Hello. (Forum Newbie / Rig Pics inside)

[rjg]

Hey Chris, nice work. The head and cab are beautiful. I'm thinking of doing the same with my Mark IV and the IIb. Did you remove the grill cloth and replace with the wicker or did you just put the wicker over the top of the grill cloth?

 

[megavoice]

Hey Chris, nice work. The head and cab are beautiful. I'm thinking of doing the same with my Mark IV and the IIb. Did you remove the grill cloth and replace with the wicker or did you just put the wicker over the top of the grill cloth?

Well I don`t know what he did, but I bought a new plank a sawed the needed holes into.
I`d not recommend to put the wicker over the cloth just because of losing sound quality. There would be too much material in front of the speaker.
Also, you`d have very likely too little space on the edges to put the frame back in its place.
And, one day if you`d like to sell your amp, you can sell it with the original one, and sell that with the wicker separately, or if you don`t like the wicker any more you can change immediately, and vice versa

 

[rjg]

Megavoice, thanks for your reply. I agree with you about there being too much material in front of the speaker and reduction in sound quality, I was just interested in how Chris went about it. My original thought for my combos was to remove the grill cloth and replace with wicker but I like your idea of installing the wicker on a new grill board, thus having both options and the original handy if you ever wanted to sell. Also, the grill boards installed by mesa have a zillion staples in them, and would take a long time to remove. Anyway, sharing thoughts and ideas with each other is always a good thing. Thanks,

Ron

 

[gts]

There's different sized piping/welting out there.
The bead can be just about any size; 1/8", 3/16", etc and the "tail" lengths differ as well.
I'd suggest getting a tail that's at least 3/8" but 7/16" to 1/2" is better (more room for the staples).

It can be tricky to install and keep the bead as straight as possible.
There are some methods to aid in getting it straight.
One is to cut a slot the size and depth of the bead in a long piece of wood.
Once cut lay the bead in the slot, hold it to the grille, then staple the tail to the grille.

Hope this helps.

 

[chriselkjar]

Hey Chris, nice work. The head and cab are beautiful. I'm thinking of doing the same with my Mark IV and the IIb. Did you remove the grill cloth and replace with the wicker or did you just put the wicker over the top of the grill cloth?

I made templates from the old ones and then cut new ones a bit smaller to account for the extra space the wicker would take up. They are far from perfect but they look good enough for me.

I just cut the new ones, spray painted them black and then put the wicker on top of those.

 

[megavoice]

Chris, what sizes did YOU use for the piping ?

 

[chriselkjar]

Chris, what sizes did YOU use for the piping ?

This was the cheapest (on amazon prime) stuff I could find.

 

[megavoice]

Chris, what sizes did YOU use for the piping ?

This was the cheapest (on amazon prime) stuff I could find.

OOOOOPS !
There`s a misunderstanding, I meant gts........

 

[gts]

Chris, what sizes did YOU use for the piping ?

This was the cheapest (on amazon prime) stuff I could find.

Cloth piping. Interesting choice.
I've never tried cloth piping.

Amps/ speaker cabs usually have vinyl/ pvc piping. Doesn't mean cloth isn't valid just never seen it used on an amp/ speaker cab.
I'd guess if it gets dirty it'd be tough to clean - that could be the reason amp/ speaker cabs usually have vinyl/ pvc piping.

 

[gts]

Chris, what sizes did YOU use for the piping ?

This was the cheapest (on amazon prime) stuff I could find.

OOOOOPS !
There`s a misunderstanding, I meant gts........

I've used various sizes.
The "problem" is as the bead size decrease so does the tail (aka flange).
I think a smaller bead size looks better but the you're left with only a 1/4 to 5/16" tail/ flange for stapling it to the grille.
When you consider the clothes' and/ or wickers' thickness on the grille, the thickness pushes the bead farther from the wood grille.
This leave less room for attaching/ stapling the tail/ flange to the grille.
For example: when using a small 1/8" bead with say an 1/4" tail/ flange you could be down to just 3/16" of the tail/ flange overlapping the wood for stapling.
Not impossible but you have to be careful to make sure the staples go through piping and the wood for the piping to be secure. It gets tricky.

 

[chriselkjar]

Cloth piping. Interesting choice.
I've never tried cloth piping.

Amps/ speaker cabs usually have vinyl/ pvc piping. Doesn't mean cloth isn't valid just never seen it used on an amp/ speaker cab.
I'd guess if it gets dirty it'd be tough to clean - that could be the reason amp/ speaker cabs usually have vinyl/ pvc piping.

100% only because I couldn't find the vinyl stuff on amazon, haha.

Im pretty sure I'll be redoing all of this in the near future because its not perfect but the cloth seems to work pretty decently so far.

 

[megavoice]

I've used various sizes.
The "problem" is as the bead size decrease so does the tail (aka flange).
I think a smaller bead size looks better but the you're left with only a 1/4 to 5/16" tail/ flange for stapling it to the grille.
When you consider the clothes' and/ or wickers' thickness on the grille, the thickness pushes the bead farther from the wood grille.
This leave less room for attaching/ stapling the tail/ flange to the grille.
For example: when using a small 1/8" bead with say an 1/4" tail/ flange you could be down to just 3/16" of the tail/ flange overlapping the wood for stapling.
Not impossible but you have to be careful to make sure the staples go through piping and the wood for the piping to be secure. It gets tricky.

Thank you.

Cloth piping ? NO ? Not at all. Of course it becomes dirty and I surely believed there`s only plastic to get, and that`s o.k.