Building a 1x12 Cab

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:28 am

Okay guys so , im purchasing my Creme brulee soon , well after my stuff has sold .
so I'll need a cab , cheapest way to go was building my own .

Ive decided on either the Celestion Vintage 30's or the Celestion Greenbacks .

But i need to be able to build the cab .

does anybody have any experience or tips ?
I've looked on some other forums (plus mr sooty suggested it) and decided to use pine .

So what thickness should i get and such and such ?
i just need tips on building it .
a tutorial (like lee's pedalboard one)
Would be absolutely stellar .

Thanks guys .

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:27 am

There is a dude on ebay..... and he makes shells for cabs... all you have to do is wire in and supply a speaker.... comes fully tolexed and they are seriously dirt cheap.....like $150 cheap....have a look

http://shop.ebay.com/sourmashguitarcabs/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

slick as job as well....

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:37 am

well...

I looked for it, just out of curiosity...

and wow, making one really is expensive!!! If you want a high quality cab comparable with bogner etc, it will be cheaper, but if you want a normal one for 200 euro range? Just buy one via musicstore or so, that is way cheaper, just due to the ammount of which they have them build in China :p!

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:03 am

i want to build a cab for a couple of reasons
1. the experience .
2. it's cheaper in NZ to build your own
3. i can customize it to my likes .

Im gonna go look online for some cab schematics to get me started .

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:19 am

A couple weeks ago, I was in the exact same position you are in now..

I figured out that it was too much of a hassle sourcing the wood + speakers + tolex +handles + grill list goes on, not to mention the cost of all these

as far as schematics , theres a plethora of them out there on the web.

In the end of the day, I just bought a second hand Laney cab for $290AU, sounds great. if i really want to i can still change the speakers inside later on..

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:58 am

Yeah i know . but it would seriously be cheaper to build my own .

Okay guys so far , this is what im purchasing :

1" Pine - for the main chassis
3/4" Pine - for the baffle
Protective Corners
Leather Handle
Varnish

Im not going to tolex it because pine turns out beautfully when varnished and it would save me some money .

i dont know how much pine i need to get , im sizing it up tonight .

I should be able to start building / purchasing next week or whenever my stuff sells .

I'll keep you guys updated and post pictures of what i did.
And i will eventually put them on a new thread like Lee's Pedalboard building thread Smile

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:24 am

Okay guys so i just did some measurements and some research and these are what i've decided on :

Main Chassis:
Height= 450mm
Width (Depth)= 250mm
Length (front view) = 500mm

Baffle:
Height: 435mm
Length: 475

I have everything i need to build the speaker cab except for the pine lol .
Im building it in my schools workshop and ordering pine from Mitre 10 mega.

This cab will be closed back , but i will make it so that i can convert it to open back quite easily .

Btw guys , im basing this on my fender solid state amp .

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:25 pm

Hi Braden,
I just saw this here. I don't know what others think but, I believe that it is the baffle that you want to be the most stiff. So, I would actually suggest 3/4" void-free ply-wood for the baffle. The less the baffle moves, well help with a better bass response for your cabinet.
Also, I've learned that on these open-backed cabinets, the depth of the cabinet can have a significant role to play on bass response.
Of course, you want to avoid being big and heavy, and pine helps with this.

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:58 pm

If you did want to cover it, Spotlight sells some really nice 'amp-ish' looking vinyl in various tasteful colours - including 'blonde'.

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 7:35 am

bcmatt wrote:

Hi Braden,
I just saw this here. I don't know what others think but, I believe that it is the baffle that you want to be the most stiff. So, I would actually suggest 3/4" void-free ply-wood for the baffle. The less the baffle moves, well help with a better bass response for your cabinet.
Also, I've learned that on these open-backed cabinets, the depth of the cabinet can have a significant role to play on bass response.
Of course, you want to avoid being big and heavy, and pine helps with this.

Okay i'll look into getting it .
btw , i was thinking of finger jointing the cabinet . would this be good enough ?