WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU STORE YOUR AMP IN THE GARAGE!!!

[selloutrr]

OK so not everyone will have the same effect but it's still probably not the best place to keep your prized amps.

This is the inside of a Fender Princeton Reverb blackface AA1164 that spend the better part of 25 years in the garage of a San Diego home.
Can you say total rebuild !!!

Originally the amps rectifier tube blew and the owner set aside and never bothered to get it fixed. so it set and set and set and ..... I'm not sure the pictures do this justice but if the chassis was not already conductive you could probably get continuety from one side of the chassis to the other from the rust. It's so savior that it has rusted over the paper caps in spots. You have got to love salt water!

Can anyone turn me on to a good self contained sandblaster?

[bnwitt]

Gerald Weber always says,

"Never leave your amp overnight anywhere you wouldn't sleep."

[Wayne]

I dunno - when I was younger, I woke up in some pretty funky places

W

[CaseyJones]

You'd need to tee-totally strip it anyway to sandblast it. Even with relatively gentle media like borax or walnut shells you'd blast the resistors and the wiring right outta there.

How I'd do it: It's a lot of work but like any good restoration you're going to have to strip it all the way down. There are then one bazillion automotive specialty shops in and around L.A., I'd shop around the automotive aftermarket and see what I could come up with there. Or look up a good plater, that's a chrome shop in simple English.

Some of Fender's chassis were nickel plated in the '60s. Some are cadmium plated, those are dull looking, the spiffy looking ones are nickel plated. Nickel plate it. Nickel plate is 1/3 of the chroming process anyway. A good soak in muriatic acid will etch that rust right outta there, then the plater can put a quick-but-don't-bust-yer-ass polish on the outside surfaces of the chassis. Communication is key here, you want the plater to know that the faceplate covers up the front of the chassis. Time is money and anything they don't have to prep saves money. It's a hassle to polish the inside of the chassis. So don't. Etch it, neutralize the etching agent, polish the outside, plate it. Stick the circuit board back in there... good to go!

Oh, yeah. Do a cap job while you're at it. That's easy.

Plan "B"... it's not "original" but you could send it out to a powdercoater. Just take every damn thing off the chassis, they'll blast it and powdercoat it any color you want. Be aware that the powdercoat is bitchy to grind through and you'll have to grind through it to solder your grounds down. A Dremel will go through it like it's not even there.

[Ron Worley]

I love amps like this..... turning a turd into a prize vintage piece.. I happened upon an AA864 Bassman in similar straights..... It turned out really nice after restoration.

Ron

[selloutrr]

just another day in the shop. I was surprised to find the tubes still worked the output tubes were late 60's and still tested strong at 94% matched perfectly. The preamps are Bugleboy and average 103% based on spec. 83% on the 12AT7.

has anyone tried over the counter rust removers on this type of chassis? with any luck? I'm curious to try the washing soda plastic bucket iron rod low voltage trip and see if I can zap it off. i usually take it to an auto body paint shop but due to my time line and the time of year it's not going to be in the cards.

[CaseyJones]

I love amps like this..... turning a turd into a prize vintage piece.. I happened upon an AA864 Bassman in similar straights..... It turned out really nice after restoration.

That's not a turd. A real turd looks like it spent some time in seawater. I see no barnacles here!

has anyone tried over the counter rust removers on this type of chassis? with any luck? I'm curious to try the washing soda plastic bucket iron rod low voltage trip and see if I can zap it off. i usually take it to an auto body paint shop but due to my time line and the time of year it's not going to be in the cards.

I'm a big fan of muriatic acid. Last time I checked it's under ten bucks a jug at the local hardware store, even better you can re-use it a couple times. In my experience it will take rust off without substantial harm to solid metal.

I'm sure you could beef up the process using electrolysis and raising the temperature a little.

It looks like that chassis is nice outside and scuzzy inside. I'd consider painting on a hot wax resist to keep the acid from etching plating that's intact. If you intend to re-plate just have at it, soak it, polish it, re-plate.

[Andy Le Blanc]

muriatic acid is another name for hydrocloric acid, at least read the safety sheet before useing.

[selloutrr]

I found an old salty plating guy locally that is willing to do it in his time off between x-mas and the new year for a 6 pack of beer. just so he can say he did it. the sad part is all he wanted was coors light. I was willing to go micro brew!!!

[Wayne]

OK - Buy your friend the colored water, get the micro-brew for yourself, and offer to help/watch him. You may learn something that will be useful somewhere else in life!

W

[CaseyJones]

muriatic acid is another name for hydrocloric acid, at least read the safety sheet before useing.

Oh, yeah. That.

Look at the bright side... the stuff doesn't come in a wax flask and eat human flesh.

I found an old salty plating guy locally that is willing to do it in his time off between x-mas and the new year for a 6 pack of beer. just so he can say he did it. the sad part is all he wanted was coors light. I was willing to go micro brew!!!

Yay! Plating Guy gets some business and lives to plate another day.

Toss 'im another 6-pack and have 'im do yer hubcaps while you're at it.

[Zippy]

OK so not everyone will have the same effect but it's still probably not the best place to keep your prized amps.

That's not exclusive to garage environments! It'll happen to gear from any number of coastal areas.

My garage, on the other hand, is an excellent place to store gear - less than 15% relative humidity most of the year 'round. Send me some of those 200+ amps if you're worried about 'em.

[selloutrr]

my storage is climate controlled year round I build a regulated room similar to the acoustic room at guitar center for all the guitars. I had an old martin crack it killed me so I went for over kill. the amps are in just a plain room stored in ata cases. you never know when u need to take one with on the road. kept under remote camera , security alarm lock key and attack cat. don't mess with coles he bites!

[Ron Worley]

Mark-

I don't know how it would work, but the folks from Boesheild have a great rust remover- you can buy it in many places, I found it at my local Woodcraft shop:

http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?P ... milyID=984

This stuff is great, and using Boesheild after the rust remover prevents further corrosion. I wouldn't use it on the chassis, but it's great for tools- particularly your table saw top, etc.

Ron

[selloutrr]

was reading to remove rust white wine vinegar i've used it to acid wash hard water spots do you think it'll remove rust?