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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink NAD '63 Fender Showman!

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Bought a '63 Fender Showman head from Emerald City Guitars via Reverb. The head has been re-covered in Brown tolex and brown grillcloth. Original output transformer replaced with a Mercury Magnetics output transformer. Price wasn't astronmical, as is typical with vintage Fender gear on Reverb and eBay.

Sadly, the tube chart didn't survive but the chassis has a '63 date code. Good enough for me. It also says "Fender Electric Instrument Co. Fullerton, California" as opposed to the later designation, "Fender Musical Instruments Santa Ana, Calif.".

I actually love the idea of it have been re-tolexed by a previous owner in brown, my fave Fender amp tolex. Of course, now my next project is to re-cover my Beavaer Bottom 15" blonde tolex/gold-wheat grillclothed Tone Ring cab with a early '60s JBL D-140F speaker. The blonde tolex has already been lifting on a corner so I'm OK with changing it out. Matching the brown grillcloth may be more of a challenge. I'll likely end up swapping out the grillcloth on both head and cab for the Fender Beige Brown Wheat. At least then it will match up with my '64 Fender Reverb Unit.

Previously, I had bought what turned out to be a '67 Showman head in a '64 shell. I wasn't vibing with it and eventually sold it. Before selling it though, I bought a Weber Mass 200 Attenuator box and a Weber Z-Matcher imedance box. So now I can finally put them to some use if I want to play around with attenuation and various speaker configurations.

For now, though, I just had a play without the attenuator attached. I can get the volume to 4 where you can feel the air move and it gets a bit too loud for for home use. Up to 3, though, it sounds fine. I'll hook up the attenuator at some point to get the volume up to 7 without deafening myself, wife, and beasties. I think someone on here once said 7 was the sweet spot, but I could be wrong. Feel free to offer your ideal settings.

Super pleased with the tone! The harmonic vibrato sounds lovely and smooth.

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While I adore the early '60s Fender brownface era, I'm totally guilty of being infatuated with birth year gear acquisitions. I'm super stoked that I have my '63 Fender amp along with my '63 Fender Jaguar. My wife will be ecstatic that my hunt is over...for now?!? Wink

The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

Last edited: Sep 17, 2021 19:45:51

congrats! shiny new tube claws and looks like new belton tube sockets. would love to see the inside if you ever pull the chassis out.

Will do! I'm curious as well. I want to see how the cloth was installed if I decide to swap it out for beige/wheat cloth. I'll take out the chassis later today and take some photos.

The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

Congrats!
Looks like a delicious chocolate cake, I second the "gut shots" request.

When you have to shoot ... shoot! Don't talk.
"Los Grainders" www.facebook.com/losgrainders
"Planeta Reverb" www.facebook.com/planetareverb

Last edited: Sep 18, 2021 14:07:27

wow, that is SUPER clean. Looks like it was kept in primo shape.
Your guitar room looks incredibly comfy.

Premiere Single Out Now! - Keep On Running
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Gut shots!

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More from the underside:

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The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

Total amp porn.

BB_Bunny wrote:

wow, that is SUPER clean. Looks like it was kept in primo shape.
Your guitar room looks incredibly comfy.

Thanks! I'm all about the comfy! Big Grin

The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

If you'd like to keep the current look, tweed style oxblood grill cloth with gold stripe is likely what it is. That's what I used to regrill my 1960 Concert.
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I agree, Duncan. Thanks for the comparison, it's a big help. Much appreciated!

Until this Showman came along, I've been seriously considering a Concert. Still might try to get one some day!

The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

Congratulations, you have an amazing amp there! I almost bought this actual amp the other day. Be sure to let us hear how it sounds soon.

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale.

Thanks, SixStringSurfer! I've only had a little time with it so far but it sounds amazing. Enough so that I'm ready to move some of my other amps on.

The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

From folks on a few different groups on Facebook (I know, I know) like Fender Guitar and Amp Society, it was noticed that the death cap(acitor) is still connected even though a 3-prong cord has been added.

Curious, I also checked my '64 Princeton and '62 Bassman. Both had death caps. Safely, I removed them. I'll have to tackle the Showman's death cap later tonight or tomorrow. Cool

Update: Showman's death cap safely removed. Amp is now safe and AMAZING!

The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

Last edited: Sep 22, 2021 19:40:47

Update: Decided to re-tolex the cab so it will match the Showman head.

Uncle Doug's "How to Cover a Cabinet with Tolex or Leatherette.....Part 2" on YouTube was especially helpful.

Not gonna lie - mistakes were made, but most can be hidden or I can simply live with - lessons were learned. I hope to improve with time and experience on future projects.

Biggest lesson learned is that if I ever decide to take on another tolex project, it will be with an uncovered cab from the get-go. Removing the old tolex wasn't difficult and suprisingly quick.

However, removing the old glue from the old tolex was tedious. Another takeaway was I need to get better at the corners - I guess that will come with more experience.

Before:

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After:

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The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

Nice job! It's weird to see a big cab with that brown color but I kind of like it. I started off as a tried and true blonde / oxblood lover, but I'm kind of expanding to appreciate the browns. I have a '62 Twin that has a wheat grill cloth and at first I hated it because it wasn't oxblood, but now I love it! It helps that there are no reissues with the wheat grill cloth, but there are tons and tons of oxblood. I know I know, I'm petty and superficial haha!

Daniel Deathtide

Thanks! I've always loved both blonde/wheat and blonde oxblood but really started loving brown/wheat with my now gone (unfortunately, so bummed I moved it on) Fender '63 Reissue Vibroverb. Then I acquired (again, now sold) a '60 Fender Vibrasonic with the brown/oxblood that was a killer look.

I've been tempted to re-tolex my blonde/oxblood Vibro-King, but since it's a '94, I really don't want to mess with it's original look. However, I'm tempted to get a repro brown tolex/wheat (or oxblood) cab built that I can move the chassis and speakers into some day and safely store the original cab if I ever have to move it on.

There was a 2016 20th Anniversary release of a brown tolex/wheat grill cloth that I'm super jonesing for but the only one I've seen lately is for sale at Carter's Vintage Guitars but it's a bit outside of my budget and I know they won't ship out vintage amps due some shipping damage issues. I almost bought a 1963 Fender Super (2x10) a year or two ago but they wouldn't ship it and I didn't want to do the 22-hour roundtrip to Nashville.

Fortunately, this '63 Showman ticked a few boxes for me - 1) It's a Showman! 2) birth-year amp, 3) the brown/oxblood mod job is fantastic looking 4) Sounds AMAZING.

Aesthetics are important to me, too. Another temptation is the new Fender Chris Stapleton Signature '62 Princeton. I've seen some used ones go for around $1500-$1600. I have a '64 Princeton (tuxedo) and a '65 Reissue Princeton Reverb in brown tolex/wheat grill cloth and I swapped out the witchhat knobs for some brown cupcake ones. Maybe there's something to it when my wife says I have a gear addiction... Yes

The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

Last edited: Nov 20, 2021 18:55:29

great work. i despise doing tolex. i’ve tolexed 7 cabinets so far. and getting the corners to be invisible is VERY hard.

Thanks! I have huge respect for you guys that can do this work! I'll probably take on another tolex project in the Spring. Cool

The doofus formerly known as Snorre
Surfysonic on YouTube
World Famous Philistines: 2014 - 2015
K39: 2013 - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9JADQ4ukw

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