Diamondplate faceplate came loose all by itself

[manicsix]

Howdy all,

I attempted to adjust the clean volume last time I played through my recto head.. and I heard a bit of a scrape and thought, what the?

Turns out the faceplate had dropped and was resting on the knobs...

The thing is.. I think the silver diamondplate looks pretty tacky, and here may be my opportunity to do something about that. However, I don't want to devalue the amp...

Thoughts?

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Well, if the piece of wood that the diamond plate was glued to can be removed, you can simply make another one and cover it with tolex or grill cloth or use some cabinet grade wood and stain it.
Then you could re-glue the diamond plate back to the original piece of wood and save it incase you sell the amp.

 

[espboogie123]

I would assume your a lucky one, because most would say that its very hard to remove the faceplate. Take time and paint it flat black.

 

[ibanezrocker720]

I have to agree with espboogie123. I removed the diamondplate from my Dual Rec, which actually wasn't too difficult with a hairdryer heating it up for about 7 minutes and a screwdriver. I then used a rough scrubbing pad to scratch up the surface of the diamondplate and I put 2 light coats of gray primer on it and a few coats of semi-gloss black on the diamondplate and it looks powder coated. Don't put too many coats of primer or paint on it or the diamond designs will start to just look like ovals. I get a lot of compliments on it and I think it looks better than the actual black diamondplate you can buy from mesa for a couple hundred bucks.

 

[espboogie123]

got pics ibanez? Bust them out.

 

[volatileNoise]

Hey guys, gotta ask seems its kinda relevant, why not just pull the knobs off, mask everything up and paint the diamond plate in place on the head???

Anyone done this before?? I am thinking of doing this maybe...

cheers

 

[fluff191]

Hey guys, gotta ask seems its kinda relevant, why not just pull the knobs off, mask everything up and paint the diamond plate in place on the head???

Because:

A) You could get over spray on the Tolex and that looks horrible.

B) If its worth doing, it's worth doing right.

C) That's just lazy and a Mesa amp deserves better than that.

 

[Jerrick]

Masking the whole head except for the plate wouldnt actually be that hard. The hardest part would to to make sure you can get your painters tape and plastic in all the space around the plate, so the paint is only going onto the plate, and not bleeding onto some of the edges.

Really, that method wouldnt be too hard at all. Worst part about it, is instead of moving a tiny little plate around to be painted, you have to be moving the whole amp into a good area to paint, and then youll be wanting to let the whole amp sit for a while to let the coats dry out fully. And youll want to be a bit experienced with painting so you dont get any ugly runs.

Would be best to take the plate off just for the fact your amp is still usable while the work on the plate can happen elsewhere.

 

[mikey383]

Because:

A) You could get over spray on the Tolex and that looks horrible.

Actually, paint doesn't adhere to tolex very well. It's easily scraped off.

Don't ask me how I know

If it's not masked and has a crapload of paint, it won't be so easy to clean off, but a little overspray won't hurt.

OP, just peel that **** the rest of the way off, and use this opportunity to do something different. It's a ***** to get that diamond plate off.

 

[mikey383]

B) If its worth doing, it's worth doing right.

I agree. There is nothing that pisses me off more than someone half-assing something. It doesn't take all that much longer to do it right.

 

[ibanezrocker720]

Yes I do have pics but I'm at work right now . I'll throw them up on here in about 6 hours, after I finish slaving to THE MAN haha.

I def wouldn't recommend masking the diamondplate off and painting it that way. Fluff is right, it's a Mesa...not a Crate practice amp. It's easy enought to get off with a hair dryer and to re-apply with double sided foam tape so why not take the time to do it right so that it looks professional. You have to scuff it up anyways and that is hard to do around the edges while it's still recessed in the shell. Gimme a few hours and I'll post the progress pics and everything for you guys!

 

[Monsta-Tone]

:mrgreen: Yes, but if you **** the chassis up really badly, then you have to send it to me! :mrgreen:


Hell yes remove it 1st!

 

[Heritage Softail]

If it is something you can put vaseline on, coat it lightly with vaseline, and then if you get overspray on it you can just wipe it off...

 

[ibanezrocker720]

Ok guys, here are the pics I promised...I went home on lunch break to get them since I live 5 min away. Theres a bunch of them haha. Let me know what you guys think. Also I cut the smaller rectangle diamondplate pieces on my rack as well as the wah foot pad plate and painted them semi-gloss black to match the amp

HERE ARE THE BEFORE PICS...NEXT POST WILL HAVE THE AFTER PICS

 

[ibanezrocker720]

HERE ARE THE AFTER PICS...

 

[fluff191]

NICE!!! 8)

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Man what a difference! It looks freaking beautiful!

 

[ibanezrocker720]

Thanks guys! I thought the chrome looked a little tacky and I got tired of it and wanted to make it look meaner without paying Mesa way too much $$$ for a black piece of diamondplate. In the end I like this shade of black better than Mesa's anyways so it all worked out. :mrgreen:

 

[parabola]

I decided to paint my Dual Rectifier today after seeing this thread. I was always thinking of how cool the black faced rectos looked but always thought it would be to hard to take it off and get it back on again. However props to ibanezrocker720 for the hair dryer and a screw driver tip. I just used one can of Satin Black Spray Paint with two decent coats. Decided to leave the vent grill the original brushed aluminum look for good measure. Looks a lot better than the typical chrome diamond plate finish.

 

[ibanezrocker720]

Man does that look sweet! :mrgreen: Glad it worked out for you parabola!!