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Tuck and Roll Fabric [message #11016]

Thu, 07 May 2009 21:54

C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...

Senior Member

I was talking to a couple the other night at a cruise night at a local drive in and she did the interior of her hot rod. She is a quilter and has a heavy duty sewing machine. I asked her if she could redo some of my T&R. She said she could but then mentioned that T&R could be purchased "back in the day" pre made. Has anyone close to Bud or Kustom in general asked or talked about how the material was purchased. Was it off the roll or did the workers at the factory do all the sewing of the T&R? I would have assumed that it was sewed at the factory but maybe it was off the roll, so to speak.
Conrad

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Re: Tuck and Roll Fabric [message #11017 is a reply to message #11016]

Thu, 07 May 2009 22:20

LesS
Messages: 477
Registered: December 2002

Senior Member

Conrad,
I do not have direct experience but I believe that Kustom did the tuck and roll the "hard way" with individual foam pieces.
I don't know about the T&R on a roll, but I have seen modern day pre-formed foam (just the foam - no naugahyde)with the two inch pieces joined in a roll.
This would make doing the tuck and roll easier - I just don't think that Kustom did it that way.

I think with the foam roll, you could just put the naugahyde over the foam and staple it without tucking.
I call this "tuck and roll without the tuck" -like the Tennessee T&R Kustoms.

One thing I have always thought about....Making 110,000 tuck and roll amps and combos, plus about 110,000 tuck and roll speakers - something tells me there were probably some very highly skilled people at Kustom doing the tuck and roll work.
I'm sure many of those workers had done thousands of T&R cabinets ... and their work is still admired and respected many years later.
-Les S

[Updated on: Fri, 08 May 2009 08:03]

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Re: Tuck and Roll Fabric [message #11019 is a reply to message #11016]

Fri, 08 May 2009 08:48

pleat
Messages: 1452
Registered: June 2004
Location: Belding, Mi

Senior Member

There is a photo of the sewing room I took at the factory in 1972 on one of my visits to the factory on the photo page of this site. Material came in rolls. They cut each strip, and the foam was purchased in rolls with a V groove cut at 2" centers for the seams. Everything was done in house. What amazes' me is the inventory control to supply dealers with all the models and multiply that by the seven colors offered in a time before computers were common place. The store I worked at only ordered black models. We never had a back order situation and that may have been because of the color choice we ordered. Don

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Re: Tuck and Roll Fabric [message #11020 is a reply to message #11019]

Fri, 08 May 2009 12:20

chicagobill
Messages: 2005
Registered: April 2003

Senior Member

I agree with Pleat, they did it the old school way. And as Les points out: Lots of labor and lots of talent.

If I remember the story correctly, they used to make the Kustom Kat dolls and the vests with leftover scrap materials.

The Blue sparkle vest that I own, has drawn in T&R seam stripes on the inside of one of the panels.

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Re: Tuck and Roll Fabric [message #11021 is a reply to message #11020]

Fri, 08 May 2009 14:23

C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...

Senior Member

Thanks guys. I remember hearing the story of the Kustom Kats. I should have looked at the pictures again. But even then, all I see is finished T&R. How it got that way was the mystery. My cabs are working pieces, so the rough finish is not the end of the world. Only my K100's are my "museum pieces". Maybe if I can get this woman to do the reupholstery, I'll buy a cheap, black, beat up K100 and turn it red. Any port in the storm.
Conrad

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Re: Tuck and Roll Fabric [message #11045 is a reply to message #11016]

Fri, 15 May 2009 16:14

neil
Messages: 29
Registered: January 2009
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Junior Member

All by hand. I use to watch the ladies do there magic. Back then, Chanute was the location for a large clothes factory. So, there where a lot of good seamstresses living in the area.
I acturally knew most of the first women that worked for Bud.
My brother knew someone who purchased one of Kustoms old sewing machines. He has yet had any luck trying to get the guy to sell.

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