The Finished Product

Finally got here…

So the last day involved a lot of finishing off. I basically just had the screw the stretcher frame to the front, upholster the rear panels (while also cutting the hole for the input jack) and then screwing them to the back too. All of this unsurprisingly took longer then I had hoped but nevertheless was completed. Oh yeah, and building the amp box.

I started with the rear panel, by drilling a hole big enough for the recessed input jack plate (which would be useless until I bought an amp head). Then I upholstered the non painted side in the same way I upholstered the bottom rear panel, and cut the hole for where the input jack plate would go (fortunately this plate had a lip which covered around slightly). The upholstery wasn’t my best and there was some slight bubbling but not too noticeable. I then actually drilled the Jack in using some small screws.

Then came the amp box which I had to design myself. It consisted of an open box (so I could plug in and use the amp) which enabled me to slide the amp out when I was finished with it (I’ll also remove the box when I buy an amp head). This box just screwed into the back of the bottom rear panel and it can be removed when necessary. I did paint the box though so it can blend in with the cabinet.

After this I screwed everything in place, including the speaker stretcher frame and the rear panels which was tough. The speaker was first (for which I used nuts and washers because it needs extra stability due to the natural movement of the speaker-you don’t want it falling out halfway through a performance!) The Stretcher followed and then the amp box. The tough part was the rear panels which were difficult to reach in the corners and tedious especially considering I decided to use so many screws screws to keep it in place. A smaller (length) screwdriver was useful-you cant use a drill.

Then came the final stage which was to wire it up-a simple task. All you have to do is connect the jack wires to the speaker plates available (there are four available but you’ll probably only need two for the jack plate (although I used all four considering I had to connect both the jack plate and the amplifier)). It was midnight by the time I finished so I was pretty relieved when the speaker turned on and worked (I thought the speaker needed to be handed in the next day but it turned out it was actually the week after -.-‘).

Anyway, the day after I took some finished photos which I will post below.

The Combo amp which I took apart to take the amp.

Just the cable from the amp used to power the whole thing.

Bottom of the speaker

Slight bubbling on the top panel 😦

The speaker and amp inside the canbinet at the back.

The back of the speaker. You can see the currently unused speaker jack.

The Top of the speaker cab.

The completed thing.

A slightly different angle.

My guitar leaning up against the finish product.

Guitar And Amp From the Top.

I’m Just going to say that I really enjoyed the project and I’m glad I took it on. When I finally got it working I was really pleased with the tone and the resonance and I can’t wait to start using it at gigs (need to buy an amp head first-might even build one?). There’s also the peace of mind in knowing that the speaker is reliable and if something goes wrong, I know how to fix it. The project will be really valuable in every way and I would recommend it if you get some time free.

I hope the blog will be useful – please don’t hesitate to ask questions but just keep in mind that I might take a while to reply.

Thanks for visiting.

Amp And Speaker Frame

So with everything wrapped up I decided to move on to the finishing stages of the project – with much disappointment.

I started the stage by making sure the speaker worked which required some speaker cable (which I got from Maplins-a grey dual wire). I then wired the speaker through my amp using a 3,5mm to 1/4 inch jack adapter only to find that there was no sound. As you can expect, I was having quite a panic considering I had to get the speaker done for the presentation for my Extended Project and I thought I would have to send the speaker back but alas I discovered the issue. The problem was that there’s a difference between speaker cord and guitar cord to which is explained in this article.

http://www.fender.com/news/why-instrument-cables-and-speaker-cables-arent-interchangeable/

This is due to the difference in impedance and voltage of the two. Guitar cord has high impedance and low power and vice versa for speaker cord (which is used to connect speakers to amps). I just assumed that the cords were the same because they both look similar (1/4 inch jacks). The problem was overcome by compensating. I could get the speaker working by removing the amp from a small 12 watt practise amp that I had at home and connecting it up to the speaker (in the same way I would with an amp head except this amp had exposed wires because it’s actually apart of a combo amp). This meant I would have to add an amp holder to the back of cabinet so there would be no exposed wires when I handed it in and so it would look more professional. I also had to buy some extension speaker wire that I mentioned earlier (grey) so the amp would reach the speaker connectors.

To connect them I had to fix special connectors onto the speaker wire (which were also retrieved from Maplins) and connected by trimming the ends to the wire and then clamping the connectors on. One issue I had here was that the connectors were to small to fit on the speaker connection point which was resolved by me prying open the speaker wire connecters slightly and them clamping them on. I was extremely relieved when this was all successful 🙂

Then I moved onto the stretcher frame which would cover the front of the speaker. This involved 3 stages.

1. I covered the frame with the speaker cloth I had bought by stapling it to the back. It needs to be taught.

2. Fixing the piping to the frame also using staples and then Stanley knifing so the piping meets up at the bottom.

3. Fixing the frame to the speaker.

When fixing I originally was going to use some suction based clips which I found weren’t very effective because the wood was warped. I resorted to just screwing the frame in from the back through the baffle.

Next were the speaker feet which were simply attached to the bottom with screws by drilling through the bottom. Then the handle which was done using nuts and washers through the top (it needs to be strong because the speaker will be heavy.

I decided against the speaker corners for now because they were intensely bulky and in my opinion ruined it so I’ll just keep the corners the way they are for now (which is why it was important for me to do the best job I could with the corners-it actually paid off).

That summed up a very busy weekend with a lot of issues which were all overcome eventually. It all took a lot longer then I originally hoped as well. The last post should be next which is when I finished it all off!

All the tools of the weekend.

Don’t worry, you don’t see the webbing strapped diagonally because the speakers behind it.

The stretcher frame finished.

Before I stapled it down.

Had to use the screwdriver to really fix them well.

The feet finally attached.

The Corners just sitting loosely to show why I decided against them.

The frame with webbing fixed around the side to add cushioning for the speaker cloth.

I drilled pilot holes before I fixed pretty much everything just so when it fixed, it fixed good.

Me positioning and fixing the feet.

Here were the corners that I bought but decided not to use.

Here you can see the amp and the combo speaker sitting on top of my speaker in their separate parts.

Here you can see the amplifier removed from my small combo amp. These 3 parts are the main bits of the project.

This was the £80 quid speaker I bought from hotrox.co.uk. It came very quickly and I would definitely recommend buying from them. The speaker sounds lovely although it hasn’t broken in yet.

Overlap and Mitring

So today I did the corners, both gluing and mitring. To glue them I used an adhesive glue which required gluing to itself, therefore I needed to coat both the material and the wood. I used this because it’s really sticky and so far hasn’t left any bubbles (sadly unlike the PVA on the top board 😦  ).

Miter: A miter is a joint cut so two corners meet. In this case, a 45 degree angle.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/miter

I did some cuts first as shown in the video I put up of ReliableDan yesterday.

One tip which I found was really useful is to colour the corners with a permanent marker BEFORE you glue-on the sides of the material too. Any gaps are highly visible.

I know Dan uses a Stanley knife in his video to make the longer cuts but i found it easier to make a small mark using the Stanley knife at the end of the cut and the start and then use fabric scissors. The mitres should be done with a Stanley knife.

Use a heat gun when the corners are folded over but cut any excess on the overlap first.

Cutting the straight on the corner to enable the flap to overlap. I drew a line with the set square for some of them but for some of the others I used my judgement.

Me cutting the corner straight.

Yet another straight corner cut with the fabric scissors.

Glued the adhesive on both parts.

Cutting Along the Overlap

Another cut along the overlap.

Yet another overlap cut. Point and dig into the corner of the cut. Doesn’t matter too much if you go through to the wood a little.

Upholstering a Cab

So today I attached the PVC Leatherette to the cabinet. To do this, I took my pre cut material and out the cab 3 inches in from one side and 2 from the other (for the overlap). The video that I put up in the last video shows how I do the next steps.

I marked out the base, top and sides as I would roll the cabinet. I placed the cab in the area I put the top and then painted the glue on the right side f the cab followed by the material side. Then I folded it up and used a heat gun on the corners to make it stick. You only need to put a thin layer of the glue on the actual cab otherwise you’ll get bubbles.

Then do the same for the top, other side panel and the base until you’re left with the two ends overlapping. I then cut through the overlaps down to the wood where I then took off the strips from underneath the top overlap and the strip on the top (the video explains all of this better). This gives you a perfect seam meeting. I left it overnight, putting small strips of Sellotape to prevent the seam from naturally moving apart. The glue also dries better overnight.

Later today I shall miter the corners and glue the overlap (which the video explains as well).

The heat guns useful because it heats the glue causing it to become more sticky and the corners just grip to the glue. Not required but does come in handy.

Me heating the corners.

Just some extra heat going over the corners again. Don’t go too close with the gun!

As you can see, I’ve already cut the seam here.

Here you can see the seam and the tape over it.

Upholstery Day

So today I began by reconstructing the cabinet with the screws which was followed by some usage if the electric sander to flatten some edges. I also put some holes into the baffle boards with the screws so I could keep the baffle in the cabinet-it makes it a lot more rigid.

More importantly however, today was the day where I’d start upholstering the box. Just a quick note-there’s a bunch of videos on youtube telling you how to upholster boxes but I’ve found this one’s best (even if you’re not using tolex).

I would recommend buying this material called tolex because it’s black on both sides and the edges which means when you join the corners it will look better. The material I got a couple of weeks back (before I knew about tolex) is white on the backside which makes this slightly more difficult. I measured and cut the lengths of the material I’m using-a leatherette PVC-which was just long enough to allow me to do the covering of the cabinet in one go. I then measured the rear panels giving about 2 inches around the width of the board to wrap over (black side on the back). I gave 3 inches overlap on the front side for the cabinet and 2 for the back so 5 inches in total-you can cut any excess after.

I did a practise run first to test some types of covering the corners with some spare MDF and material. I trialled using PVA glue for the main base of the board and an extremely sticky adhesive for the sides and overlap. Out of the corners I attempted I found that the original method was best (the one suggested in the video). The corners will be covered by corner coverers anyway so you wont see them.

I only had time for the bottom rear panel today. I’m not doing the top one yet because the recessed connection plate still needs to be bought and delivered so I’m currently unaware if its dimensions. I’ll post the list of thing I’m looking at getting soon.

There are some pictures of how the rear panel went coming up and overall I’m pretty happy with the result.

I’ll probably do the cabinet covering tomorrow-I’ve got a little time while waiting for items to be delivered.

Here’s some picture of me sanding the cab from yesterday-I’ve had a bit of a mixup with the pictures because I’m doing two posts in the same day despite acting as if they’re a day apart -_-

Sanding from the front.

More Sanding

Yet more.

Here you can see the battens fixed. I had a few problems with the battens at the back because they were pushing the RP out slightly. To fix this I unscrewed the back battens and placed them further back slightly, then fixing them with new holes.

The painted box put together without the baffle

The practise piece i tried on.

I marked out the place where I needed to put the PVA Glued RP.

PVA glued RP

Me placing the panel onto the white side of the PVC Leatherette.

Applying pressure to the PVA-don’t worry if it goes over, it’ll just add to the strength.

I’ve cut the edges so they’re ready to fold over onto the adhesive glue.

I’m not intentionally covering my face… Just putting the glue on the board, the sides and the PVC Leatherette. I forgot to take a photo of the final product -_-

Taking the Stones Advice

The painted bas and top boards drying out

Most of the tools I’ve used so far in the project.

The painted baffle and Rear Panel. Haven’t painted the sides of baffle in fear of it being pushed out-this paints quite thick.

The Baffle and Rear from the front drying.

The constructed box with the painted insides.

The speaker from another angle. You can see how the battens match too.

The Stretch frame before it gets painted.

The drying stretcher frame painted.

So today I constructed the cabinet temporarily. This involved drilling pilot holes in the battens and then putting the actual screws through which allows the screws to go vertically down (despite this I still managed to mess up a few). AT THIS POINT I DID NOT ACTUALLY SCREW THE PIECES TOGETHER I just screwed through the battens out to the other side (for the purposes of increasing the grip when it does go through.

After this I then screwed the cabinet together-you may need someone to hold the panels for you. You need screws which will bite about halfway into the wood, just don’t get ones that come out the other end. Flathead screws in particular so they keep the wood flat.

I put all of the screws in through the inside of the cabinet so there won’t be any screw heads showing on the outside which gives me the opportunity of painting the outside-although I’m going to upholster it anyway. It also makes it look a bit neater.

Once I had put it all together I got an electric sander on it-can be done manually but wow is the electric sander useful. It only has to glide over the wood. The end product of the sander is really well sanded corners and any parts of the wood that don’t meet up will be sanded down so they do. Takes about 10 mins although the sand paper kept falling off!

Painting followed in the afternoon. I’m painting the inside only here because you will be able to see into the back. I put two coats of black paint on which was nice and easy because of the weather.  I painted the baffle too because you’ll be able to see it through the gaps in the speaker cloth (So paint it in correspondence to the colour of your speaker cloth!). Tip about painting-always paint in one direction and do full strokes all the way dup and down the wood once the paint is applied-gives a neater finish.

Afterwards I built and painted the Stretcher frame which will be covered in the speaker cloth and then placed into the square gap between  the front of the speaker. I had a few issues here. I cut the wood to the sizes that I’d calculated (taking in account the width of the upholstery cloth on both sides of both surfaces and the white piping which will surround the stretcher frame). The wood was typically warped -_- I stapled the bits together with a staple gun which very temporarily gave me time to screw the wood pilot holes…until the staples came apart. After a few more stapling periods and use of clamping with the workmate I got the holes drilled and the screws in…and then it snapped due to the screws not being long enough (I was using the same ones as I did for the batten-to-MDF screws. Solution? Get longer screws. After trying again using the same wood but deeper holes I got the frame together and painted with two coats. The frame should be painted all around for safety just so you don’t have to worry if you need to alter the positioning of the stretcher frame due to warped wood.

I’ll try to fix the warped wood by placing something heavy and wide on it tomorrow.

Ohm’s n Speakers

So I’ve been looking into speakers and I think I’m decided on a Greenback from Celestion. This is the same speaker that Hendrix used and is highly recommended for the “British” tone.

Here at the celestion website an overview is given on each speaker as well as demo’s and a frequency response diagram

http://celestion.com/category/4/guitar/size/3/12%22/

On the subject of Ohm’s however, it doesn’t matter whether I get 8 or 16 ohms because I only have 1 speaker-any more and you should probably be wary.

I’ve been looking into some piping to go around the speaker stretcher frame and speaker grill cloth which I’ll post links to.

http://www.allparts.uk.com/online-shop/amp-parts-accessories/amp-parts-accessories-general/coverings-grill-cloth/grill-cloth-c-277_144_297_446_548.html

http://www.allparts.uk.com/online-shop/amp-parts-accessories/amp-parts-accessories-general/coverings-grill-cloth/piping-c-277_144_297_446_454.html

I KNOW IT’S EXPENSIVE but don’t worry, you can get cheaper grill cloth on other sites (less than £5). I only want black so this is what I’ll be doing. I’ll be going with white piping too.

Speaker feet can also be bought online for cheap.

Battens and Markings

I thought I did these markings correctly but that was a bit of a mistake-I didn’t take into account the stretcher frame would probably need a couple of mm more space (I don’t want it sticking out the front so this was just for caution. Remember the speaker cloth has to go round it too as well as the lining around it.)

Here are the first markings I did wrong.

The top board all marked out for today.

Here are the side boards marked and ready for today (done last night). They have marked slanted vertical battens due to the slant of the speaker. The battens are therefore slanted (achieved by sanding to a slant).

Here are my four base battens glued and screwed.

The work of the day. You can see the markings.

Here are the tools I used today to cut the battens.

Some of my hand sawed poorly cut battens. Nothing some sanding shouldn’t correct though.

So over the past few days I cut and fixed some battens to the bottom board. The magazine only suggested gluing the battens but I’ve put screws through the top of the batten, into the board to add rigidity as well as PVA glueing them.

The magazine didn’t originally require battens along the side of the base board but I added them anyway. This will strengthen the side boards massively but you will need more batten wood. Another downside is that it will increase resonance which may be a good or bad thing. My personal view is that the overall strength of the cab is slightly more crucial than the resonance (although these battens will have little affect to resonance anyway). Due to this, I will be adding side battens to the top board too-which is todays task.

One thing I’ve noted is that the baffle board will be slanted slightly-as will the stretcher frame (made from same wood as the battens). The stretcher frame is a frame that is covered in speaker cloth and placed in front of the speaker. I’m still figuring out how this will be attached to the baffle…

Because the stretcher frame is made from the same wood as the battens (softwood), you need to place the baffle the width of the wood behind the front of the speaker cab (in my situation this is 18mm-mark using the actual wood instead of the guided measurements though. I will not be making the stretcher frame quite yet though.

Today I will hopefully cut the side battens and sand them to a slant. I might even get round to fixing them and some of the top board battens.

At some point I’ll also need to paint the baffle board black. This is because the baffle board is visible through the stretcher frames speaker cloth on the front.

Batten And Tool Guide

Here are the batten guides to cut

All the items you’ll need-might need more in case of mistakes…

The lengths you’ll need to cut. I had to alter the length because my cabinet was of different height. You might want to loosely construct your cabinet and mark them yourself.

The tools you’ll need. A jigsaw will be necessary at some point.

Plane Sanding

Here are both the sides lined up-I’m quite happy with the result.

Here are the sides I had to savvily sand and plane.

All the boards after sanding and planing.

Here are the battens I poorly marked -_-‘ They still need a bit of sanding but I’m not too bothered about them.

The tools I used today.

So today I did mainly plaining and sanding but also cut a few of the battens. The baffle board was the main issue because when I put all the pieces together and lent them up there was a gap between them and the side panels. I needed to 1.get them straight and 2. cut a few mm off because the baffle was too wide and causing the side boards to not fit on the bottom board.

The rear panels were too long too because the measurement in the diagram was wrong (583mm instead of 590mm). This meant I had to shave a few mm off the ends of both. The baffle board was also wrong but I couldn’t shave it all off one end otherwise the speaker port would be off centre (although probably not noticeable. I cut it down to about 582mm eventually because the side boards were still not fitting (they still struggle).

The side boards were also poking off the ends of the bottom board because they weren’t completely straight so I sanded them down with a block of wood covered in grain60 sandpaper (the grain doesn’t matter too much). There were a few problems such as rounded wood from sanding it down and frayed corners from plaining. To solve the rounded wood I had to carefully sand down keeping my arm as straight as possible which is really tough-a sanding machine would be beneficial but not necessary. The frayed edges I experimented with. I found the best way to prevent them was to plane inwards at the corners rather than follow a whole stroke down until the end of the wood. You’ll probably find that it catches the wood but persevere and possibly adjust the plane if you experience problems.

A few of the battens were cut-one of them done wrongly because I marked it out wrong but it’s not a problem because I can cut it down for one of the smaller battens. I used a handsaw which leaves frayed material because of the nature of the softwood but nothing a bit of sanding didn’t resolve-you wont see them anyway.

The Real Thing

 

So I cut the markings today with mild success. I needed my Dad to hold down one side of the wood to stop it from flailing. The lines were fairly straight and the speaker port was a good success-I came to the conclusion that it was better to watch the blade rather than the guide line in front of the blade which was out of line, for this though I needed a face mask and goggles.

One thing also to note is that the length for the baffle needs to be 583mm rather than the written 590mm (very annoying but I plained it down fairly easily).

Now I’ve got to get down to the sanding.

Here’s some photos of the day.

My woods finally cut 🙂

Here’s the baffle with speaker port cut out. They needed some plaining.

Here are the batons for strength-they’re marked out for tomorrow.

Just some more of the tools used today.

The tools used today.

Uneccessarily Proud

Here’s some pics of the mostly straight lines I made (the ruler hopefully proving this). A small success but creates a little relief.

Here is the jigsaw I’m using. If you use a smaller blade it might come off the spinning wheel occasionally as it did for me today. This was actually a large part of the problem of not cutting straight for me so keep an eye on it 🙂

So I managed to figure out a method to cut the wood straight with a jigsaw which is to follow both sides of the line on the plate by looking over the jigsaw.
It helps if you look close but I’ve had a fair bit of sawdust go in them today because of this despite wearing goggles and a mask
I then tried the handsaw afterwards and to my surprise I got that virtually vertical too 😀
I took some pictures because I felt like I had to upload something for today.
I didn’t get round to actually cutting the markings because I needed someone to hold the wood down on the other side. Hopefully I should be able to cut the markings tomorrow-I feel more confident after some success today.

Note: Don’t put much pressure on the handsaw when cutting, if the saw is doing most of the work then it wont jam so it will be easier to control.

Cutting Straight

Okay so I’m currently taking a break after about an hours attempt of cutting straight lines on practise wood. So far it’s been really bad, I’ve been working on chipboard with a jigsaw both with and without a guide (a ruler next to the jigsaw plate to supposedly move straight). I found that the guide wasn’t actually helping that much and that I felt more comfortable without one because I couldn’t clamp the ruler down properly (the workmate is very difficult to clamp to). I had planned to cut my wood today but I’ll see how it goes when I try again.

The woods very bulky making it difficult to cut. It wont fit on the workmate so I may have to clamp it to a table of similar height to the workmate.

I’m about to go back out and try the jigsaw again and maybe I’ll try the handsaw too.

 

Note: I bought four cheap £1 Heavy duty clamps from a bargain shop before I started but i think a couple more would come in handy.

 

Things I’m Using:

-Jigsaw

-Safety Goggles

-Mask

-Handsaw

-Spare wood (chipboard)

-Set Square, Steel 1m Ruler, Pencil

-Clamps

-Extension Cable

-Workmate

Marking The Woods And Practise

Here is my first day of practical building stuff. All these captions in the photos tell the story.

One thing I would say about the wood is that it comes with a label on which sticks on the wood. It might be worth buying some sticky remover to help get rid of it (even then it took about 20 mins). One issue with this is it leaves a darker region so if you are going for a wood finish you may want to make it so the side of the wood with the mark goes on the inside of the speaker cabinet.

There’s probably a way around it though-builders must get real frustrated.

Here is the book that I’ve got all this information from. It has other tutorials too but the first one is how to build a speaker cabinet. It has been my main source of information and is very useful as soon as you get used to all the terms. You can buy it from here: http://www.guitarmagazine.co.uk/news/guitar-classics-diy-amps-pedals-bible-is-on-sale-now/ or here through Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Classics-DIY-Pedals-Bible/dp/B00AOM9ZZ0

Here is the lengths I used for the woods. Instead of 610mm for the length on the top and bottom boards I have 607mm because thats the length of wood I bought-the difference is minimal. You may notice that the cabinet has a very slight incline which is common in most speakers because it projects it to the listeners face rather than legs. To mark the speaker port center you’ll need to mark roughly from one diagonal to the other from both opposing corners. Then use a compass to draw a circle of radius 140mm.

Here’s the markings that I did wrong 😦 I got all of them roughly correct (to about 1 or 2mm) and then when I checked them over I had got the first one wrong by 6mm making the whole thing useless :@ I decided to try again on the other side where I spent far longer on the first marking. MEASURE 3 TIMES CUT ONCE

More of the poorly marked wood.

Here you can see the markings done correctly on the other side of the wood. I’ve labelled each segment with the initial of the segment according to the diagram. All the lines are only drawn in lightly (enough to see them though) so it doesn’t leave a mark-probably wont matter too much if I cover it though.

More markings from another angle.

And yet more marked

Here is the speaker port marked out. To mark the speaker port center you’ll need to mark roughly from one diagonal to the other from both opposing corners. Then use a compass to draw a circle of radius 140mm. Not looking forward to cutting it out. One thing I have noticed though is that it doesn’t matter if it isn’t a perfect circle because the speaker has a lip around the edges which will cover the mistakes which I’ll inevitably make.

Here is just a sample of the wood I practised on that my Dad had lying around. As you can see the circle is pretty poor but nevertheless I was fairly pleased. I did some practise in the morning and marked out the wood in the afternoon.

 

Buying Woods

I’ve bought the wood for the project-hopefully this will be all the wood I need. I got a 12mmX1800mmX600mm (roughly) MDF sheet and three lots of 18X28mm 2.4m softwood for the baffle from Wickes.

Baffle-Thick pieces of wood used to reinforce the cabinet and prevent resonation of sound. The baffle isn’t seen so can be a different type of wood. Most cabinets will have baffle in the back.

I’ve been getting in some practise cutting some old plywood with a jigsaw and handsaw and it’s a lot tougher then it seems. Straight lines seem virtually impossible but it’s nothing that can’t be improved with some more practise. It’s supposedly all in the wrist strength and letting the saw do the work.

If you don’t have a jigsaw you have the option of renting or buying one. I’ve been fortunate enough for my project to coincide with my dads need of a jigsaw so he got a new one for £20 at ToolStation which is about the cheapest one they do-I believe it’s a Silverline.

I’ll upload some cutting diagrams soon, and tomorrow I’ll start marking out the wood.

Better Get Started

Okay so it’s about time I started creating the thing, it looks like I’ll only have time for the speaker cabinet so I’ll start there. There’s a website blog here which gives a good idea.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Guitar-Tube-Amp/step2/How-did-this-project-get-started/

I’m going to get the wood soon-probably MDF because it’s a low resonance wood (you don’t want the sound lingering in a speaker cabinet, guitars would be better off having a resonating wood for it’s sustain. Also MDF’s fairly cheap (£20) and easy to get (Wickes or B&Q).

Hopefully I’ll upload some diagrams on where to cut the wood at some point.

Type Of Speaker

Speaker Cabinets (Cabs) are given names to relate to how big the speakers are in the cabinet and how many of them there are e.g. 1×8, 2×10 etc.

Normally they only go up to about 4 spears in one cabinet.

I will try to use a 1×12 speaker which means I will have one speaker which will be 12″ (12 inches) in diameter. 

The speaker is a huge part of your tone and each speaker can majorly alter the sound of your guitar tone.

Here’s the celestion website:

http://celestion.com/category/4/guitar/size/3/12%22/

Celestion are the biggest brand in guitar speaker design.

Link

Speaker Cabinet Research

This article has some good pictures on the speaker cabinet through the building process.

It also shows that the joints don’t have to be perfect and that you can create a cabinet with a removable back (changes the direction and depth of the sound).

It also looks like Celestion speakers are highly regarded because I’ve come across them in many articles now. I will try to use one in my speaker cabinet.

How Amplifiers Work: Vacuum Tube (Valve) Amps

PART 2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY_w6H40ECs
PART 3:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJrjSg4o6J8

Firstly it’s important to remember that a tube amp is the American way of saying Valve amp.
TUBE=VALVE

These video’s make a really great explanation on how an amplifier works-specifically a musical valve one.
Also explains why VALVES MUST BE WARMED UP BEFORE USED.

He explains using a water flow diagram and it’s a really good use of half an hour even if you’re not making an amplifier.

It’s going to be useful for possibilities of why things are going wrong which they inevitably will on the project 🙂

Starting Out

I’m going to begin with the speaker cabinet rather than the amp because I will be able to use this on it’s own if I do not finish the whole project in time (by the end of summer), whereas I would have no use for an amp head on its own. Also, I can sumbit the speaker cabinet on it’s own as my extended project if needs must.

I’m currently doing research on how amplifiers work as a start to my speaker cabinet.

Amplifier Symbols

This will be useful when drawing out a electronics diagram of how an speaker works.
Those who have no idea about electronics like me should take use of this 🙂

Testing Post

This blog will be used to document the building of my Valve Amplifier for my extended project. Currently I am researching how to create the amplifier as I have no previous experience in building amplifiers (or any sort of instrument). I will document all the websites I use as a part of the project and publish them on the blog.