I went to this fabric store today with the ol' lady and came across rolls and rolls of tolex in a myriad of colors and textures including the reptile and suede ones that are so expensive from Mesa. The thought of spending $400 for the upcharge for a custom covering makes me sick now. The most expensive tolex was only $16/ yard. The roll is a little over 4 ft across so you effectively get 12 sq ft for less than $16. I know how to stretch vinyl and contact adhesive doesn't cost that much either. Why are they charging so much? I might give my Mark IV an alligator skin now just to screw around. I will just have to buy one of those nice leather luggage handles.
Makes me think that it might be an idea to start a business for recovering amplifiers. Approximately $40 each way shipping CONUS + cost of retolex. If I charge say $220 that gives me approximately $200 to pay for my time to remove the old, and install the new. Not to shabby being that the contact adhesive would only cost a few bucks and the stripping solution would be another couple bucks. That makes about $5 for the sticky part. That leaves $195 for labor. Actual labor would be split over a layup period twice, thus leaving time to start another or a couple. All in all I could handle 4 in a day. Thus making me about $780/ day. That's quite an improvement in wages I'd say. That is about triple what I currently make. So even on a slow day of 1 piece I could still survive.
So yeah at $300 total cost for the customer it would still rival Mesa's larger upcharge and the customer could still have the chassis to play while the amp is being recovered. Hmmmmmmm.......
Makes me think that it might be an idea to start a business for recovering amplifiers. Approximately $40 each way shipping CONUS + cost of retolex. If I charge say $220 that gives me approximately $200 to pay for my time to remove the old, and install the new. Not to shabby being that the contact adhesive would only cost a few bucks and the stripping solution would be another couple bucks. That makes about $5 for the sticky part. That leaves $195 for labor. Actual labor would be split over a layup period twice, thus leaving time to start another or a couple. All in all I could handle 4 in a day. Thus making me about $780/ day. That's quite an improvement in wages I'd say. That is about triple what I currently make. So even on a slow day of 1 piece I could still survive.
So yeah at $300 total cost for the customer it would still rival Mesa's larger upcharge and the customer could still have the chassis to play while the amp is being recovered. Hmmmmmmm.......
