Advent Large grillcloth restoration/replacement

[Guest sbalfour]

I recently bought 4 Advent Large that had had their grillcloths

spray painted (ugh!). Sometimes decent originals are available on Ebay

for a pretty penny. But I need 4. The original cloth looks to me

like rayon straight 1x1 weave 16/17 threads/in. The color is between

very light sage green and very light tan. I have found a very similar

color and weave, which is a light sage green burlap, and I lighten it

further by soaking in hot water before I mount it. In an ordinary

indoor room, you can't tell the difference between the replica and

original from across the room. But burlap is a coarser thread, and

it's a heavier weight material. Does anyone know where I can get

bulk replica cloth that's closer to the original?

Stuart Balfour

[Guest russwollman]

I would like to say that I know where you can find cloth close to the original. The location is Nearly Nowhere, and I think it's in North Dakota, but it could be in Albania. You just might have better luck in Europe.

I worked myself silly trying to run down something like the original. It isn't out there. It isn't even on eBay in the fabric department.

You might find something you like at a fabric shop. That's where I discovered the goods to redo my Smaller Advents, a pretty delicate gauze cloth which I backed with fine black mesh. It's convincing though not original.

Have a peek at the pictures of my Smaller Advents, which are a few notches down on the Advent board.

Other than that, it's burlap, which never has the fine weave and texture that you'd prefer.

[dynaco_dan]

Hi Russ;

I was thinking, Nearly Nowhere, it must be a specialty US fabric store. DUH!

You got me there.

That is, until it said, Albania, then I new it was in Europe. lol lol

[Pete B]

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/dc/dcbo...ype=search#1743

[Guest Fens]

Hi All.

This is my first post although I've been reading for some time.

I bought some grill cloth here about a year ago and am very happy with the color and texture. While not an exact match it's close, and it's acoustically transparent. I think I bought the color they call #35 Sand.

http://www.acoustex.com/Home.html

Good luck.

David

[Pete B]

>Hi All.

>

>This is my first post although I've been reading for some

>time.

>

>I bought some grill cloth here about a year ago and am very

>happy with the color and texture. While not an exact match

>it's close, and it's acoustically transparent. I think I

>bought the color they call #35 Sand.

>

>http://www.acoustex.com/Home.html

>

>Good luck.

>David

Hi David,

That looks good, do you know the thread count per inch for that material?

[Pete B]

I'm reposting my cloth info here since this seems to be a good specific grille cloth thread. Moderator can you pin this thread

since it is such a common question:

>These turned out to have stained grille cloth and I decided

>to remove it and, well tossed it in the washing machine. Big

>mistake, came out half the size of the original. Dry clean

>only, should have known.

>

>It seems that Advent was fairly consistent I have early, 1973

>LAs, later, New LAs, and Advent/1s. They're all about 16-17

>threads per inch, of material that looks like a light and very

>open burlap. I'd say higher quality than burlap, but does not

>seem to be linen.

>The LAs are a light tan color, the Advent/1s are a bit more

>brown making them look about right for a barn.

>

>Anyone know of a source that best duplicates the thread count,

>texture, and color of the original Advent material?

>I've looked locally, at several stores that did not have very

>good selection. It seems difficult to find that very open

>weave.

>I don't need perfection, would not mind going more on the

>light color side.

>

>Going to look on e-bay next.

I did not have much luck on e-bay. And it seems that cross stitch materials have the most open weave, however most that I've found still are not as open as the Advent material. I notice that the Advent material has a low thread count as I noted above as about 16-17 and a thread material that is thinner than most that I've found.

Two possiblities that look good but are far from exact are Charlescraft Fiddler's Lite, 14 ct., 100% Cotton which comes in a few light colors such as oatmeal.

Another is Regency AIDA 18 ct., 100% Cotton Cross Stitch Fabric, again far from exact.

It seems that a lower count such as 14 makes up somewhat for the larger thread that is typically used.

I would not use these for a perfectionist restoration, however many craft stores carry these and people can look and decide for themselves.

[Pete B]

Just to start out, some have mentioned that perhaps the original Advent material is a synthetic. I burned a small sample and as far as I can tell it is a natural fiber.

I spoke to Roy C. who spends more time here on the AR forum and commented about how excellent his AR-2ax's looked:

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/dc/dcbo...pe=search#11164

That material, in his first picture, is 18 ct, and it has the most open weave that I've seen so far and is the best match to the Advent

material in this sense. The texture is more of an expensive linen and is not exact to the original Advent, however it is an excellent rich look and I decided to use it, mainly because the weave is very similar to the original. Roy offered his source as:

http://www.123stitch.com/cgi-bin/fabric.pl

It is under linen, 18 ct, "Lambswool" color. A darker color would probably be closer to the original Advent but I liked the look so I used it. The "Natural Brown" or "Natural Light" might be a closer match.

It looks like it would also be very good for Dyna A-25s, however I'm going from memory here since I don't have original Dyna material to compare.

Thanks Roy!

Moderators, can you pin this thread since it is such a common question?