Gettin' paint off rough blond tolex?

[chuggy]

I seek advice about how to remove 1960's spray can paint from rough blond Fender tolex.
Thanks-
Jim

[67polara]

have you tried mineral spirits and a tooth brush?

[bigdaddy]

It depends on what type of paint was used. A poly or an old enamel, car paint, house paint?

The best way to start is to take a soft brush and try to remove some of the paint without getting to the tolex underneath. Some times over a long period of time the adhesion to the tolex is weak and/or the covering paint has oxidized or deteriorated. So carefully try to loosen and remove as much as you can with soft bristle brushes. Even using a small knife very carefully to peel away small chips, it you catch an edge a whole patch might come off.

Once that time consuming process is done, if it can be done then you have to figure out what paint was used. Once that's done you can approach it with the best solvent for that type of paint. It has to be done slowly for the least amount of damage to the tolex. The rough blond is the hardest because of the nooks and crannies were it's hardest to remove the paint.

[LooseChange]

Magic sponge... Mr. Clean is on the package. Seriously!

[phsyconoodler]

What about paint on tweed?I have a 55 champ that someone painted flat black.It's not even rough underneath.I was going to try paint remover but I'm scared of damaging the tweed underneath.Any tips would be welcome.
 Not meaning to hijack the thread!

[Bill McKenna]

If you have access, you could try putting the cab in a bead cab and run the air pressure low at 50ish PSI.
This will do a really nice job and also take dirt and other crud off the tolex without damaging it. Make sure to remove
all hardware and the chassis.
If its a big cab it might be problematic but heads and combo cabs would fit in a moderate sized bead cab.
I haven't done something like this on tweed but expect it would work well on this too as long as you kept the pressure down to 30-40 psi.

Thanks
Bill

[chuggy]

A status report on this project-
Several applications of Gorilla tape, double thickness,rolled and left overnight, raised a just few specks of paint.
Mineral spirits and alcohol had minimal effect.  Krud Kutter Tough Task Remover had no effect.
I then tried Goof Off spray can graffiti remover because the can said safe for vinyl, and this worked well, but was laborious.  Spray it on, immediately work the surface with a moderately still plastic bristle brush, and immediately blot/wipe it off.  It took about five cycles to remove all of the paint.  This process did not seem damage the tolex at all- amazingly strong stuff, or dissolve the glue.  It took four cans to do the head cab.  The contents in the can were different with the different cans labeled with same name-  some cans had a very volatile thin liquid that evaporated in a couple of minutes that I would not use indoors, some cans had a thin gel that had a mild citrus odor and left a residue that needed to be washed off.  Both were about equally effective in removing the paint. 
I am very happy with the result.  The paint seems to have protected the tolex, which looks like it is a couple of years old. 

http://jdramps.googlegroups.com/web/BMasterstrip.jpg

[jjasilli]

Great info.  Thanks!

[phsyconoodler]

Thanks Rob,
  It looks like flat black paint.The Tweed underneath shows no damage.The guy obviously didn't like it.It looks relatively old(the paint)but it looks very superficial.
  I'm going to try a couple of things on the bottom side first.I appreciate the tips!