I removed the speaker board today to take a look at what was under a rather bland piece of canvas which had been stapled on top of the original grille cloth in the 38-1 cabinet I recently acquired. Took pictures of both the canvas and the original cloth. The pictures tell the story. Obviously the original is ruined because of the staining. Too bad someone spilled something---at least that's what it looks like to me. I don't believe any way exists to remove the stain. Other than that, the cloth is in remarkably good condition, especially that inch strip around the perimeter which was hidden by the cabinet wood!. There is a slight fray on the left side of the speaker cutout. Other than that, the fabric is in pretty good shape---sans stain.
So now I wait for SOMEBODY to make reproductions available
Art, I have been faced with the same problem on several projects.... having nice, untorn original grill cloth, but either it was badly faded or badly stained or both. My 1936 model 630 has similar grill cloth, and while it wasn't as badly stained as yours, it did have numerous white paint streaks down it and was faded to a dull grey. Looked awful. So, not being able to find suitable reproduction grill cloth, I did something that may be jaw dropping to some purists... I lightly spray painted the cloth. Gold. Cadillac gold to be exact. Here is the result:
Actually, the gold grill cloth compliments the gold PHILCO decal. I'm happy with how it turned out.
Here's the paint I used:
I borrowed this spray can from my dad, who used it to paint the engine on his 1956 Plymouth Fury
Super result with the spray can Nostalgia Radio Time! If bald guys can spray hair in a can I say why not grillecloth. Where swapping out a grill cloth may not be as challenging on some sets as the electronic work I would humbly offer that to find a close substitute in a Fabric Shop or the like and using it until you can locate a more authentic repro down the road is not the end of the world. If you can get something pleasing to the eye that lets you enjoy your set, go for it. Always can replace later.
As a kid I cut some ersatz grille cloth off an old chair going to the dump for a Silvertone, did the job, did not look too bad either.
I believe that dry cleaning may take care of the stains in that grill cloth, which basically means they use perchloroethelene which is also found in automotive brake cleaner. Another method would be to use a carpet cleaner on it, either the spray on stuff or a steam cleaner that will suck the water out of it. If you do go for any cleaning involving water leave it on the board, maybe even staple it down, or the fabric will shrink.
Regards
Arran
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2013, 07:27 PM by Arran.)
Actually spray painting it had crossed my mind but I had no idea what type of paint to use. Figure it won't hurt anything and MIGHT help. Would the dried paint restrict the sound coming through the cloth?
I tried it on a stained tombstone cloth a couple months ago. It wasnt heavy enough to block sound but enough to cover. Wondering how well it will hold. So far so good.
I used gold leaf-like paint. Gold-chrome cap on the can. Smaller can. Home Depot I think.
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2013, 07:16 PM by TimC.)
I used a very light coat just to give the cloth some color again, so there's no problem with the dried paint restricting the sound at all. In fact, with age the cloth becomes so paper thin and brittle that the (equally thin) coat of paint actually helps give it some rigidity again. Since that V pattern grill cloth is virtually impossible to find, based on what I found, I'd say definitely give the spray painting a shot. I did the same thing on my 1938 Silvertone console (see the pics in my post in the Non-Philco radio section). It can't hurt and at least you'll be able to salvage a large piece of rare fabric! You might just be surprised at the results, as I was. Because of the dark staining on your cloth, you may have to give it several light coats, letting it dry in between coats, to get the paint to cover the darkest parts of the stain. Keep us posted!
I've never tried dry cleaning old grill cloth, but be VERY careful with using any carpet cleaner. I tried using that foam spray on kind years ago on an old Coronado table model from the 30's, and despite being as gentle as I possibly could, that brittle fabric just frayed into shreds with the slightest touch.
I tried the "dry-cleaning" method today. It worked a little bit on the perimeter where the cloth was protected by the wood but elsewhere.......no go. Guess painting is the next possibility. Will see what I can find for paint.
Did you try brake cleaner on the stain or carpet cleaner? Since it's a water stain I wonder if alcohol might remove it? I'm just wondering if that stain is dirt or a water stain? If it dirt the pint won't stick to it. Another thing you can try is GoJo, the cream stuff without the grit, but you would have to rinse it off afterward, but since the cloth is glued to the board if it were pinned down with staples and allowed to dry slowly it shouldn't shrink. I asked the dry cleaning place here about cleaning grill cloth but they throw everything into a machine so the cloth can't remain attached to a board, I don't know what they do elsewhere.
Regards
Arran
(This post was last modified: 03-27-2013, 10:21 PM by Arran.)
