First-Timer Speaker Cabinet Build

[sbeishline]

Being halfway through my first guitar build - as I previewed in my other blog - I decided to make an uber light and portable amp/ open-back cabinet to go with my hopefully-completed archtop.

I read some of the blogs re: micro bass amp heads and had initial plans to build a cabinet for use with the Trace Elliot Elf bass amp head as this thing is super small and light. It is rated at 130W/8ohm, and thought about trying the Eminence Wheelhouse 150W speaker. I couldn’t find any sound samples using the Elf with guitar, so I started looking into the Quilter 101R and settled on building the cabinet around a Eminence Cannabis Rex 12” speaker.

Decided on final dimensions of 14.5” x 14.5” x 11.25” (common board width). This will leave the inside square 13” after the dovetails and about an inch around the 12” diameter of the speaker.

Cabinet is premium pine from Lowe’s cut from a 1” x 1’ x 4’. Cleats from leftover pine or hardwood scraps- haven’t decided. 1/2” birch ply for baffle and 1/4” birch ply for back panels.

I haven’t made many dovetails other than for a tissue box, but I enjoyed doing them. For this project, I bought a David Barron magnetic dovetail guide. This holds the saw right against the guide to make the process a little easier.

Here’s a photo of my 4 sides, cut to size and labeled:


Scribed baseline (3/4” thickness):


Here’s a pic of the 1:7 dovetail guide in action marking:


Once I marked the first side of pins, I placed the other board next to it outside face upwards (pins point towards the face) and used a ruler to trace the lines. Then I placed the dovetail guide like the photo above up to the pencil and marked the top lines. This saved time from using the dividers as I did marking the first set of pins:



Pins marked on both sides of pin boards:


Next stage in this side project will be to saw the pins, remove waste with coping saw, and chisel to baseline. Stay tuned...

[sbeishline]

I made a makeshift depth stop by hand planing a paint stirrer stick, so that it’d be 3/4” at the handle-end of the saw when against the spine of the saw. I then used a 4” double-square to find the spot where it was 3/4” at the saw-end and marked it with a Sharpie. I then attached it using double-stick tape:


I made some test cuts and it worked well, so I made the cuts using the dovetail guide:


Then removed the waste with a coping saw:


Post-coping saw, pre-chisel:


Then used the bench chisels to remove the remaining waste and chiseled to the line. I noted that even though I used the magnetic guide, some of the pins weren’t at 90°. Using the guide, I chiseled the pins to refine them a bit.

Top and bottom pieces with pins complete:


They may not end up being the prettiest, but this is gonna be one strong cabinet!

This is how I’ll transfer the pins to make the tails to be done this week:


Will shoot to have this ready to glue up this weekend, and practice with the neck dovetail jig for the archtop.

[Greco]

Many thanks for all the wonderful pics and narrative. Much appreciated.
Impressive joinery!

You bench, shop and tools are all first class. I'm jealous.

[sbeishline]

Many thanks for all the wonderful pics and narrative. Much appreciated.
Impressive joinery!

You bench, shop and tools are all first class. I'm jealous.

Thx Greco. My ‘shop’ is an unofficial bench in my garage that I attached that Irwin woodworkers vice you see in the pic with the dovetail guide. I own some hand tools and the Rikon wet sharper. You’re right tho- my buddy Steve has just about everything one could need that’s good quality. I started paying him $10/mo in October to help with the cost of all consumables I use (sandpaper, blades, brushes, etc). Really lucky to have access to such a place. It’s climate controlled, too!

[sbeishline]

Transferred the pins as shown in the last post. Traces the pins with a lot of lead from the pencil and cut them out with the dovetail guide:


Cut them out with coping saw:


Chiseled to line and was ready to fit. Just a little shaving here and there and presto:


A little dab of Tite Bond II on the pins and it’s now solid a tank!


And, it came out square!

[sbeishline]

Prepping to cut the speaker baffle hole, I saw this online article for a cool jig to cut a circle using a jigsaw:

How to Cut a Perfect Circle with a Jigsaw | Man Made DIY | Crafts for Men

I traced and cut the pieces:



Drilled the pilot holes:


Taped jigsaw and ready to cut:


Result:


#EpicFail - I really liked the idea. Not sure why the blade bent, but it wasn’t successful. Wasted time = good learning.

That is all.

[sbeishline]

Recut the baffle and retraced the circle. This time I cut it out with the jigsaw by hand (fairly easily) and finessed it on the spindle sander. Much easier and much less time:


Traced the speaker, marked the speaker mounting holes, and marked them with an awl:


Then drilled 1/4” holes for the #10-32 tee nuts and malleted them in.


Test fitted with #10-32 pan-head machines screws, #10 washer, and 1/4” split lock washer:


Was solid. Disassembled and spray painted the baffle front flat black:


Cut 3/16” thick, 1/2” or so strips of ?maple? for the baffle spacer for grill cloth:


Spray painted over again, but forgot to take a pic.

Baffle now ready for grill cloth.

[sbeishline]

Cut cleats using same pine as cabinet. Cleats were cut to 3/4” x 3/4” to fit exactly inside dimensions for speaker baffle on front:


The back top (4”) and bottom (3”) panels are made from 1/4” plywood and are currently cut long. Cleats for those seen laid out here:


In shop on Tues, will mark location of front and back cleats, fasten those in, sand the amp with RO sander, drill hole and install speaker jack, and drill holes for handle on top. Stay tuned ladies and gents!

[sbeishline]

Ran corners on router table with 3/8” round over bit, and sanded with 100, 180, and 240 grits:



Marked setback distance of 3/4”- 1/2” for baffle and 1/4” space in front of the baffle. Used set-up blocks that all measure 3/4” high with a ruler to ensure it was flush:


I applied glue to surface and used pneumatic nail gun to secure them. Here’s the front baffle cleats:


Trimmed baffle to have 1/8” on 2 adjacent sides to accommodate grill cloth and Tolex, so that it ends up centered:


Final painted baffle ready for grill cloth and speaker:

*note the cool art that resulted from the backdrop! That’ll end up as celestial artwork for the newborns room!

Appearance of front with baffle positioned:

[sbeishline]

For the back, instead of using the setup blocks and ruler, I put the back face down on the workbench and used the back panel and 1/16” setup block to accommodate the Tolex. A little TBII glue and 2 nails:


All cleats glued and nailed into place for panels:


Again, about 1/8” space should be left on adjacent sides to accommodate for Tolex:


Marked the center of the top back panel for the jack plate:


Drilled using 1-1/8” Forstner bit:


Jack plate fit into hole:


I have since marked the back plate screw holes for the cleats, and will drill those tonight along with the holes for the handle.

Tolex: look out! Hot pink Bronco... Not for everyone, I know. With a conservative hand crafted archtop on the way, gotta live a little and have some fun. Prolly last of the supply on the entire internet, I searched high and low..possibly from the Pinkburst project.

The Pinkburst Project: Guitar Auction For Uveitis Research

Grill cloth- Marshall large check from Mojotone.



Stay tuned for Tolex application..

[sbeishline]

Marked centerline of amp top and determined 7” felt like a comfortable handle position. I marked out those lines, and then measured the distance between the hardware holes and transferred them to top:

Drilled 1/4” holes for tee-nuts that came with handle hardware, malleted tee-nuts on underside of top, and screwed it on:

[BBGuitar]

I must comment

With those nicely done hand cut dovetails why cover it with tolex? I have done hand cut dovetails and would have a hard time covering them up.
A half dozen coats of poly would look great.

Have you thought of a caned grill? That would be really different.



This was taken before the box (not the grill) was sprayed with truck bed liner.

[sbeishline]

I must comment

With those nicely done hand cut dovetails why cover it with tolex? I have done hand cut dovetails and would have a hard time covering them up.
A half dozen coats of poly would look great.

Have you thought of a caned grill? That would be really different.



This was taken before the box (not the grill) was sprayed with truck bed liner.

BB - appreciate you offering your opinion. You’re the 3rd who’s said similar- Steve (from the shop) and my dad, haha!

I personally am not tied to having the dovetails displayed, lots of marks of the maker, but they do look cool.

My initial plan was to stain it with some Fiebings Ox Blood leather dye, to still have visible dovetails and color. I tested it and didn’t love it, but still an option to revisit:


I’m not a fan of the caned grill, so I’ll stick with the Marshall Lg. check.

I’ll let it stew a bit...

Any other votes out there?

[BBGuitar]

The greatest thing about building our own "whatever" is we can have it exactly the way we want it.

Nice work.

[sbeishline]

The greatest thing about building our own "whatever" is we can have it exactly the way we want it.

Nice work.

Thx! All these musical wood projects are uncharted waters for me and I’ve been happy so far.

You're right about that- customization at it’s finest. Now that I think of it, maybe I’ll stain it as though I won’t tolex. If I don’t like it, I’ll just tolex over it!

[sbeishline]

Aside from cosmetics and a quick solder, this construction is complete.

I initially decided to do this project guided by this website:

https://gtr1ab.wordpress.com/2010/11...-carousel-2070

Can’t recall how but, I somehow discovered Uncle Doug’s YouTube channel - I think when trying to find tolexing tutorial - but this ended up being my primary reference.

This cat has the best instructional video on building a speaker cab and tolex application, hands-down. It’s ridiculously detailed. I could listen to this guy endlessly. Check his other videos and I’d bet you’ll subscribe!

Uncle Doug
- YouTube

[BBGuitar]

The thing about pine is it will darken with age. I don't stain anything because I am not good at it.

Your lucky to have found a piece of pine at home depot that was flat. Most of what they sell is flatsawn and that tends to cup. Even their plywood is not as flat as I would like it.

[sbeishline]

The thing about pine is it will darken with age. I don't stain anything because I am not good at it.

Your lucky to have found a piece of pine at home depot that was flat. Most of what they sell is flatsawn and that tends to cup. Even their plywood is not as flat as I would like it.

I opted for two 4’ pieces instead of an 8’ so that it’d be less likely to be off.
I’d say most of the ones I looked through at Lowe’s were pretty flat. I chose more on grain appearance.

[pingu]

Nice job mate
What was the thinking for the speaker mounting ?
back mounting it I mean .....

[sbeishline]

Nice job mate
What was the thinking for the speaker mounting ?
back mounting it I mean .....

Thanks man.

I don’t know the disadvantages vs advantages - it’s all new to me. I just followed the tutorial. Good question for someone who knows what the hell they’re doing! LOL

I think you could also cut the speaker hole and route the front of the baffle to flush mount the speaker from the front, but I only used 1/2” birch ply, so I didn’t have enough thickness to do it. I would have prolly done that, tho. Then you wouldn’t need the 1/8” spacers for the grill cloth, I’d guess.

[sbeishline]

Welp, I decided to slather on some dye as I can always cover it up. Here she is in the current state- can definitely appreciate the dovetailed joinery:




Lars inspecting the tolex and is holding out on final approval:

[neatomic]

nice thread!...been watching...

wet sand back the leather dye stain...and coat with zinsser bullseye sealer....(available in can, at any decent hardware store)..its a de-waxed shellac sealer...you can even add little dye to it, when you are building up coats..the more coats the better

you have to seal the stain..otherwise the stain will continually be absorbed by the wood and fade...why also good to add a bit of dye to the shellac sealer...it will make it pop

nice first effort!!! good for you..u done good

cheers

[sbeishline]

nice thread!...been watching...

wet sand back the leather dye stain...and coat with zinsser bullseye sealer....(available in can, at any decent hardware store)..its a de-waxed shellac sealer...you can even add little dye to it, when you are building up coats..the more coats the better

you have to seal the stain..otherwise the stain will continually be absorbed by the wood and fade...why also good to add a bit of dye to the shellac sealer...it will make it pop

nice first effort!!! good for you..u done good

cheers

TY!

[sbeishline]

Took the cab into the shop and wet sanded it with 240grit wet/dry sandpaper and this is where we stand pre-finish (to be done tomorrow).

Outside pic pre-sand:


Post wet-sand:




With baffle:


Grill preview:


I’m glad I gave this a whirl first before going right to the tolex. Ideally I was wanting more of a magenta than hot pink, so this is purdy cool.

I typically use shellac, but this time I made a batch of 3-2-1 finish: 3pt linseed oil/2pt mineral spirits/1pt polyurethane. The linseed gives the liquid an amber color, so I may opt to go with clear poly + mineral spirits to keep the color closer to its current state.

Even from just the wet sand, the dovetails sure do pop!

Tomorrow will be to attach grill cloth to baffle, drill pilot holes to cleats, and put on finish.

Just need a fuel source!

[neatomic]

nice..dovetails should calm down a bit when it dries out....i love linseed oil..been using it for decades...but it does darken with time...that pink will go maroon!..hah

are you going to coat the inside with the baffle black?...good idea to

put those finish coats on thin...and lots of 'em...don't rush that part..spare you trouble down the line

good stuff...have fun


cheers

ps- always liked this adage

There's an old adage about boiled linseed oil finishes: "One coat per day for a week, one coat per week for a month, one coat per month for a year, and yearly then after.

[sbeishline]

Got to the shop today and started with the grill cloth application. Placed the baffle onto the grill cloth cutout as square as possible. Held it down with the pressure of a Bessey clamp, so the cloth could be adjusted and stretched and the baffle wouldn’t move. Then heated the side of the cloth with a hairdryer, stretched it around the edge, and stapled it down:


Did 2 sides and rotated for the other 2:


After it was completed:



Here is the speaker attached- you can see I trimmed the grill cloth so it didn’t reach and get under the speaker rim:


Couple of side notes:

1. I did attempt to miter the corners as in the Uncle Doug video, but this grill cloth doesn’t lend well because it’s very woven and tends to want to fall apart. With this cloth, it’s better to just overlap the 2 corners and looks good.

2. Good news or bad - with just the grill cloth, it is very snug in the opening. If I would’ve applied Tolex, I think I probably wouldn’t have compensated enough and it may not have fit.

[sbeishline]

Decided against 3-2-1 and made a batch of cut polyurethane, since the linseed oil will darken the color:


Here’s the hue right after application of 1st coat:



Appearance with handle:


Back panels post finish application:


Jack assembly attached:


View of back with panels and bits in place:

[sgosnell]

It's looking good. I prefer Speakon connectors to 1/4" phone jacks/plugs, but they all work, as long as you're careful. I think the wood looks better than Tolex, but none of this is end-of-the-world important. Enjoy the cabinet, hope it sounds as good as it looks.

[sbeishline]

It's looking good. I prefer Speakon connectors to 1/4" phone jacks/plugs, but they all work, as long as you're careful. I think the wood looks better than Tolex, but none of this is end-of-the-world important. Enjoy the cabinet, hope it sounds as good as it looks.

Thanks- me too! I never heard of SpeakOn connector till you mentioned and I looked it up. I’ll try it out on the next one!

[sgosnell]

You can get them reasonably priced from Mouser or from various ebay sellers, both male and female. The biggest advantage is that they can't short out when connected or disconnected, and they can take very thick cable, 12 gauge or bigger, if needed. My AI Clarus amp, and my MB200, both have only Speakon outputs, and every cabinet I own has them, whether they had them when I bought them or not. It's a simple replacement.

[sbeishline]

After the 3rd coat, I dry sanded with 600grit and applied a final coat. These pics are immediately after application:





After drying for 12hr:

[sbeishline]

After I screwed the speaker to the baffle- when I went to place the baffle in place I noticed that it didn’t seat down in and flush against the cleats and stuck out a bit:


This came from an oversight of mine. The baffle was 13 1/16” with a 11” hole, 12” outer speaker diameter. Seemingly, 1” would be safe. But, because we had to trim the baffle on adjacent sides to accommodate for the grill cloth and tolex, we lost some surface. So when I went to put it in, it was hitting about 1/4” of the speaker:


To solve this, I used a plunge router with a fence to lower the inside of the cleats enough to seat flush against the baffle:


This solved the issue, and gave me some plunge router experience.

Solderless wiring of the speaker:

[sbeishline]

All is complete and assembled. She’s ready and waiting to play some music fueled by the Quilter 101R slated to arrived on Tuesday. Here it is in the final state:






Thanks for all the dialogue and recommendations- turned out great. Hopefully it’ll sound as good as it looks. From an active posting standpoint, aside from banter, I shall call this thread retired.

See y’all next door for the continuation and optimistically, finalized Archtop!

Thx!
Sam

[Jehu]

Very nicely done, Sam. You really dodged a bullet with that tolex.

[sgosnell]

That's a beautiful cabinet. Enjoy it.

[Greco]

Congratulations! Well done!

Thanks for a great build thread with so many great pics.

ENJOY!

[sbeishline]

Couldn't help one more! Here's after I sewed on the Eminence tag plate and the Quilter arrived. I only had a few minutes to noodle, but this thing puts out some incredible sounds!

[sbeishline]

Here’s a clip of my dad playing through the new gear on Thanksgiving: