I respectfully disagree, and agree - if thats allowed.awangotango wrote:Cabs are not simple to make because it requires a finger jointing jig that usually costs hundreds of dollars..........Old fender cabs are pine or some other solid wood and sound totally different than a marshall ply cab. Just some advice; I wouldn't spend time trying to make your own cab unless you are trying to get some unique kind of tone. If you want the old marshall cab tone, get an old marshall cab. period. Building your own with butt joints, glue and screws will not sound the same as an old fingerjointed cab. This is in addition to the factor of the wood itself, which i expressed my opinions on in the above post. I am a woodworker/furniture maker by trade and i still use old marshall cabs !
Especially if you have some woodworking tools available to you. A PC 4212 will do simple box joints as well as dovetails for $159 new, I just bought one off of Craigs List for $80. For simple finger joints I don't use the jig unless its long, the sled on the TS does the trick.
There is, in my opinion, absolutely nothing unique about the wood or construction in a cabinet .because of age. As long as you follow the original construction and design I just don't believe you'll know the difference. It is the most dumbed down type of speaker cabinet construction you can do. Its plywood. I have racks of hardwoods air drying in a temp/humidity controlled area. Trust me, there's no plywood being stored in there.
Drivers are a different story, spend your money wisely and get the best you can afford.
There are some caveats to what I posted above. First is - how many cabinets do you want? If you are going to only build one or two then forget it. Buy one somewhere else. Especially if you don't have woodworking experience. Plus the whole Tolex thing isn't going to be a gimme. I did an Ampeg 810 and it sucked. There's no way you can get perfect results without practicing a few times. If you don't want Tolex and you want it to look good... then building becomes a neccesity if you need to reduce cost.
I do mine because a) I'm sick b) I want a few types of cabinets c) I've got the tools and have made more then a few dovetail joints in my life
Plus I love unique woods and I want that look.One last thing to think about. If you don't have the woodworking experience then think about your fingers. Because I've had a few close calls and know lots of people who have had worse. I suck as a player now... so losing a finger would be real bad.
Not trying to be combative in any way. Heck, I just bought London Powers cabinet book off a suggestion from Mark (as well as a couple others) trying to learn more. So I try to keep an open mind, but I wanted to offer an opinion thats a little different then some others in this thread.
Good luck to all!
