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WR,
> how on earth can you tell the cloth is original?
In simple terms, there is no 'quick and easy' way
to tell, as you've guessed. Some times a small
production run would "escape" from Fender's factory
with the remnants of what was left over in the parts
bins, and Leo (and others, I'm sure) wanted to use
it up, rather than just toss it in the dumpster.
But as most aficiando's will tell you, there is no
definitive answer. All we have to go on now are
catalogs, brochures, posters, album covers, a few
publicity shots, and maybe a handful of amateur
photos from back then.
However, if you're about to buy some older unit,
and the claim of "original grill cloth" makes you
suspicious, there is a way to tell.......
If the backside of the cloth is exposed (like in
many combo amps), you can look underneath the layer
of folded-over material. If you see some holes,
then the original staples have been removed, and
a new cloth has been applied. Obviously, for a
closed-back cab, some disassembly will be required.
<g> Still, if the owner is honest, then he or she
will let you inspect to your heart's content.
Be aware that a few times in my career, I've seen
the cloth installed with some sort of adhesive
applied to back of the baffle board, and the
staples were mounted in the edges of it. My old
Bandmaster was that way, and a '66 Super Reverb
are two amps that I recall seeing this done on.
I can't speak to whether or not the factory did
this, or they were both recovers done by someone
else. AFAIK, the topic has never been addressed
by any book or innerweb forum.
HTH.
unlunf
p.s. Ivan,
There are a couple of Showman heads listed on
< right now, and
they have different colored cloths. Are they any
thing like what you're talking about?
--- In , "mono_tones_1" <rockverb@h...> wrote:
>
> how on earth can you tell the cloth is original?
>
> .....
>
> WR
>
>
> --- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...>
> wrote:
>>
>> Has anyone noticed that some blackface Showman heads (so
>> roughly '64'-'67) have black grille cloth on the front
>> rather than the customary silver sparkle? For example,
>> there's a Showman head on eBay (the auction ended on
>> Saturday) like that:
>>
>>
>> Amp_W0QQitemZ7370080869QQcategoryZ38074QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
>>
>> I know that John Blair also has a head like that, and both
>> of these appear completely stock. I've seen a few more
>> 'black-fronts' on eBay through the years. My hunch is that
>> these heads date from around '67, but I can't find any info
>> about them either in the Fender Amps book or on the net.
>> Anybody know anything about them?
>>
>> Just curious.
>> Ivan
>
