Tweed dying/staining/lacquering any ideas?

nickb_boy

I'm waiting for a friend to finish off my amp build which is based on an old vintage Partridge transformer and want to make a fitting head to house it in.  I really want to wrap it in tweed and originally thought about a finish like the Salvage Custom Zombie Burst finish but don't think I will be able to pull that off:

I've now settled on trying to get a dark/black finish on the tweed similar to the new Swart amps:

Does anyone have any good tips or ideas of how this is finished?  There are plenty of links online for ageing tweed and giving a reliced look but none that I can see about producing an all over colour finish.  Would I have to keep applying coats of the darkest Shellac I can find until I get the desired colour of could I use a nitrocellulose spray after applying a sealer or something on the tweed???

Any suggestions or links will be very appreciated.

Cheers

ThePrettyDamned

It might sound odd, but wudtone might actually work. They do varying levels of tint, and have a dark grey (onyx) colour that might work?

Other than that, hopefully, someone more experienced will chip in but it could work.

jd0272

Translucent nitrocellulose spray tins is the route I'd use. A bit flammable mind. Rothko and Frost have got any colour you fancy.

jd0272

That Zombie Burst finish would be a doddle mate.

WezV

yeah, nitro for that shiny black look, shellac if you want to keep it a bit rawer.   good thing about shellac is it makes a great sealer and is compatible with most other finishes so if you tried the top one with shellac and were not happy you could still whip out the black nitro

andypwudtone

nickb_boy said:

I'm waiting for a friend to finish off my amp build which is based on an old vintage Partridge transformer and want to make a fitting head to house it in.  I really want to wrap it in tweed and originally thought about a finish like the Salvage Custom Zombie Burst finish but don't think I will be able to pull that off:

if you fancy giving it a try , I think our Dark Tease would give you that look ( I like it way better that the shiny black) and the process to control the colour variation would be quite easy , cool project. kind regards

ThePrettyDamned

Have you got spare cloth and a bit of wood to wrap it around? It will definitely pay off to run some experiments, regardless of finish.

And post results with pictures on here, for future reference, of course...

jd0272

This may inspire me to lacquer my Esquire tweed case. Pain in the arse to mask though.

nickb_boy

Thanks for all the support and advice so far.  My only concern with going for the zombie tweed look is the fact that I will also be trying to finish a 2x12 vert angled cab to match.  I just can't work out how the large black insert bar handles will look with this finish.  The cab itself is an old 70s no brand one made out of marine ply with a closed back.  This is why I changed my original mind to go for the dark tweed/black.  

The pic I posted of the Swart does make it look shiny but others I have show it as more of an extremely dark brown matt finish.  I definitely want to stay away from any gloss like finish.

Until the amp is finished I'm not going to start work on the headshell incase the fit is wrong but I may try and order some tweed to get started on the cab.

I've managed to find some how to's online for wrapping tweed but again anyone with experience of the cornering or technique will be invaluable.  I will definitely have sample sections I reckon that I will test out the finish on + will post some pics as I have updates.  I'll try putting one on of the cab to show what I'm working with.

Cheers again!!

jd0272

.....watchin and learnin.......