tolex cleaning update

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Joe E
Posts: 627
Joined: 7 Feb 2000 1:01 am
Location: Houston Texas
State/Province: Texas
Country: United States

tolex cleaning update

Post by Joe E »

Well after trying all your suggestions to clean the tolex this is what I ended up doing.

Tried 409, fantastik, orange cleaner, once they all dried a day or so, the amp looked dull and dirty. I couldn't get the nooks and crannys cleaned. Seems weard that the amp never left the house and ended up dirty and dull.

Anyway...

I ended up using murphys oil soap and a damp cloth. Wetted the cloth, dabbed some soap and washed an area. The continued until finished. Got anotner clean cloth, dampened it and wiped the amp down agian. Then finished it up with Armoral Wipes. THree days now and it still looks great. Usually after a day or so it goes back to looking like crap. But this looks great...still.

Anyway thanks for the suggestions.

Joe
Donny Hinson
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Post by Donny Hinson »

<SMALL>I couldn't get the nooks and crannys cleaned.</SMALL>
Did you use a scrub brush? (That's an essential!) Both the oil-soap and the Armor-All products contain oil, and that's what makes your tolex shiny. I prefer to use a spray liquid wax, like Pledge, or a car or boat spray-wax. (Armor-All leaves the vinyl feeling too "greasy", to me.)
Joe E
Posts: 627
Joined: 7 Feb 2000 1:01 am
Location: Houston Texas
State/Province: Texas
Country: United States

Post by Joe E »

Hi Donny,

Yea I used a brush too. You know when I first cleaned it, it looked great. Then a day or so later after it completely dried it look terrible. The murphy's soap and armoral still look great many days later.

One thing about armor-all I never spray it directly on any thing. I use a wet wash rag and spray the sollution on the cloth. It is pretty dilluted when I wipe it on.

Not sure if the oils is good or bad for the tolex. I would think the tolex would dry out after awhile. But I have amps that are 40 years old and look great. NO dired or cracking tolex anywhere.

Anyway, this seemed to be the right combination on the Music Man amp.

Joe