What's a good method / product for cleaning Tolex?

[Jackroadkill]

Hi all, just wondering if any of you have any tricks up your sleeves when it comes to cleaning 40-odd years' worth of nicotine stains, beer and dust out of the Tolex on your amps or cabs.  I'm in the process of giving an old cab a new lease of life and although I have all of the functional aspects of this well under control I'd like to get the exterior cleaned up a bit, too.  Years ago I worked in a music shop and we used a foaming cleaner for this, but I don't remember it being particularly effective, even when combined with a good helping of elbow grease and a scrubbing brush.

 

If anyone has any tip, I'd be very grateful.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

[Sean]

Isopropyl Alcohol is my go to for most cleaning jobs. 

You can try it neat or what I do to make my own kitchen cleaner spray that cuts through grease is put about 5-10% isopropyl to water and a squirt of washing up liquid in a spray bottle. We've got quartz worktops (not recommended btw) and it does a good job on those. I add a couple of drops of tea tree oil but that's optional. 

Another thing I use (but not in the kitchen) is TFR (traffic film remover), it's nasty so wear gloves and dilute it. 

 

Both are really cheap and will last you ages. 

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Sean