JBL L-100 Grills: What to do?

[StarMover]

I picked up a pair of JBL L-100s recently at the thrift. This pair had the waffle-cut foam grill covers which were attached to an underlying layer of sheer black fabric which is stapled to the wooden grill fronts. The cabs are in pretty good shape, but the foam covers are long-gone, leaving only the underlying material which is splattered with some really nasty-looking adhesive residue that will NOT COME OFF. I even tried using furniture stripper.

Since I already have a nice pair of L-100s, plus a pair of 4312s, to be honest I'm really looking to restore these and sell them, so since the reproduction foams are so expensive (about $170 a pair) I find myself in a delima to fix them up or part them out. I've already replaced the foam rings on the tweeters, but without nice grills they won't bring top dollar.

Naturally, I'd hate to part them out, so I'm planning to just recover the grills with normal grill cloth. From what I've seen here, the PE cloth is as good as any for JBL.

Has anyone had luck just recovering these grill frames with normal speaker cloth? Which cloth is the most accurate for JBLs of this era? Anyone know if the glue residue can be removed without using dynamite?

 

[Modegard]

Has anyone had luck just recovering these grill frames with normal speaker cloth? Which cloth is the most accurate for JBLs of this era? Anyone know if the glue residue can be removed without using dynamite?

I had done just what you are thinking of doing. I had a speaker repair shop fabricate new inserts to fit the grills. They affixed black fabric to that. The speaker looks great. I got the idea from a local seller on Craigslist who did just that. The work looks like it came from JBL. It cost lest than $60, if I remember right.

 

[pbda]

I "refoamed" the grills on my L-100s using the reproduction Quadrex foam, and found that the adhesive was generally not in front of the drivers, so it had no impact on the sound. You can get cheaper but still decent-looking foam replacements for these speakers, or you can just put fabric over fabric for a different look.

 

[Zilch]

JBL sold fabric-covered grille inserts for L100s as replacements for deteriorated foam, much as described by Modegard, above.

Equivalents of the original JBL double-knit grille cloth are available, but, to the best of my knowledge, I'm the only supplier of the OEM JBL Monitor Blue. PM me if interested; I only have the one color, purchased from the original manufacturer to supply requirements on the Lansing Heritage forum.

Regarding the fabric backer: replace it with fiberglass window screen material from the hardware store if the factory glue blobs or damage are a problem.... :yes: