Replacing grill cloth on a Nomad 45 1x12

Hi,

I want to change the grill cloth on my Nomad 45 1x12. It is currently the default Mesa 'Basic Black' grill. While the black looks okay, I just want to give it some variety.

I have been looking at a lot of places online and have found a few that look promising. I think they would both look pretty good in contrast to the black tolex.

On this site, the cloth listed as item P211 looks pretty cool:
http://acoustonespeakercloth.com/ACOU_AMP_CLOTH.asp

On this site, the cloth listed as 'Mesa/Boogie Beige Jute' looks good:
http://www.vibroworld.com/parts/tech10.html

I do have some questions about the process:

(1) Is there anything special that I would need to know or ask when I order the cloth?

(2) Is there a secret or trick to getting the cloth tight? Or, is it simply just keep it even and pull it as tight as you can?

(3) Once the cloth is tight, is there something that is safe to spray on it to make it firm (like the shipped grill cloth)?

(4) Are there any 'gotchas' that I should be aware of? (I have never changed grill cloth before).

Thanks in advance.

It's obviously too early for me to try to READ...I thought it said redplating grillcloth. Guess I have tubes on my mind?
I've replaced grillcloth before but it was years and years and decades and decades ago on an old Twin I had. I used a stapler, had NO idea what I was doing and...it turned-out great....SO...if I was able to do it...a monkey could.
Pretty straightforward. Probably start at the middle, keep it tight and go crazy with a staplegun.

I had to re-replace the screen on my sliding patio screen door this spring. The last one I did was pretty loose. This time I had my wife help me and instead of starting at the center of one of the sides, she made me/us start at an end. I was expecting waves or looseness but...(and you have to say this with a Scottish accent)...Ih's tigh-as-a-drrrrrum...so...I don't know I guess?

Either way, it isn't rocket surgery. Google it. Youtube it. And if you can't find a video how-to, just dive-in. If you mess-up just pull all the staples and start again. Hey I know...if it's pricey cloth (you do get more than one try though unless you're gluing it on)...maybe do a practice/test run with an old towel or sheet or something?

JUST DO IT!! lol.
Good luck and don't forget to post pics of your finished (or even a photojournal of the whole process for the rest of us to learn by) "product".

Blaren, thanks for the reply. I asked my wife and she is willing to give me a hand on doing it. She is actually better at me than doing things like that. I will try to take some pictures during the process. We will probably try to tackle it during our time off between Christmas and New Year's Day.

A couple of tips. Cut it bigger than it needs to be. This will give you something to grab onto and pull as you staple it. If the old grill cloth is like other modern mesas I've done, it has so many staples that carefully grinding the tops off can be easier than trying to remove 1000 staples. Then sand the posts left in the board flush. If you insist on removing all the staples, a flat blade skinny width #1 screwdriver with a small v notch ground into the middle works better then any of the upholstery staple removers I've ever used. I lever one side out on multiple staples than come back with a pair of pliers and pull the staples complete free. This works really well on the skinny edge of the plywood with out damaging it. Chalking in reference lines or marking lightly with an appropriate colored pencil(white stabilo all pencils work great on dark colors) on the inside of the cloth that gets pulled to the folded edge can work as a nice sight line to see if your pulling even amounts of tension on the grill material. Then when it's all stapled in place you can easily cut off the excess using the board as an edge with a utility knife or good scissors.

If you plan on using a natural fiber grill cloth they take a bit more 'doing' than fabric. First I attached the baffle to my fab table. Then I lined up the cloth on one side of the baffle and stapled across keeping the lines [I used a salt and pepper] straight. Then I clamped a pair of pine boards on the other end of the cloth - lining up the lines again. One of the board is 'L' shaped to give me something to push down on with lots of force. The other benefit of the clamped boards is it keeps the tension consistent across the grill.

When finished you can spray water on the fibers which shrinks them and makes it taut.

One last note - when you have got the grill on be certain that you are happy with the results before you trim off the excess. Yes, I learned the hard way.

Thanks for the additional tips. (Geeze, cool tip about the water. I had always wondered how that was done. Neat to hear of such a simple solution!)

I should be placing the order within the next couple of days (hopefully).

Update:

For anyone who is interested, things have not progressed quickly at all. I was hoping to start on this project during the holidays, but was not able to. We ended up taking a family trip to visit my father (who was diagnosed with cancer). We are back home now, but I have been working so hard to catch up on where I am behind at work that I have not had much time for anything else.

I do plan on taking on this project and hope that things can settle down enough where we can get this started.

Thanks for reading.