Tolex On Curved Surfaces

[JRomeo]

Hi:

I have had a good experience using tolex to cover the amp cabinets I have built. This time I'd like to use tolex to resurface an old guitar case. This is different in that it has rounded curves, not straight edges like the cabinets. I have read that tolex can be made pliable using a hair dryer. My question is, can I use tolex to resurface the case by streteching or some other technique without having to make a bunch of scissor cuts around the curves? I want as smooth and lineless a seam as possible.

Any suggestions you have would be great, even if it is for a different material. Please see the pictures attached. Thanks very much,

[Jazz P Bass]

It's going to bunch no matter how you stretch it.
Physics.

[J M Fahey]

Besides plastic itself, which can become *a little* more pliable with a heat gun, the main problem is the cloth backing.

Don't know the USA names, but basically there's 2 different textile backings:

1) "lona" (in Spanish), it's the non stretch cotton cloth used to cover truck cargo, make ship sails 100 years ago, cotton bedsheets, cotton shirts, etc.
Very good, bends very well, needs cut corners, it's the most common one.
If you cut a 1" wide tolex strip and pull with your bare hands, it will stretch very little and tear if you pull too much.

2) "jersey" : it's some kind of polyester cloth or cotton woven in such a way, that you can easily stretch it up to 50% beyond its original length.
It's what's used, for example, to tolex front panels, and bend it inside without cuts or seams.

So rather than order by mail, go to some Textiles shop and stretch them with your own hands before ordering.

Or ask some furniture or car upholstering guy, he'll know what I'm talking about.