1972 Klipsch H700/Heresy ~ Close Up Photo Of Faded Grillcloth

[Basicblues]

I received the pair H700's I purchased a couple of days ago and as I mentioned in a earlier thread of my concerns whether or not the grillcloth was original.

Here's the link to the original H700 (9) photo thread. I wanted to start a new thread concerning just the grillcloth since this probably applies to other models too.

There's no doubt now that I have the speakers in hand and apart that the grillcloth pictured below is original. The seller mentioned that 1 of the grills had some staining, which I just think now is very slight uneven fading of the original. The original cloth has faded from the color that is underneath the klipsch logo which is a bronze/brown with black to a faded grayish charcoal with black. Years ago I use to restore old Fender guitar amps and I would mix up a solution of stains to spray on the new grills to "age" the grills to look vintage, it worked great and even the best experts in the business could not tell. So after seeing these grills my thoughts immediately turned to my old restoring ways and the possibility of restoring these grills to a closer original look. Don't get me wrong, I am just thinking outloud, these grills are still very cool looking just like they are IMO but I thought this was interesting enough to share.

[Guest " "]

I just bought a set of empty cabs in primo conditon which included the grills....both cabs were 49 bucks.

The grill smells like cigarete smoke......any recomendations on how to get that smell out?

[tigerwoodKhorns]

I just bought a set of empty cabs in primo conditon which included the grills....both cabs were 49 bucks.

The grill smells like cigarete smoke......any recomendations on how to get that smell out?

I have had some very mint but nasty smelling speakers before. Put them in a well ventilated area away from any smoke. It takes a long time but the smell will completely go away. It just takes a long time.

[Basicblues]

I think I may have come full circle with this stuff...

With old guitar amps everyone wanted the "aged" vintage look on the grills, especially Fender amps. This old look was partly just the natural aging of just being old but since a lot of guitar amps are used in clubs where music is played they were subjected to a lot smoke. So the "aged" look was mostly due to nicotine stains. Many guys when restoring old amps took the grills off and washed them, sometimes even at the carwash which made them look almost new. Anything that old that looked that new automatically started meaning non-original which then meant not worth as much money and much closer examinations from potential buyers.

Now everyone wanted the "aged vintage" look that stated this item is the real deal. Now all attempts were to figure out how to make the new glittery cloth look old. Like I mentioned I used a stain mixture that was sprayed on but I heard of guys that didn't even smoke buying a fat cigar and placing the grill and lit cigar in a closed area and let everything bake, this worked but required way too much time.

With audio, everyone seems to want everything as pristine as possible. Now attempts are made to refinish and restore items to as close to unused status as possible.

Back on topic:

The "waiting method" will work but it's not much fun waiting a long time. I would probably wash the grills with just basic soap and water if possible to remove what can be removed, let dry naturally, then try to find a large enough plastic bag to seal the grills and a fresh box of baking soda inside. It shouldn't take that long to remove any offensive oders, then you probably could use some of that fabreeze spray if necessary.

[markgod]

I have taken grills off on my Forte and K-horns ,washed them in the bathtub ,and then let them dry out, did wonders to get rid of the accumalated dirt and years of someone else's smoking habit.

[triceratops]

I have to say I just don't get the whole "artificial aging" thing in the musical instrument business.

It's true that often the best vintage guitars have been heavily played. And when you find a vintage instrument that is in virtually untouched, pristine condition sometimes the reason is that the instrument is a dog.

But this is honest playing wear I'm talking about, not "simulated wear" which has nothing to do with actual usage.

I recently bought a PRS singlecut that had been played very little by a drummer who had hoped to get into guitar. After a few years he decided to buy some new drums and sell the guitar since he hardly ever played it. While he owned the instrument he had taken steel wool to the back of the neck to "break in" the finish. Fortunately he didn't take sandpaper, cigarettes, and chains to the body like some folks do to get that "vintage patina" !

I took the guitar to my luthier and had him polish the steel wool scratches out of the neck and shine it back up to how it was originally. If I want my guitar broken in, I'll do it by actually playing it--not artificial aging.