Tube Amp Archive

Hi all,
I want to split my Fender combo into a head & cab as it's so dang heavy!
Wanting to keep the standard Fender look (think bassman head with 2x12").

I'm pretty handy technically (engineer by trade) but I don't have a huge background in working with wood. So I'm after some resources that will teach me the right kind of joints for cabs and how to make them. Tools to obtain etc.
So looking for reccomendations of books/ websites etc.

Thanks.

Not to discourage, but consider the following:

If this is a vintage amp, save the original cabinet and build new replacements.

The tooling and time involved will be much greater than just buying a head cabinet and speaker box. If this is a one-off project, I would consider going that way.

If you are going to press on, there are several threads in this section dealing with box joints. You will need some kind of tooling to do it well. I have done on cabinet on my table saw using a sled. It was not as good as I had hoped, but I had planned to tolex and it was fine after lots of sanding and a little wood filler.

There is a sticky on this section on Tolexing. Our friend from Amplified Nation makes it look deceptively easy, but it can be done by mere mortals.

Fender cabinet hardware is readily available.

I hope it helps, and welcome to the forum.

To build on what's already been said, it is one thing to design a box and quite another to build it. It takes tools and practice. I'll second the motion for buying built cabinets. Unless you've already got a fairly complete tool set, it's going to cost more than you think and the result may not be up to your standards. I'll also second the comment on preserving the vintage cab.

If you are looking to expand your horizons and want an excuse to buy some tools and make sawdust, then, by all means, have at it!

There are some decent dovetailed pine cabs on eBay.

John

What amp are we talking here?

Well, if you don't want to spend $150+ for a head shell you can do it cheaper.

Quite frankly and not to say this is the best way but,

you can make a pine cab with a circular saw and a drill.
Use a good finish blade for cuts.

Clamp a straight edge to the wood and use it to guide the saw for cross cuts.

If you don't have a router, hand sand the corners into a rounded radius.

For any cutouts or back panel, use a powered jig saw.

Then glue it and screw it, you can also install corner bracing at this time.

Putty the screw heads, finish sand everything.

Cover the sins with tolex.

Best tool I ever bought was a biscuit joining tool. Plenty strong joints for small combos, or speaker cabs.

You can get a pocket screw jig for about 35 bucks. Makes very strong joint . you don't need a bunch tools to build a cab. Get some good 13ply birch . use a straightedge to guide a skill saw. You can get away with using a jigsaw for speaker holes . though a router makes it much easier. Block plane for roundovers or a router. Glue and screw it all together

I didn't mean to imply you need fancy tools like a table saw and such. I can build a decent box with a hand held circular saw and a straight edge like cbass describes. My only point is that if you need some of the basic tools, you still might spend quite a few dollars just to get started. Also, cheap tools aren't worth what you pay for them. Decent tools don't have to be real expensive, but it is always worth it to go for something of good quality.

Two places I like to shop:
http://www.cpooutlets.com
http://www.cripedistributing.com/

You don't say what you've got. I was assuming you are starting from scratch.

I've built a few cabs and took multiple shop classes. You can do 99% of the work on a table saw. Cheap ones around $150 are not bad but you can't trust their built in measuring tape. Remodeled my house and built 3 cabs with a $75 skills table saw that lasted 7 years. If you want to break some bank $500 will get you a nice table saw. 2nd tool I recommend is a router with a table. A cheap set will run you around $100-200. Sand paper, measuring tape, wood glue, screws not nails if you decide to use them.

Watch wood working shows like the new Yankee workshop, this old house, there's quite a few. I watched these guys once build the most beautiful dresser with mitered box joints and all kinds of nice stuff.

Edit: just read the guys who posted before me. I will agree a table saw is not necessary but it makes life easy.

Another thing not mentioned here, probably cause it might be too obvious is room to work. If you don't have much space to work in sawhorses and a skilsaw are much more effective than a table saw. It takes a lot of space and manpower to move plywood around to cut.
You could make the router table out of a leftover chunk of the plywood clamped to the sawhorses and pick up a second hand router to bolt on, that doesn't have to be fancy, and lots of info online about it.

Honestly though, if you don't have the tools and this is a one and done thing, your much better off buying the cabinets. By the time you factor the tools, materials, glue, sawhorses etc you will probably have exceeded the cost of buying the cabinets ready made.
Regan

Join a community woodworking class/shop. You pay a yearly fee and use their tools.

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Making it myself is the preferred option as I'm that kind of person who likes to have a go at something myself.
However good points raised about the price of tooling and I don't really have space for a table saw.

Getting someone to build the cab is an option I've thought about and I've found a guy I will ask to quote. I also have a brother in law who is a cabinet builder so he'd be another option but he is flat out with work atm.

Per chance can anyone point me to some dimensional drawings/plans of a fender piggyback head/cab?

Food for thought. Thanks again.

Most of the lowe's/lumber places have panel saws and will cut to your dimensions for a fee. If using circular saw use masking tape [blue type] to minimize splintering. I use a saber saw for the speaker holes and sand to shape. A basic block plane is a wonderful tool for rounding corners and can be had for small money. If you can or know someone who can sharpen the blade before you use it - highly recommended.

Dimensionaly if you like the Fender size just copy it. There is no right or wrong on cab size - what fits with your rig and into your trunk - and the most important - how much weight do you want to schlep around - matters more than speaker parameters. A guitar amp/speakers are very LOFI.

A word of caution - unless you are a man with will power and the ability to say 'it's good enough' an mean it, be prepared to build a number of cabs.

Russ

The tooling and time involved will be much greater than just buying a head cabinet and speaker box. If this is a one-off project, I would consider going that way.

Absolutely, and it’ll look much spiffier. Mojo isn’t that expensive considering. Retail tolex, grill cloth, glue, corners, feet, handle add up. As does all the shipping. Then the wood, the baltic birch for the baffle which you should use add up too. As will all your mistakes, and shipping again. The basic tools, router, drill, staple gun even bought used add up.

How do you plan on doing the slant on the front edge nice? How do you plan on cutting out your baffle circles? Can you find baltic birch ply? Rockler has BTW if none is local.

There are some decent dovetailed pine cabs on eBay.

Agreed too. Best way to go if you want it to look pro, though you still have to Tolex it right. I never tried this guy, but I had planned on it before I moved oversees. Maybe others can comment on the work:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sorrycharly/m.h ... pg=&_from=

Cover the sins with tolex.

But what will cover your tolexing sins?

Most of the lowe's/lumber places have panel saws and will cut to your dimensions for a fee.

Of course, get the lumber yard to do your crosscuts so they’ll be true, and they have to be. Why even try yourself w/o a table saw unless you’re really bored? I never built a clone cab so always used the standard dimensions, will yards rip a board lengthwise for you? I never asked, you should find this out first. Pick your board, find one not raked, figure out your pieces avoiding big knots that can fall out or along the edge, have them true up one end first, tell them not to leave knots on an edge, and best if they can cut around them for you. If they charge by the cut it’s more cuts.

Just get a used router off craigslist/yard sale, a cheap, old, B&D Saturday hobbyist router with sloppy wing nuts, or a dead grandpa’s 1965 Porter Cable is just fine for rounding off edges. Cheap Home Depot Ryobi bits are just fine for jobs like this, 3/8 or 1/2 - 3/8 will be much easier hand holding but the chrome corners are really for 1/2. Yes, you can sand or plane the roundover but why bother for the $40 you can get a router for. Planing on the grain end is pretty much impossible. A nice plane, and why would you not want a nice plane, isn’t at all cheap!

Some personal tips from a guy who built all his cabs on a NYC tenement roof with a 50ft extension chord going down to my window using milk crates as horses. The whole building leaned and the roof sloped front to back, and the landlord just kept piling tarpaper on top of tarpaper for the last hundred years so it was like working on a leaning lumpy sponge, felt like moon gravity. Anyways:

I don’t like screws and putty. I freak the router bit might hit a screw that’s not deep enough. Putty will pull out if you pull up misplaced tolex and then you have crumbly putty debris stuck hard on your tolex with the clock running out. I glue and screw it all up with sheetrock screws about every inch, no need for clamps. Next day I remove the screws, drill out the holes and dowel it with dowel rod or the proper fluted pieces they sell for this. Tape the bit, get the height close and you can knock them down flush with a cheap palm sander with 80 grit in a flash. Then roundover, quick sanding w/ 120, and you got something to take home to mom.

Big Tip: shellac or Bin the knots, especially if using blond tolex. Must be alcohol based shellac for this. I learned to shellac or paint the interiors as I’ve had wood panels varnished on just one side warp on me. I discovered that if the exterior is shellacked the glue goes on thinner, smoother, faster, which is nice, especial when playing with hide glue.

Now you must Tolex. Tolexing is fun on the flats, corners suck if you’re an amateur. Buy a knife with break off blades and break them off often. Be prepared to be disappointed in yourself, but you won't be half as disappointed until you check out your first grill-cloth attempt! Even your mom will be disappointed. These help:

http://www.dickblick.com/products/riche ... as-pliers/

To do speaker cutouts you really need a router if you don’t want it to look like you used a rabid squirrel, here’s a pict of my NYC poor boy jig:

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... er&start=0

Worked amazingly great. Too bad I only do this every few years, by the time I finally get good I’ll be dead. Here’s how nice they came out with a junk store router and the scrap wood jig.

Nice outlet cover you made there, rp! I see you even put the center hole for the retaining screw. I don't understand why you didn't stain it!