Tolex repair on a guitar case?

[Cunamara]

My flat topguitar, which I've had for 41 years, came with a hard shell case, one of those plywood ones with the yellow fuzzy lining that you've probably seen many times. It actually fits the guitar well and all the latches still work and the handle is still sound.

The Tolex (or vinyl or whatever it is) has come loose in the convex curves of the case, such as the waist and where it narrows down and curves into the neck area. It looks like the Tolex has shrunk and pulled up from the wood. This has been the situation for a couple of decades, so clearly I've never been all that worried about it. I am wondering if there is a feasible way to glue that back down. Would I need to do something like use a heat gun to try to soften and stretch the material back out to fit the curve, or just a really strong adhesive like contact cement to hold it down?

[wintermoon]

I've done plenty of glue downs w/just yellow carpenters glue and some painters tape to hold it down.
if it shrunk you can carefully heat it w/a hair dryer first and pull stretch it back slightly.

[Jabberwocky]

If it is just to hold the Tolex down and restoring to vintage case state is of no concern, 3M VHB doublesided tape will do a great job.

[icr]

For old beat up black case, I cut the offending shrunk tolex into thin strips then hold them down with something like teflon rod and use super glue. It is a little messy and might turn things white, then touch it up with SEM rubberized automobile bumper paint on a brush. I wish I could find that same paint in brown.

[Cunamara]

Thanks, guys. I hadn't even thought about using carpenter's glue since only one side of the bond is wood, but the back of the tolex is probably porous enough for an aliphatic resin to hold. I think I will need to hit it up with a hairdryer first just to get it to stretch a little bit, reducing the tension on the drying glue.

[pauln]

Real Tolex was a rubber product from General Tire Company. When I gets old enough it dry rots. Modern "Tolex" is a vinyl product that will last forever.

First thing to do is determine if yours is old rubber Tolex or later vinyl Tolex. Vinyl can be repaired, patched, etc. using a heat process.

[wintermoon]

I'm sure it'll work out fine, a friend bought a '67 Vibrolux Reverb that sat in someone's basement for eons. There was a lot of loose tolex all over but I completely disassembled it and reglued it all back w the carpenter's wood glue and you couldn't even tell it had been worked on. It was about a '4' condition when I started but ended up looking like a '7'. It was a labor of love so I did it gratis but he paid it forward a few yrs later when he sold it to me very reasonably.