Fender Tolex Views

General Goods

Whether you became a fan of this influential punk and alternative rocker from his days in Operation Ivy, or came aboard during the commercial success of Rancid or the Transplants, something compelled you to buy the Tim Armstrong Hellcat acoustic guitar from Fender. While the guitar is a nice ode to his beat-up 60's acoustic with plenty of Tim's flair added on for good measure, the Tim Armstrong Hellcat acoustic guitar case is a little more mainstream looking, but will keep your guitar from getting beat up like Tim's original when you're on the move. The shaped, Tolex wood-style guitar case has 4 latches to keep it from opening up at an inopportune time, and plastic handle. The inside has a soft acrylic lining and an accessory compartment.

At the beginning of the tweed era, Fender constructed its cabinets in wide panel , where the top and bottom panel is wider than the side. Fender later on constructed them with narrow panel , in which all the panels have more or less the same width. Toward the end, despite keeping such construction, Fender utilized tolex to cover its amps.

We didn't really have a wrapping for the amplifier head, but I needed to use it that night and the only thing he (Leo Fender) had was that cream [tolex], and Leo says, Oh my God, don't let anybody see it because they are going to want it 'cause you're playing on it, but it's gonna stain with coffee and cigarette butts. -Dick Dale

There were many notable accomplishments for the company's amplifier division during these years. Namely, the introduction of the stand-alone spring reverb unit in 1961, followed by the subsequent incorporation of the reverb circuit within a combo-amp design with the 1963 Vibroverb. Other notable accomplishments of this period include the shift of the top-of-the-line model from the traditional Twin-Amp to include other models, like the Vibrasonic Amp in early 1960, as well as the blonde Showman Amp in 1961. Also worthy of note are Fender's employment of the silicon rectifier to reduce heat caused by tube recitifiers, as well as the advancement of the vibrato circuit which many feel to be at its best during these years. For all of these innovations however, these years are most recognized for the various color combinations the amplifiers wore--brown tolex with yellow or wheat grille cloth being the most common.