Cane/wicker grill cloth misery.

Refinishing a 2x12 cab because I want to gig with it and the old cloth was bobbins.

The best option SEEMED to be Orange amp style cane weave.

So I soaked in warm-hot water for 20 mins, pulled tight, tried in a warm place and it was lovely and tight.

Next day it's all saggy!

Removed, and repeat process. This time it goes lovely and tight!

Next day all saggy again!

Put a hair drier on it and it tightens up. Couple of hours later saggy.

What the ruddy hell am I doing wrong?!

I know this might seem like a sarcastic comment, but it's intended to be a genuine suggestion.  Have you tried just fitting it dry, or is that not possible because it's not flexible enough to bend when wet?  Would it work if you were to wet only the edges of the wicker "cloth" and not the middle section?  The logistics of that might be a fiasco though, with having to keep turning the square or rectangle with one edge at a time in warm water over a longer period.  I'm genuinely curious, because I've never fitted a wicker grille cover before.

BillDL said:

I know this might seem like a sarcastic comment, but it's intended to be a genuine suggestion.  Have you tried just fitting it dry, or is that not possible because it's not flexible enough to bend when wet?  Would it work if you were to wet only the edges of the wicker "cloth" and not the middle section?  The logistics of that might be a fiasco though, with having to keep turning the square or rectangle with one edge at a time in warm water over a longer period.  I'm genuinely curious, because I've never fitted a wicker grille cover before.

So, having trawled the internet....

Tried twice the 'normal' way where you soak it, staple it, dry it and both times it went saggy again.

Then tried wetting it while still fixed and drying it hard and same result; went right then saggy again.

Then (as you said) undid two sides while dry (ish) and pulled it hard and stapled. That is remaining tight so far, fingers crossed.

Absolutely a pita; won't use it again as I don't really care a huge amount about how it looks, and a simpler cloth would doubtless be easier.

Yeah, I was just having a nosey around to see what the Internet wisdom is on this after I had posted, and all tutorials and advice mentioned soaking it in hot water for anywhere between 20 minutres and 2 hours.  I wonder if there are different types of wicker, for example the rattan that is used for chairs needs to be soaked to make it pliable enough to bend rather than with the primary aim of shrinking and tightening it as it dries, but perhaps there are now wicker "fabrics" that incorporate synthetic textiles and don't work properly when soaked.

I’ve never wetted any grille cloth I’ve replaced, ever - I didn’t know you were supposed to. Just stretched it tight manually and used plenty of staples… never had a problem.

Orange grille cloth is not wicker or cane by the way - it’s standard grille cloth, which is usually made from twisted paper… really. Not sure if that’s the issue or whether you’ve been seeing advice to wet normal grille cloth.

Turned out pretty good after the 3rd/4th try (dry). Fitted a pair of Celestion 'live response' 12"s. Sounds lovely with the Kemper on old marshall 45 watt...

Can't make pics work or I'd post one!