Single 12" Cab

[Hotsauce]

I'm begining a new cabinet project.

Its going to be fixed ply baffle, pine sides, and a removable back so I can experiment with open/closed, and maybe port sizes.

I have a 12" alnico Silver Bell on order from Weber with hemp cone.

Not sure yet what finish I want to put on this.

[Geek]

I both applaud the beauty and your skill and yell in a jealous rant at your dovetails

Cheers!

[EWBrown]

That woodworking is too nice to hide under the usual Tolex

/ed B

[Hotsauce]

I rounded over the outside edges, and rough sanded(220 grit)





As I sand this box, I can tell from the tone it gives off that this is going to be good. Pine adds its own warm resonance to a cabinet that ply or mdf doesn't.

I want to stain the box, but I'm not sure How to seal the wood first. testing stain on scraps, its verry blotchy on the bare wood.

Final finish will be either linseed oil, or shellac.

I'm out of wood, so no more work till this weekend. I still have to cut the baffle, back side, and do the engraving for the jack plate.

I'm going to add a built in handle too.

John C.

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[Casey4s]

Nice work! I do box joints (easy) but dovetails have always eluded me, cudos.

[Hotsauce]

I added a step inside the back of the sleeve. This is jus 1"x1" hardwood.

This is what the removable rear panel will screw to.


I didn't want to use self tapping screws and finishing washers, they get loose over time and repeted removings. I anticipate taking the back(or half of it if I split it) off often as I try to tune the sound of this.

I found these threaded inserts at the lumber yard. They're intended as replacements for knock down furniture, but they looked ideal for my purpose. Nice wide flat head, and tighten with an allen wrench. They even had the 10B finish I wanted.


Heres the back on, but not fastened.


John C.

[EWBrown]

Very nice! the insert nuts and connecting bolts is the way to go, especially if you are going to do a lot of experimentation with the design.

For the "uglytron", I'm thining of looking for an appropriately sized old wooden "farm crate" at the local flea markets, and use that for the speaker cab. I might as well mahe the whole thing "functionally ugly" to keep with the theme.

/ed B

[Hotsauce]

The first of what will be many layers of dewaxed amber shellac.

After doing some test pieces, I wasn't happy with how the stain was behaving.

This really brought some contrast to the wood, especially where it soaked into the endgrain, and highlights the joints. It also raised up all the fuzz in the wood, and I'll have to knock it down a few times with 400 grit.


The speaker baffle will be glued in place, so I'm not adding that until the driver gets here, it'll be easier to do the cutout before I glue it in.

John C.

[Casey4s]

Gluing the baffle is an interesting aproach, i have never seen anyone do this before on a guitar cabinet. Not to say it not a good thing to do for any reason, just an observation.

I like the screw inserts you used, I am on my way to a hardware store anyway in a few minutes to get some other cabinet hardware I need so I'll look for some of those. Nice tip!

[nyazzip]

here's one i just finished, its a 1x12" too....solid pine; i've never tried to dovetail so it is just butt joints. its pretty crude. i carpeted the inside to deaden it, finished it with shallac(which i have been using for everything lately, i love it )
be sure to put up some finished pics ! cheers

edit: i guess "solid" pine might be a misnomer: the baffle is what i will call a "composite-solid tile" pine. manufactured boards from Home Depot....

[Hotsauce]

I'm glueing the baffle in to more effectively couple it to the cabinet sleeve. I'm trying to transfer more energy.

I want the cabinet to resonate. I find pine very warm sounding, and mahogany very dark. Notice the different woods used to voice acoustic guitars, and how a rosewood neck affects tone.

Thats why I used pine, and why there is no internal bracing or sound deadening. Home speakers are commonly MDF to reduce these vibrations. The difference between speakers that produce vs reproduce music.

Guitar amplifiers and speakers aren't designed to accuratly reproduce the sound of the strings, they add even order distortion and harmonics that we find pleasing.

Play your electric guitar through any of your home amps or speakers, and it sounds dull and boring.

John C.

[nyazzip]

some cab resonance can be nice too, but you can always add a little "character" by distance micing, or with some ambient reverb in a recording. previously i made an all-pine cab, and an all cedar cab, and they resonated a bit TOO much....and you can't take that away. i figured the solid pine+ damping material would be a good compromise, and so far i like it. i am a sucker for the very early AC/DC guitar cab sounds, and that is a very dry sound indeed. also, the cleaner and quieter the guitar sound, the less important the cab material is, IMHO
regards

[Casey4s]

I'm glueing the baffle in to more effectively couple it to the cabinet sleeve. I'm trying to transfer more energy.

I want the cabinet to resonate. I find pine very warm sounding, and mahogany very dark. Notice the different woods used to voice acoustic guitars, and how a rosewood neck affects tone.

Thats why I used pine, and why there is no internal bracing or sound deadening. Home speakers are commonly MDF to reduce these vibrations. The difference between speakers that produce vs reproduce music.

Guitar amplifiers and speakers aren't designed to accuratly reproduce the sound of the strings, they add even order distortion and harmonics that we find pleasing.

Play your electric guitar through any of your home amps or speakers, and it sounds dull and boring.

John C.

I agree about the cabinet resonance, I like pine as well if I am going to cover it. To me it would seem to inhibit the cabinets natural resonance by making things so rigid.

My favorite combo wood is black walnut. When it's planed down to between 1/2 and 5/8 inch it sounds really warm for a hard wood.

[Hotsauce]

Some day I will try building a hardwood cabinet. I really need a table saw first, this was all done with the rechargable Makita hand saw you see on the floor in one shot.

I'm envisioning something very thin, like ¼" sides, and a couple truss braces like inside a guitar.


John C.

[Geek]

some cab resonance can be nice too, but you can always add a little "character" by distance micing, or with some ambient reverb in a recording. previously i made an all-pine cab, and an all cedar cab, and they resonated a bit TOO much....and you can't take that away. i figured the solid pine+ damping material would be a good compromise, and so far i like it.

Make an all-pine cab and oil it. Watkins Danish Oil is what I use, 3 coats of it. Let it harden up a bit between coats (take 8 hours to do all 3 for example and soak the heck out of it when you do coat it). Phenomenal tone

I'm envisioning something very thin, like ¼" sides, and a couple truss braces like inside a guitar.

Bzzzzzt, rattle, rattle, bzzzzt.

Cheers!