How to replace A102 (A100) grill cloth?

[tpappano]

As the "Painted Poodle" became fully 'awake' this week with TG and delay line capacitor replacement, re-configuring speaker/Leslie switching, replacing missing 12" driver, etc., defects in the speaker baffle became apparent with assorted buzzes and rattles on lower notes. I read in posts by others that there is a thin wood sheet glued to the front of the primary baffle board. This thin sheet has become un-bonded and rattles. The grill cloth also vibrates against the wood makeing more noises. Anyway, I ripped off the cloth to see what to do about securing the wood parts. The cloth seemed to extend into grooves in each side of the case, concealing the edges of the cloth to give a neat appearance. It is not immediately obvious to me how they got it together in the first place, let alone how I should install new cloth 8) I sure could use some advice from the experts!

Thank you, all!

Oh, they painted the grill cloth black, too!

[PGR]

I don't know for sure but the way I would approach this is the same way .....and with the same tools as I would with replacing a screen in a sliding door. there is a tool that looks a little like a pizza cutter difference is it holds the rubber strip that is pushed into the groove of the aluminum door .......so if you can see it in your head the outer edge of the pizza cutter is not sharp but has a "u" shaped flange .
Ok so I would glue up the edge and then set the cloth into the groove with the pizza cutter described. smoothing as I go I would also do it with the cloth face down and the wood backing on the top This seems like the most feasible approach to me others might have different ideas. Good luck.

[tpappano]

Hello PGR, thanks for the reply! I think I see what you mean, the cloth could be pressed into the side grooves and held with a resilient strip, stretching the cloth sideways. Then staple across the top and bottom. There are some small moldings that were tacked on top to hide the edges. I just now was taking it apart some more and I think I see how the factory did it. The "thin sheet" was not wood but 0.1" thick solid cardboard with die-cut holes for the speakers and expression pedal. The cardboard was held with glue and several tiny brads. They apparently stretched the cloth, folded some over the sides and stapled the left and right sides. The top and bottom were stapled and excess cloth trimmed flush with the edges. Glue was applied to the back, and by bowing the board outward, it could be started into the side grooves and then pressed flat against the baffle. The small brads must have been pressed in from the front right through the cloth. I'm considering dispensing with the cardboard and placing thin wood strips close to the edges that would force the new cloth to float above the baffle so that it could not flap against it. Then stretching and securing 'pizza cutter' fashion. I have these JBL commercial theater speakers in my office that can produce truly terrifying sound pressure levels. Their cloth is 'floating' and never touches the baffle no matter what my 450 watt Crown CT400 does to them 8) Maybe even build a frame holding the cloth that would simply velcro to the organ like with many modern hifi speakers. Hmmmm...