Super Reverb Cabinet. Can I build it?

[Hella1hella]

Hello everyone, yes im posting about my super reverb... Again...

So here is my newest idea. I just got in a car accident so I now have to fund a new vehicle, so its changing my plans about my super reverb. I was going to buy a repro cab like a newell or something. Here is my idea... I live with a master craftsman, and since he is my grandpa haha he would probably have wood, or buy me the wood needed to build another cab. So here is my question. Would it be that tough for a wood worker to build a cabinet? I mean he builds cabinets (of the furniture type), chairs, clocks, pretty much anything you can name. Since I got my SR in head format, I thought I could show him the cabinet it is in now, and have him completely replicate it, only increase the vertical length making it into a combo. He can do dovetail joints and finger joints etc etc no problem, but here is my thing: Since it is a vintage fender, I would like pine. BUT!!!! Pine seems pretty soft for gigging, and I would want to stain it rather than deal with tolex. I was looking at another post on this forum, and someone did an orange style cabinet with birch ply, and stained it and it looked VERRRRYYYY awesome Would this affect the sound THAT much having a birch cabinet? I just want something a little harder than pine, but if you guys think pine would be the best to keep the fenderness let me know. Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving!

Here is the orange style cabinet
Orange 412 diy

[soundguruman]

Fender uses pine and poplar not only cause it is cheaper, softer, easier on the tools, but lighter to carry.
Aircraft grade birch and cherry wood are good acoustic choices, but triple the price and much heavier to carry, it eats your tools up faster.
Then please add whatever speakers to the weight calculation, good speakers weigh much more than the stock ones.

[jmaf]

Of course someone who has experience with furniture and overall fine woodworking will not have issues to build a cabinet. You could use the opportunity to learn from your old man

In case it helps, here's a PDF with plans for a Marshall 4x12: http://music-electronics-forum.com/a...t-cab_rev1.pdf

[Hella1hella]

Thanks guys I appreciate it! Yeah, I think it might be the cheapest way? I talked to that guy one ebay who makes the cabinet kits, and for a super reverb it was $165. I think I could probably get wood for much cheaper. I wish I could cover it in tolex, but I think staining it black will look really cool. Only thing Im worried about is how well the bare pine will do as far as shows n what not. Anyone have any good tutorials on putting grill cloth on a baffle? I did it with my champion and it came out ehh...

[Chuck H]

I promise that all the tutorials you need are on line. That aside...

Don't stain pine. It stains like crap. Even a solid stain will show anamolies in sheen and grain that are unattractive.

Your first venture into covering with tolex will SUCK. It's the kind of thing that anyone can do... Once they have experienced it. Doing a good job first time out is unlikely.

If your just after a good cabinet, and vintage aesthetics aren't important, forget all the hubub about finger joints and wood variety. Just build a strong, appropriately sized box. I'm sure your grandpa can do that with his experience.

If you want stain, use a wood that stains nicely. If you want pine for tone (good choice) and still want a "wood" finish, there are ways to do that. But it won't be with a pigmented stain. It will be a more natural look. I did a set of cabinets for a customer that wanted "them to look like the paneling in an old bar. You know, like years of smoking and yellowing on knotty pine planks." So I built the cabinets from knotty pine and "aged" them with an application of lye. Followed by a coat of amber shellac and finishing with two coats of satin urethane. It nailed the look. Blackened knots and honey toned wood. Beautiful if I do say so myself.

If I were doing a black stain I would use mahogany. Expensive though. But it'll carry the look of a solid black stain, show even wood grain and offer decent acoustics.

If I chose to cover the cabs I would probably use poplar. Good tone, easy to work with, not too expensive and it's easy to get straight pieces at the lumber yard. As a cabinet maker your grandpa will be very familiar with it's tooling characteristics.

I don't have a wood shop, so I build my cabs with a chop saw, big clamps that I made and doweled ends. With the aged pine cabinets I used red oak dowels so they would stand out. Very cool looking. They're very strong. Perhaps not as strong as a finger joint, but certainly strong enough to stand on or take a small drop. Early on I made several cabs for myself that were just screwed and glued with additional triangular supports added to the inside corners. I think you could use them as wrecking balls. Very sturdy.

Point is, if vintage aesthetics aren't an issue, you just need a strong box that the stuff fits in and won't be too hard to cover. If following plans is your thing there are plans available. If not free then cheap.

[riz]

Good god, it's rock and roll, whatever happened to flat black spray paint?!

[soundguruman]

It's a lot more work and tools, and experience / know-how than you realize.
You would be doing very well to buy a pre-made one that is already tolex-ated.
Unless you are crazier than I am, and that's not good.

[Kazooman]

I say go for it. Baltic Birch ply is the way to go for strength, but as was mentioned it will be heavy. You really should go with either dovetails of finger joints for strength. Pine is lighter, but the pine used on my 1961 Bandmaster cabinet is nothing like what you can find in a big box store or even a lumber yard today. Much denser wood with smaller growth rings. Today's pine is grown so quickly that it is not as strong. Pine can be stained quite well, it just needs to be sealed first so that the stain is not absorbed unevenly giving the blotchy results mentioned above. I don't think Tolex is as hard to manage as others have said.

Here is a 2 X 12 cabinet I made with 3/4" baltic birch, finger joints, and black tolex. That was my first try at applying tolex. The reverb is what I covered with the scraps from the cabinet (shown next to my '60's vintage unit I cloned).

If I can do this, you can do this (with help from grandpa).

[Chuck H]

Unless you are crazier than I am, and that's not good.

Preaching to the choir. If any of us weren't crazy we would just play our guitars and work on our chops. It's the good kind of crazy though. Not the wake up and think "Why is there a bloody shovel in my car and mud on my shoes?" kind.

IMHE if you have more time than money, and are somewhat handy at similar projects, building your own cabinet is reasonable and satisfying. But to be sure I make 0 $$$ on the cabinets I sell. I've only made them for special customers a couple of times. Most of the amps I've built/sold are in contracted cabinets. I don't make money on those either. But I don't have to build them.

[jmaf]

If any of us weren't crazy we would just play our guitars and work on our chops.

So it's like that everywhere ?! My friends ask "hey, you still tinkering with the crazy scientist 'old radio thingies' "?

[Kazooman]

Oh yea, I should have mentioned..... You will probably spend more on a "build it yourself" cabinet than on a reasonable purchase. But then again, where is the fun on the latter? I have never sold a cabinet, but I don't think I could get back what I put into mine.

I put a pair of Celestion Vintage 30's in mine and it sounds great.

If you have speakers, access to woodworking tools (and Grandpa), then go for it.

[Chuck H]

You will probably spend more on a "build it yourself" cabinet than on a reasonable purchase.

Buying tolex, adhesive, handles, corners, jack plate, grill cloth, big rubber feet, any tools you don't already have (like a 1/2" quarter round router bit ), nice screws and decorative grommets and then the planks and plywood all for a one off project it can get very expensive. It helps a lot if you can find all those things in a style that pleases you at one location so you can save on multiple shipping costs. It's always possible nowadays to get a suitable cabinet already built and appointed for a little less than you would pay for the individual parts yourself. No doubt. That's considering that you intend to take the build all the way with all the proper appointments.

At $249 for the JD Newell, $288 for the Mojo and about $310 for some others I think the easiest and most affordable way to go is just buying one. You'll need speakers, so, depending on what you get the final cost is about $420 to $600. I really don't think you'll make one for less.

I would look over the available cabinets and choose what I thought was best if spending a little more makes a difference in quality. I wouldn't skimp on speakers either. These are your amps vocal cords. There's no sense building a nice amp and using mediocre speakers. If that's more than you want to spend you should wait and save. Otherwise you'll just end up spending the money twice eventually chasing better tone.

[olddawg]

Buy the kit. Your grandpa will probably buy it for you not to have to mess with it!