Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

Gypsyblue

Gypsyblue

New member
Do you biscuit join them? Dovetail them? Box join/finger join them? Butt join them? When I see them for sale on Ebay (uncovered and raw wood) they're usually not box joined but the old Fender amps from the 1950's and 60's are box joined in the corners. I don't have a way of doing that without a lot of work. Just curious. I want to make a couple and want to get it right. Thank you in advance.
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

Nothing fancy here - I just used cleats in all the corners, screwed together with plenty of wood glue. You have to make sure the screws are set back out of the way of the router bit used to round it over. Sloppy underneath, by Tolex hides a lot.

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Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

Thanks Rich. I watched a video on Youtube where a European amp builder built a few cabinets constructed by different methods (dovetailed, box joined, biscuit joined, etc.) and then threw them out of a second story window! The biscuit joined cabinets survived the fall best, but they all broke of course.
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

i use void free 1"x12" pine usually and finger joint them. i have a decent dado blade set and use a table saw. i dont usually cover them with tolex and on some i barely put a finish on which is a terrible cosmetic idea since the soft pine gets beat up but it sounds great!
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

Trust me, there's no way I'm throwing this amp off a roof.
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

I use butt joints so glue and screws. Solid. I then just stain and varnish. Looks great, sounds great. I wish I had a dovetail jig. Maybe in the future.
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

jeremy said:
i use void free 1"x12" pine usually and finger joint them. i have a decent dado blade set and use a table saw. i dont usually cover them with tolex and on some i barely put a finish on which is a terrible cosmetic idea since the soft pine gets beat up but it sounds great!
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Do you use white or yellow pine?
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

I am ready to build a cabinet and wondered if there is a difference tonewise.
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

well... yellow pine = southern pine which is really three types (more than three species) of pine long leaf, short leaf and some other one i cant recall at the moment.

the long leaf pine seemed heavier than the soft leaf which seemed heavier than the white. the long leaf also seemed to have tighter rings and a higher tap tone.

i guess i prefer white (or northern) but its also easier and cheaper for 12" boards so i use it more frequently and have experimented with it more. in all honesty i dont hear all that much difference
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

I use a combination of biscuit and rabbet joints. Your design and material choice should dictate what joint you use.
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

Several years ago, I decided that I was going to learn how to make my own cabinets…

So, I when to the local Woodcraft store, spoke to the salesmen and invested in a Porter-Cable 12 inch dovetail jig (Model 4212) and a Porter-Cable Router (Model 895PK) and took some woodcraft classes.

I learned really quickly that my plans to use ¾-inch birch plywood was not a good plan at all if I planned to use dovetail joints. So I switched to ¾-inch southern pine (Knot free) for the sides and ½-inch for the back and speaker board. I used aspen for the cleats and Weber speakers (blue dog).

The cabinet plans were down loaded off the internet and were similar to the Theile ported cabinet design form EV. (Similar to Mesa Boogie)

Worked out really great and are easy to handle and place on stage and in the studio.

Good luck - please take some classes at woodcraft or similar schools for safety reasons. These classes are dirt cheap, your fingers are not!
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

Stratman said:
Several years ago, I decided that I was going to learn how to make my own cabinets…

So, I when to the local Woodcraft store, spoke to the salesmen and invested in a Porter-Cable 12 inch dovetail jig (Model 4212) and a Porter-Cable Router (Model 895PK) and took some woodcraft classes.

I learned really quickly that my plans to use ¾-inch birch plywood was not a good plan at all if I planned to use dovetail joints. So I switched to ¾-inch southern pine (Knot free) for the sides and ½-inch for the back and speaker board. I used aspen for the cleats and Weber speakers (blue dog).

The cabinet plans were down loaded off the internet and were similar to the Theile ported cabinet design form EV. (Similar to Mesa Boogie)

Worked out really great and are easy to handle and place on stage and in the studio.

Good luck - please take some classes at woodcraft or similar schools for safety reasons. These classes are dirt cheap, your fingers are not!
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I am happy that worked out for you. Wish you would post some pictures of your work. It will never be worth the effort for me to build cabs, I spend all my time inside of amps and guns, but I REALLY enjoy looking at the stuff you guys build.
Cool that company offers those classes.
Best
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

In 1998 I built a 2x12 cab with my table saw and a dado set I used 1/2" clean basswood (ugh it was expensive, never again) and used the dado blades to remove 50% (1/4") for 1/2" on each facing edge of the wood. I used a 90 degree clamp and wood glue to to put the sections together while my brother in law made a better clamp to handle 4 corners. It all worked great, fit perfectly. On the inside I laid strips of fiberglass in all of the corners and covered them with resin. I'm good at roughing stuff out like that but terrible at finishing work so my wife did the upholstery and face and we added corners from some $10 amp we picked up at a pawn shop. I'd give it all a 9. Sadly, I'm living in Texas now and my saw and dado set is still in a shed in Colorado Springs, else I'd be tempted to try it again on a larger scale. -Rod-
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to go ahead and buy some blades and build a jig for creating box/finger joints. And I'll use solid pine. Just have a feeling it's important and may be part of the sound of a vintage Fender amp. Guitar amps, guitar speakers and the cabinets they're in are musical instruments too, after all. Thanks again!
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

my old JCM 800 head had the covering peeled of it before i got it... i've never been able to get it to work electronicly quite right but it looks funky and worn and i had the weird idea to make my own 2x12 cab out of pine and leave it looking like an old wooden crate idea... but since the head is crap i'm not wasting my time yet...
 
Re: Who builds their own amplifier & speaker cabinets?

Gypsyblue said:
Thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to go ahead and buy some blades and build a jig for creating box/finger joints. And I'll use solid pine. Just have a feeling it's important and may be part of the sound of a vintage Fender amp. Guitar amps, guitar speakers and the cabinets they're in are musical instruments too, after all. Thanks again!
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There is a good video on Youtube on this subject.
 
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