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Thread: JBL C-38 Grill Cloth Options

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    Senior Member cjwebber's Avatar
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    JBL C-38 Grill Cloth Options

    My C-38s have the standard brownish-red-with gold threading and I'm looking into other options.

    I've seen some JBLs with black fish fabric and a gold abstract drizzle all over. I'm having difficulty finding photos. Does anyone know if they made this fabric for C-38s? What about in white?
    HOME: Dynaco ST-35 & C37 & C38
    WORK: Sequerra Met 7's

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    Quote Originally Posted by cjwebber View Post
    My C-38s have the standard brownish-red-with gold threading and I'm looking into other options.

    I've seen some JBLs with black fish fabric and a gold abstract drizzle all over. I'm having difficulty finding photos. Does anyone know if they made this fabric for C-38s? What about in white?
    Greetings -

    The first material you described is called oxblood with stripe. Very common. It was used by JBL, ALTEC Lansing, Jensen, and on Fender tweed amplifiers. I have also seen it on British made speakers. The company that manufactured the oxblood with stripe is the same, and only company that made the tweed material Fender used back in the day. That material is still being manufactured, but with a slight difference in contrast. It is made of cotton.

    As told to me by the President of Wendell Fabrics about ten years ago, the material with the abstract paint was called Cobweb, for obvious reasons. It kind of reminds me of Jackson Pollock's work.

    That material was also used by ALTEC Lansing, Jensen, and other manufacturers. Not only was it available in black with gold ink, but black with silver ink, and white with blue and red ink. That particular material I saw on an early model C36 with Prima Vera veneer. Probably the most rare.

    The President also also told me that material back in the day was made of cellulose, which is illegal for use in commercial applications due to it's flammability. The other issue with that fabric is the ink that was used bonded with the cellulose, whereas the synthetic equivalent used today will not bond with ink. I have a small roll of the vintage oxblood with stripe material. It is very stiff and does not fold around corners easily. I only keep it around for vintage restorations.

    Another fabric JBL used on early C36's and C38's was commonly found on the C39 Harlan. The color was off white with sparsely woven black threads. The black threads being horse hair. Very expensive to reproduce. Needless to say, the maximum length of the hair on a horses tail sets the limit of the height dimension of the grille frames on the aforementioned cabinets. I have never seen the horse hair material on a C35, but it doesn't mean it wasn't available. Some horses have longer tail hair than others. This information was given to me by a local weaver, as I took a sample of the fabric to her for analysis.

    A word of caution. Replacing the material on a C38 frame is a little tricky. JBL had a clever idea of using window screen frame extrusion as a grille frame. It's the rubber grommet that holds the fabric in place. If you plan to use a woven fabric that has lines in it similar to the oxblood with stripe, be patient. Keeping the lines straight to the frame can be very frustrating.


    I hope I have been of some help.

    Regards,

    HF

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