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Topic: Thoughts on recovering a 1960 4-10 Bassman? |
Eric Philippsen
From:
Central Indiana, USA
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Posted 25 Oct 2016 7:23 am |
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I was extremely fortunate to find a 1960 4-10 Bassman a couple of weeks ago from a farm about an hour away from here in southern Indiana. Kept inside the house, it does work, although it needed a cap job as the the electrolytics were way, way out of tolerance. That's being taken care of now.
However, although original in everything else, it was recovered decades ago in black naugahyde with old blackface amp grillcloth. Not a bad job and although cosemtically it's a bit beat, it's not a dog by any stretch.
So, I was wondering whether I should have it retweeded and or just leave it like it is? I ask because I've always gotten varied, honest and good views and advice from Forum members.
Maybe I should add that the person who would retweed it is really experienced in that/ Probably about $250 or thereabouts to get that done.
Thanks for your input. |
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Michael Butler
From:
California, USA
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Posted 25 Oct 2016 9:06 am
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since the sound is being brought up to speed, and that is the main thing, secondarily, is the looks. so, it is your subjective call on that. is it all original otherwise?
retweeding it MAY increase the resale price at a later date since it would be closer to original. how much do you have in it so far? if you got a steal on it, it may be worth the retweed.
play music!
_________________
please see my Snakeskin's Virtual Music Museum below.
http://muscmp.wordpress.com/ |
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Tim Whitlock
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 25 Oct 2016 9:32 am
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| Michael Butler wrote: |
| since the sound is being brought up to speed, and that is the main thing, secondarily, is the looks. so, it is your subjective call on that. is it all original otherwise? |
I agree with Michael - it's entirely subjective if you intend to keep the amp. If your goal is to flip it you'd have to weigh what you have into it + the cost to re-tweed vs resale value with and without the re-tweed.
Personally, I love the old tweed amps and would restore it to original cosmetics, as long as you have someone you trust completely to do the job right. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 25 Oct 2016 10:22 am
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At $250 for a real good re-tweed/re-grille job with the right materials, I'm pretty sure I'd get rid of an old black naugahyde + blackface grille recover to put an otherwise nice original 4x10 Bassman back to stock specs. As long as the transformers are original and the circuit hasn't been seriously messed with, at least.
I'd never re-tweed an original cover/grille on one of these, even if it's fairly beat like on my '57. But since the original tweed and grille have been taken off already, I think it will certainly look a lot better, and probably increase its value - in my judgment, more than the $250. This is a true holy-grail amp - in my experience, people who buy amps like this want them as close as possible to "right". |
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Steven Paris
From:
Los Angeles
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Posted 25 Oct 2016 10:26 am
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+1 for re-tweed. That amp surely must rock!!
_________________
Emmons & Peavey |
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Eric Philippsen
From:
Central Indiana, USA
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Posted 25 Oct 2016 11:42 am
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Thanks everyone! This forum is great.
I'm gonna think on it some more but I'm leaning towards the retweed route.
The amp is all original (except for the Naugahyde and grill) and it was pretty amazing to open it up and see all its electronics intact including the Jensen P10Q (instead of P10R?) speakers.
Thanks again. |
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Malcolm McMaster
From:
Beith Ayrshire Scotland
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Posted 25 Oct 2016 12:19 pm
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Why not re-tweed it yourself, I recently recovered an old Nashville 400 cab with tweed, and Fender style grille cloth for a lot lot less than $250, wasn't all that hard.
_________________
MSA Millenium SD10, GK MB200, Sica 12inch cab, Joyo American Sound Pedal/ Jay Ganz Straight Ahead amp, Telonics 15inch in Peavey cab, Digitech RP150, Peterson tuner.Hilton volume pedal.Scott Dixon seat and guitar flight case. |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 25 Oct 2016 1:06 pm
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I'd send the cabinet to Rick Johnson, he does a bang up job on that sort of thing.  |
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Chris Boyd
From:
Leonia,N.J./Charlestown,R.I.
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David Gertschen
From:
Phoenix, Arizona
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Posted 25 Oct 2016 2:16 pm
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I would re-tweed it the way it is supposed to look.
That is too cool of an amp to have the wrong material on it. |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 26 Oct 2016 12:38 am
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seeing that it's NOT original anymore, RE-TWEED !
It's not that hard to do it yourself, whats the worst that can happen, you do it, don't like it and send it off to someone else ? Probably burn $25 in material. It's worth to effort.
_________________
Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years
CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website |
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Bill Terry
From:
Bastrop, TX
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Posted 26 Oct 2016 5:48 am
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Regarding doing your own re-tweed: Making those rounded top corners on tweed Fenders (without the metal corner protectors) look good isn't a beginner project. Been there, done that.. it takes a few tries to get it right. I'd recommend practicing with some scraps first if you go that route.
_________________
Lost Pines Studio
"I'm nuts about bolts" |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 26 Oct 2016 8:07 am
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If you're going to all the trouble of re-tweeding it, send it to someone who knows what he's doing.  |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 26 Oct 2016 12:29 pm
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You can probably do whatever you wish, as a lot of the collector value went away when it was recovered. Redoing it in tweed will help get the highest dollar for it, but it still won't be anywhere near what it might have been if the original covering was still there.  |
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Bill Sinclair
From:
Waynesboro, PA, USA
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Posted 26 Oct 2016 12:57 pm
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I think you should cover it in some of that nifty "cowboy" tolex and then when the inevitable gear nut asks you about the original cover, tell him "Aw, it looked like an old suitcase so I tore that old stuff off". He'll have trouble sleeping for the next three nights.
(I shouldn't poke too much fun, I could easily be that guy.)  |
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Steven Paris
From:
Los Angeles
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Posted 26 Oct 2016 1:31 pm
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| Donny Hinson wrote: |
| You can probably do whatever you wish, as a lot of the collector value went away when it was recovered. Redoing it in tweed will help get the highest dollar for it, but it still won't be anywhere near what it might have been if the original covering was still there. |
Yeah, it's probably not worth much of anything now.....might as well take it down to Goodwill....or just send it to me, I'll dispose of it...... 
_________________
Emmons & Peavey |
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Lefty
From:
Grayson, Ga.
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Posted 26 Oct 2016 1:52 pm
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When I got my tweed Pro it had some old brown tooled cowboy pleather covering (not done too well) and a radio shack grill material. I re-tweeded and grilled it and never looked back.
Re-tweeding is not bad if you can remove the pieces intact, and use them as templates.
Good luck,
Lefty |
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Malcolm McMaster
From:
Beith Ayrshire Scotland
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Posted 26 Oct 2016 2:19 pm
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Lefty, that is exactly how I did my peavy cab, peeled off old covering and used it as a template for the new tweed, made it relatively easy.
_________________
MSA Millenium SD10, GK MB200, Sica 12inch cab, Joyo American Sound Pedal/ Jay Ganz Straight Ahead amp, Telonics 15inch in Peavey cab, Digitech RP150, Peterson tuner.Hilton volume pedal.Scott Dixon seat and guitar flight case. |
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Carl Mesrobian
From:
Salem, Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 26 Oct 2016 4:23 pm
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| Mike Neer wrote: |
| Lacquered tweed is the only way to go. |
Try samples with shellac, too..
_________________
--carl
"The better it gets, the fewer of us know it." Ray Brown |
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Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
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Posted 27 Oct 2016 4:24 am
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| Mojotone does awesome work on tweed amps. |
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J Fletcher
From:
London,Ont,Canada
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Posted 27 Oct 2016 9:49 am
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| I think some of the old tweed amps were recovered by the Fender factory with black tolex and silver grill cloth . Didn't Buck Owens have one like that? Any chance your amp was a factory recover? |
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Steven Paris
From:
Los Angeles
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Posted 27 Oct 2016 10:00 am Re: Thoughts on recovering a 1960 4-10 Bassman?
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| Eric Philippsen wrote: |
| I was extremely fortunate to find a 1960 4-10 Bassman a couple of weeks ago from a farm about an hour away from here in southern Indiana. |
Eric, there's GOT to be a great story behind that!! Don't tell me that they also had a 1960 Gibson Sunburst Les Paul and a 1960 Fender Stratocaster, too!!!! Please fill us in....inquiring minds want to know!!
_________________
Emmons & Peavey |
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Matthew Dawson
From:
Portland Oregon, USA
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Posted 27 Oct 2016 8:32 pm
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| With something as cool and valuable as a Tweed Bassman I would definitely recommend having a pro do it. If it was something modern, less rare, or a personal project I'd say go for it but there's quite a learning curve for getting a good, professional looking cabinet wrap. Hanging grill cloth and getting it perfect is quite a challenge in itself. My first small grill cloth took a couple of hours, I probably pulled 200 staples out of the baffle getting it right, and in the end it was adequate at best. Getting the tweed to line at the seams is important and coming up with the right poly/lacquer recipe is a matter of trial and error that can take a while. +1 for Mojotone. Those guys wrap a lot of cabinets OEM for boutique builders and do a good job. |
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Mike Brenner
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 28 Oct 2016 12:05 pm
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what would you folks do with this one? '54 Bassman. speakers were replaced w Jensens (old ones were moth-eaten/mold-ruined), caps, some other basic elec work. sounds amazing now.
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