Anybody ever build your own speaker cabinet?

I wanted a closed back/ported guitar cabinet w/ a 10" and a 15" in the same box. So I built one using Weber Michigan series speakers, the AlNiCo models w/ high power rating, giant magnets and 2 1/2" voice coils. Sounds pretty darned good too.

Details:

I sized the ports by ear (Yes I actually tried various opening sizes by ear, a very long and tedious process) until I zeroed in on the sweet spot sizes and made them permanent. I used the old vintage Fender grill cloth (looks old when compared to their new cloth) and built it like a brick shit house.

The speaker wiring I used gives me the option of using both speakers in parallel at 4 ohms or either one individually at 8 ohms.

Would I do it again? Probably not. But it was fun while I was doing it. Now I have this unique thing that only I can truly love. I wish somebody made cabs to order that didn't cost an arm and leg.

If you plan to builkd your own speaker cab, here are some things to keep in mind:

1) If this is your first such project, don't place your expectations too high or you may be disappointed.

2) Make sure to purchase and gather all your building materials, tools and hardware together first and have everything on hand and available before you start. There's nothing more frustrating than having to stop mid-stream and run to Home Depot for wood glue, contact cement, staples or a carpenter's square that you thought you had.

3) Plan ahead, plan ahead, plan ahead. Make a scale drawing on paper, of what you intend to build. This will be invaluable as you proceed to refer back to. (Never, ever, ever build a square speaker cabinet. This sets up standing waves that cancel each other out and will sound terrible. This especially applies if you are building a closed back and/or ported cabinet. If you’re building an open back cab, then square doesn't really matter, but rectangular is usually always best. If you will be using 2 speakers it will most likely have to be rectangular anyway.)

4) Don't try and cram too much into too small a space. You will have to have some room to get nut drivers or screwdrivers into the inside of your cabinet to fasten things. If you place components right up against inside walls there will be no room to do this and you might even introduce buzz or rattle into your box. Putting a 12" speaker into a cabinet involves more than just cutting a 12" hole in a piece of wood. The 12" speaker will not measure 12" and the hole you cut in the baffle for the speaker will certainly be smaller than 12". Precise measurements of diameter are required.

5) Make sure you find someone competent that you trust to show you how to use the power tools and hand tools you will be using. Never be ashamed to ask for advice.

6) Keep us all posted as you progress. Many of us have solved small problems in some very inventive ways and we will share those secrets with you. Take photos to document your project.

I used aluminum angle for all the internal bracing, front and back, and held it to the sides with double sticky back tape and wood screws. The pieces of angle that hold on the back are tapped for 10-32 phil trus screws. The front baffle is held on with wood screws.

I used chopping block type wood panels for the sides, it was very straight and very cheap and didn't weigh too much, found it at Home Depot. The back piece is 1/2” plywood and the baffle is 5/8" plywood.

I put recessed handles on the long sides. The front baffle is painted flat black under the grill cloth and has some 1" x 1/4" molding along the perimeter to hold off the grill cloth from the baffle surface.

It has standard chrome Fender corners and glides for feet. The tolex is just some nice looking stuff I found at a yard goods store. I thought about using oxblood grill cloth and some blond colored tolex but decided to match the looks to my Showman head instead.

Here are some links/pix that might be useful:

Attachment Angles

Baffle and back cover

Internal bracing

chopping block type planks

recessed handles

aluminum angle braces

phil trus machine screws

number 3 - grounding type jack

10/15 Cabinet overview

How the speakers are wired

Michigan 15"

photo of the cabinet w/ my '55 Strat

I built a 1x12 in white blonde to match my white blonde tele. It is not a bad project, but takes some time. I used a differnt process than you used, however your is much more traditional in approach. A pic of mine is in my avatar.

I have been building some of these.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...cTweed3014.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...On/dLfront.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...On/Cabs030.jpg

oh my god thats sweet looking......i did basically the same thing with my dual showman, but i used 3/4 pine boards, and varnished them...and i put 2 10 inch jensen ceramics in it.......made a great combo.......it came out pretty nice for a first attempt. but i might have to cover it with tweed ......after seeing yours...only problem is it has a silverface

Very cool. I was looking around to see if this was feasible with my skills, especially since a massive wild cherry tree at my parents' house recently fell down in heavy wind, and they're thinking of having it pulled out and cut into boards. I don't know if it'd make a good cabinet, though.

Some!


The first thing I'd check about Cherry wood is the weight. It could be a dense and heavy wood;I don't know.

Man this is an old thread but I'm building a cabinet right now out of maple. It was an old m-80 with felt wrapped fiber board. Among other things I'm a carpenter so i just had to do it. I'm thinking somewhere down the road I'll build a matching external speaker cab as well.

I built a 2x12 cab, ported, with a closed back - using plans I got from Electro-Voice. They publish speaker cabinet plans for electric instruments, to support sales of their own speakers. They conform to Thiele-Small specs and it sounds great. Also saves you the trouble of experimenting to find the right port size. If you want to tune the cabinet to a different frequency, you can partially cover or completely cover the port opening. I used Fender / Jensen speakers from a twin reverb, built it out of 3/4" particle board, added side strap handles and metal corners. Covered in black naugahyde. It screams.

I also used one of their plans later on to build a 1x15 bass cabinet for an EVM-15B bass driver. It also sounds great. Similar construction to the 2x12.

hi, were can I find this kind of plans?