Tolex 101 : How to cut and wrap a corner with tolex

In this video we are going to dive into one of the trickiest parts of working with tolex; corners. We walk you through the tools and techniques necessary to get smooth invisible seems. Whether it's on a pedalboard, amplifier or cabinet, with a little practice you should be able to have flawless corners.
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[@geoffcowan2384]

I always paint the corners the same color as the tolex before I wrap the cab. That way if the tolex shrinks back or I’m not as perfect as I’d like to be, then it’s not as obvious. Great vid.

[@louistorres]

Holy smoke! What a great tip! Thank you for sharing that!!!

[@ROOKTABULA]

I use sharpie marker so that nothing interferes with the glue bond as paint might due.

[@louistorres]

@@ROOKTABULA Sharpie!!!! Omg, thanks for the tip!!!!! Makes so much sense!! Thank you, thank you!!

[@louistorres]

Two years ago, I bought a bare wood Marshall JCM900 412 cabinet plus Celestion speakers as a project for $125. Long story short, I butchered EVERY single corner! Hahaha! Fast forward to a few days ago, I bought a cosmetically ruined Mesa 412 and ordered new tolex that should be here next week. To avoid any issues, I did a KZbin search (it's 12:45am in New York) and found this video! Thank you so so much for posting this! I seriously have been having anxiety just from the thought of doing the corners again! Hahaha! You are the man!! I'll post a before, during and after video on my KZbin channel and I feel confident that i won't ruin things this time! Thanks again, brother!!!!

[@joshuamccanless2647]

I used to work for a small operation that built PA systems and this was a great refresher on how to work the corners correctly. I bought an amp I'm considering recovering and this was JUST the right video to bring back all the instruction I got back then. Thank you for this! I THOUGHT that looked like The Office in the background! LOL

[@TomKC-USA]

FINALLLLLLY! A 'step-by-step' video that actually teaches you something that you can take away and do your own. I'm restoring old 1940s portable tube radio cases and NEEDED (badly) a video like this. PLEASE DO MORE!!

[@Sixxiron]

This is absolutely perfect! Short, sweet and right on point. Thanks for doing this and showing us the Ninja tolex ways

[@jahbay]

What a great video you made. It was concise and to the point with no extra gibberish. You did a wonderful job, thank you.

[@BlackbirdPedalboards]

Thanks for the kind words

[@EnmandsBand1]

Good method, I did exactly this today on my two new head shells and it went really well. I think you also did like I have done, gluing the tolex all the way around the top and sides first to have it fixed close to the corners so you can cut the corners before putting the glue on (a lot less messy)

[@brianhubley4479]

Just finished my corners. This worked perfectly. This is a great video to watch before doing your corners. I didn't use crazy glue tho. I just used tolex glue. Thanks for posting this video.

[@BlackbirdPedalboards]

That's great to hear the video helped!

[@TwistedIdentity]

So glad you made this. Added to favorites. Thanks man!

[@BlackbirdPedalboards]

Wrath Oskvro no problem! Hoping to do some more tolex vids soon.

[@richardmiller191]

Great video! Good to know how to make clean corners. I've built a couple of speaker cabinets but always used plastic corners so it didn't show, but now I'm making a speaker cab to match my fender amp and I can match it. Thanks for the video. Great job.

[@michaelinglis567]

I know this is an older video but I had a request. I'd be interested in seeing the process of adding a pinstripe channel like orange does with their cabs. Im pretty sure I know how they would do it but I'd like to know as much as possible before I hit my cab with the router lol. I build my own pedals and guitars as well as build tube amps and restore vintage tube radios. So I'd like to start figuring out cabs next. I currently run two 1x12's cause it's a good setup for low and high wattage amps. Which works great with my marshall DSL100HR and my fender single ended Champ style amp that I built which army two main amps. One of the 1x12's is an orange ppc112 and the other is a seismic audio cab that I always meant to retolex and swap hardware on to better match the orange cab but I have so many projects I want to do that it always gets put off lol. Anyways I think I'm just about sick of looking at the mismatched cabs lol. The seismic cab is slightly bigger but with the right modifications I think most non guitar players won't notice they don't match. And even for guitar players it will at least be less obvious than it is now. Anyways I enjoyed the video and it perfectly answered my question about doing the corners. Thanks for posting!

[@newENIO11]

just what im looking for! thanks!

[@thesurfjunkies]

Very nice tips.

[@theHAL9000]

Other videos available helpful but without sufficient focus on the corners. Thanks!

[@BlackbirdPedalboards]

Thanks! We are looking to do more videos on the other tricky areas of wrapping.

[@YarraYindi9]

Amazing and very professional. I'm assuming I could use this method to cover a small case (like a train case) with lid? There would be interiors of the case to cover as well. Thank you!

[@uptownphotography]

Great video. By any chance do you have a video on completely rapping an amp cab in Tolex....start to finish. Thanks. Phil NYC Area

[@juanmanuelfahey9434]

Excellent technique. Now if you applied a good coat of good quality contact cement before you "should" not need the added Krazy Glue. Although it might help a beginner.

[@mrsongst868]

Long wait for a video like this, would you do more?

[@BlackbirdPedalboards]

MrSonG St definitely. We are planning an entire series on working with tolex.

[@mrsongst868]

Blackbird Pedalboards Great news! Entire Series? Yeah!

[@lothringerinjena]

MrSonG St, can't agree more with you!

[@reversalstudio]

great job but one thing i noticed so i got to write it in case something bad happens!!your blade is so close to your wrist and an accident happens so fast!!be careful!!

[@bordonbert]

How about a vid showing how to apply the leatherette end sections you find on cases like the rectangular Fender Pro Hardcase in Tweed? These are usually darkish brown with a white stitching and white piping on the inner edge. They look like they simply have the piping end pre-stitched then wrapped and glued around the case with about 1cm projecting over the end which is then folded a couple of times and stuck down. But the end face is then also stitched to finish and it's difficult to imagine how to go about getting that stitching in place when these pieces are fitted wrapped around a corner as it becomes a 3D piece. Is it pre-stitched then fitted? Is it actually stitched into the wood beneath? I can't find anything which shows how this could be done and I would love to know.

[@marty1776]

thanks for video!!!!

[@evalley]

thanks

[@ronsommers8814]

here's a question... could you show how to do a Dumble style amp? It's rather unique as the front face looking down from the top has angles that look like this |____/-----------------------------\_____| just move the center line up and you'll get the picture. I attempted it and it's not as perfect as it could be.

[@rootvalue]

So you need three tools: a blade, superglue and a burnisher. Step one is after the spray glue is applied? You’re spraying super glue? I would think spray/contact adhesive might work better 😳

[@sublimeguitars2039]

Yep, this video is only on corners

[@markriley1882]

Cool

[@juanmanuelruiz6813]

Hi, what kind of leather do you wear?

[@ShadeHope1969]

It`s a razor knife Bother,,,,, Razor Knife

[@gator9912]

How do you wrap a round corner?

[@TheLakelandLife]

Same method. The corners on the board we were wrapping have a 3/8" round over. Just extend the cut to where the frame is flat and the process stays the same. If it is a very large curve (over a 1/2" round over) you may need some light heat to make the tolex more pliable.

[@eyedunno8462]

It's still extremely fuckin difficult to pull off