opening and make more clearance. I only routed one side of the panel, because I thought it would look neat that way.

I ended up with one issue. The routing is done perfectly, but the lumpy nature of the fabric over the front panel obscures that, so it looks sort of homemade.

With due respect,in general it looks very good and certainly was hard work, but 2 small details work against you:

1) you didn't round cabinet edges, which in itself is not that bad, but the way you covered the corners makes them *look* like Robin Hood´s peaked cap (sorry, couldn´t find a closer example).
*Maybe* you can smash those "peaks" somewhat rounder, tolex and all, with a hammer, and apply any kind of corner protectors (plastic or metal, your choice) ,that would certainly help.

2) the extra front panel cutout might even look cool, pity the fabric horizontal bar texture in this case works against you, because extra material you took out seems to be the exact same width as one horizontal "bar".

Personally I´d remove that cloth, rout front panel edge even end to end and use some neutral texture cloth there, which does not draw attention to itself (think black JCM900 type cloth or any flat black type) so sight is attracted to the gorgeous bright metallic front panel.

jm2c