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I restored color to a faded '70s Ampeg grill using art store ink and a refillable spray can.
I have a 1970 AC12 which is supposed to be an accordion amp, but it's pretty cool for guitar, too. The grill cloth appeared to be so filthy that it was brownish grey black. I was going to do major work on the amp, and it was already apart, so I went one step further and pulled all the staples in the grill cloth and separated it from the baffle.
Washed this thing in the tub, with Windex with ammonia, with Fabuloso (like 409) spray cleaner, with dishwasher detergent, with Wesley's Bleche-White, and finally, Big Orange citrus cleaner. Not at the same time of course. No improvement, no color.
What's the deal, how clean can you get? So I got out my 10x magnifying glass and had a real close look. The deal was, the fibers that are supposed to be colored were all pale gray, no color at all. The cloth is made of solid plastic strands woven in with fiber strands that are supposed to be blue. I figured it must have either rinsed away well before I got it, or more likely, got bleached out in sunlight. There was a little spot where the badge used to be that still had color, I could see how it used to look, and how the color just stopped at the outline of the badge.
Totally on a hunch, this is what I did, and it worked...
I sprayed it with Luma brand Slate Blue ink. (Art Supplies)
Specifically, I mixed the ink about 50-50 with rubbing alcohol, and loaded it into a refillable spray can from Harbor Freight. Pressurized it with a bicycle pump, totally low-budget, low-tech.
I set the grill in the bathtub and spray-soaked it with the ink, and just let it sit there for an hour. Then rinsed it with warm water from the spout, slapped it dry and let it fully dry in front of a small fan.
OK it doesn't look brand new, but it now has some definite rich color, and it is already perfectly the right size with all the perfect bends and folds intact. I can slip it right back over the baffle, staple it down, and it will be as straight and tight as the factory fit.
The Slate Blue was just a guess, there is probably an even better choice out there, but it looks a lot better now than it did before.
Try this before you replace your old cloth, it might work for you, too.
The tub cleaned up in about a minute, using plain bleach.
I have a 1970 AC12 which is supposed to be an accordion amp, but it's pretty cool for guitar, too. The grill cloth appeared to be so filthy that it was brownish grey black. I was going to do major work on the amp, and it was already apart, so I went one step further and pulled all the staples in the grill cloth and separated it from the baffle.
Washed this thing in the tub, with Windex with ammonia, with Fabuloso (like 409) spray cleaner, with dishwasher detergent, with Wesley's Bleche-White, and finally, Big Orange citrus cleaner. Not at the same time of course. No improvement, no color.
What's the deal, how clean can you get? So I got out my 10x magnifying glass and had a real close look. The deal was, the fibers that are supposed to be colored were all pale gray, no color at all. The cloth is made of solid plastic strands woven in with fiber strands that are supposed to be blue. I figured it must have either rinsed away well before I got it, or more likely, got bleached out in sunlight. There was a little spot where the badge used to be that still had color, I could see how it used to look, and how the color just stopped at the outline of the badge.
Totally on a hunch, this is what I did, and it worked...
I sprayed it with Luma brand Slate Blue ink. (Art Supplies)
Specifically, I mixed the ink about 50-50 with rubbing alcohol, and loaded it into a refillable spray can from Harbor Freight. Pressurized it with a bicycle pump, totally low-budget, low-tech.
I set the grill in the bathtub and spray-soaked it with the ink, and just let it sit there for an hour. Then rinsed it with warm water from the spout, slapped it dry and let it fully dry in front of a small fan.
OK it doesn't look brand new, but it now has some definite rich color, and it is already perfectly the right size with all the perfect bends and folds intact. I can slip it right back over the baffle, staple it down, and it will be as straight and tight as the factory fit.
The Slate Blue was just a guess, there is probably an even better choice out there, but it looks a lot better now than it did before.
Try this before you replace your old cloth, it might work for you, too.
The tub cleaned up in about a minute, using plain bleach.
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