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Post subject: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Included
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 12:10 am
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Just wondering - how clean was the tolex job on your Fender amp when you originally got it? I've seen a couple different '68 Custom Princetons in the past year, and both of them were messy in some way. The first had tolex tears in the front on the upper corners of the control panel. The second (which I got shipped tonight), I notice has a bit of glue seeping out of the left top seams and a bit of crooked cut of the tolex to top it off - I'm guessing one of the seams on the top of the amp is the edge of the tolex roll, and the other side is cut by the factory.

On the contrary, I had a '65 DRRI at one time, and I thought I remember the tolex job being super clean. I'm not sure if the minor tolex issues are just a product of inexperience by the Mexico factory or what. Very curious about the differences between the American and Mexican Fender amps.

On one hand I feel like it shouldn't be a big deal, but I also feel like if I'm paying $700-800 on a small little guitar amp, it better be clean. I'd hate to keep ordering from places and returning until I find a clean one. They all get dirty anyway, but it's just a pet peeve of mine when I get a product from company like Fender, and there are little things that show inexperience in the build.

Btw: Sound is absolutely amazing, and I couldn't ask for more out in terms of tone of an amp in this middle-of-the-line price range. However, it would be nice to know that the job was done cleanly inside and out. No person listening is ever going to notice, but we're guitar players...we notice everything, right?

Anyway - how were your tolex jobs?


Last edited by StratLovesLenny on Wed Nov 05, 2014 3:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: How clean was the tolex job on your amp new?
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 3:00 am
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Any picture ?


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Post subject: Re: How clean was the tolex job on your amp new?
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 3:28 pm
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Yeah. Here are a few. They're minor issues, but on a brand new amp, it's a little disappointing to see some of these things. There's also a scratch right across the back panel of the amp that I didn't notice until this afternoon - not too noticeable because of more black putty use. I'll take a picture of that later. There were also small chunks of tolex sticking out from the bottom of the amp that I picked off when I got it. Didn't take any pictures of those.

I just feel like if you're paying $700-$800 on a very small amp, you should never pay for a less-than nice covering job. Takes away from some of the excitement of the amp, I guess.

This was the first one that I had. The tolex was lifting in the front upper corner.
Image

This is the new one I got. You can see that the tolex was cut slightly crooked and glue is coming out very slightly.
Image

You can see the guy's fingerprints in where he pushed in the black putty. Also a bit of scrap tolex coming out the back (which I suppose can be cut off, of course).
Image

Image

Image

Image

On here, you can see that they didn't measure it out quite right. Small issue, but you can see that the tolex is slightly lopsided on one side - cut closer to one of the chassis straps (the long metal things on the top of Fender amps) than the other. Minor, but for a mass production of thousands and thousands of amps you'd think that they would measure them out evenly, right?
Image


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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 3:35 pm
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Poor job , return the amp to the store ask a new one . Sure somebody sleeping at Fender quality control .

Send those photos to Fender Consumer relation


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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 7:04 am
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mines mint


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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 9:09 pm
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Anyone have close-up pictures of their clean amp? After two bum jobs on the tolex, I'm just a little doubtful that my third will be any better. I'm just curious about close-ups of the corners (and how the tolex was cut on the corners), loose pieces of tolex, crooked cuts, and how the tolex is measured evenly or unevenly in relation to the chassis straps (the metal things on the top of the amp).

Just a little motivation for anyone looking to show off their amp anyway. :) I'm really just looking for some kind of hope on the details of workmanship in this amp line, haha.

I sent an email to Fender, and the rep said he forwarded the email to the amplifier marketing department (not sure why someone would send it to marketing rather than manufacturing, or if it was actually sent to anyone at all, but hopefully someone there notices this concern from a little old consumer like me).


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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2014 12:57 am
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Mexico has been making Fender cabs for a long time, and IINM, the cabs for the MIA amps are also MIM, and have been for quite some time.

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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2014 1:18 am
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Is it for BJ, Mustang amps, and the VM series? I really hope that I just had a couple bad tolex jobs.

Shimmilou - Whats IINM?


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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2014 11:07 pm
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Sorry, it's "if I'm not mistaken".

It's hard to be certain which are made where, but I would bet that most are MIM. Surely the amps MIM also have their cabs made there too, and I believe that a great many MIA amps have a MIM cab.

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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2014 4:30 pm
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Bad job, looks like mine 1965 built DR has tolex in better shape.
Image


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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 8:32 am
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Fender now has one of the very same problems it had when CBS took over. A corporation that never seems to understand that poor quality control will slowly bleed you right out of the market share they dominated at one time. Sad.

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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 10:08 pm
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Call wherever you got it and tell them you're sick of this crap and want them to personally do a visual inspect on the next amp before shipping it. What the pictures show is unacceptable, that's a "dent and scratch" amp.

UN


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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:17 am
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I owned 3 fenders in my life and all were perfect, something happend or a rebox!


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Post subject: Re: Was the tolex on your '68 Custom amp clean? - Pics Inclu
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:33 pm
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The Tolex on my months old Super Sonic-100 is worse then any of those photo's, and it's never been moved since it came out of the box in my music room. QC is clearly NOT Fender's #1 priority right now. The problem is that this one works after 3 failed amps and since they're no longer made my chances of getting another working amp are ZIP. ZERO. NADA. I've been thinking of just finding a cab maker who can recover this one or make a whole new box, because the crappy work is all right on the top of the amp where it can't be missed.


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