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Classic Kustom Covering

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:05 pm
by Alan Peterson
There are dozens of sites that promote and educate folks on how to do upholstery for hot rods, mid-century sofas, etc., and I think I've visited them all. What I'd like to find is a tutorial - or at least some DIY info - on how to do the tuck-and-roll look of classic '70s Kustom amplifiers (http://www.guitarweasel.com/images/kustom_amp.jpg).

Anyone got one?

Re: Classic Kustom Covering

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 12:03 pm
by Rodger Knox
Alan, I did a couple of cabinets with tuck & roll back in the early '70s. The rolls were wider than Kuston used, but the technique should be the same. Now if I could just remember how I did it... :roll:

Re: Classic Kustom Covering

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:59 pm
by RD Yazidi
I would think a start would be to use the sparkle vinyl fabric that Kustom used for many of their amps and cabs. I don't know if this will be helpful as it seems to be the easy part. Mojo seems to have recently started carrying this when I looked through their tolex section. A great US supplier is Mendel's... I recently bought a couple linear yards of their pistachio sparkle for a drum recovering project, along with a bunch of samples of other colors. May or may not be more cost effective than Mojo, but I like their selection and sample policy. The stuff I got from Mendel's would be plenty durable as Tolex substitute.

My guess is that Kustom also did some kind of trick involving stapling down the foam at predictable intervals along the cabinet walls. But I ain't no upholstery whiz.