Kap'n's Weber 5E3 kit

[Kap'n]

OK, I thought I'd try to document my amp construction project here for folks.

I thought I'd preface this by saying my hand work skills are about as good as my photography skills, that is to say, lousy.

I received my components and cabinet yesterday as a partial shipment. I only ordered the kit a week or so ago. The Weber site says allow two to three weeks after ordering. I'll have to add another week for delivery, so I'm way ahead of schedule for part of the amp anyway.

Since I can't solder yet, I thought I'd tackle lacquering the cabinet. My first lacquer job was my tweed guitar case, which came out horribly. I later found out that Fender recently changed over to a synthetic tweed, rather than cotton. BASTARDS! Now I'd got a crappy looking "limited edition" case.

Anyway, back to the amp cab. Here's a shot of it after it came out of the plastic bag.


It's a nicely made cabinet. If you look at the top, you can see that the holes that the chassis mount were predrilled. That's a load off my mind, because, as I said before, I'd probably screw it up otherwise.

I removed what I thought was all of the hardware and the baffle, being careful not to dirty the tweed. There was some dirt on my guitar case when I lacquered it, and you can see it through the shellac. I then used some coat hangers to suspend it.

[Kap'n]

Next step, getting the shellac. Some folks use Minwax Polyshades to make a durable poly-coat on their tweed. Probably more durable than the shellac. However, I thought I'd go the more authentic route, mainly because I've heard the polyshades can get a little cloudy.


I mixed up the shellac a little weaker than 50/50 with the alcohol as prescribed on a lot of websites. During my first laquer attempt I learned two things.

1. Mixing shellac and water makes a goopy mess that can clog your sink
2. If you don't clean up right away, you can kill your paintbrush.

Just for this case, I bought a couple of relatively cheap natural bristle 3" brushes. Not bottom of the barrel, but pretty close, $2.50 or so each. Rather than try to clean them, I thought I'd dispose of them.

I then did my first coat. Much better than the case already.


It looks a little less blotchy in real life. It'll even out in the second coat...I hope. I don't know if it's authentic or not, but I tried to lacquer all of the tweed, even the inside.

Now earlier, I mentioned that I thought I took off all the hardware. I didn't. I didn't pull the feet off. Someday if somebody pulls them off, they'll see the tweed wasn't lacquered there. I can live with that.

I'll take another picture after the second coat dries.

[Kap'n]

Just got back from doing the second lacquer coat. The lesson learned:

Most of the color gets picked up on the first coat, while it's soaking into the fabric. The second coat smooths the color out, but doesn't make up for more serious errors. Use a lot of light.
The tweed used on this cabinet is nice. It came out smooth, and didn't need sanding/buffing between coats.

[melody]

Get yourself a prevail sprayer there disposeable and cheep and will make your work much easyer..Not to say the brush method will not look good in the end just more time consuming.. look's great so far..All you folks doin these kit's got me G.A.Sing big time,thanks for sharing!

[TT100]

Hey Kap'n, good color so far. I went the Polyshades route and am up to my third coat of Classic Oak. Honey Pine was just too light for my tastes and Pecan too red. Whoever pulls the lower back panel is going to find a lot of test areas!

:lol

I'm thinking one more coat will do it, then I'll use steel wool to dull the fiinish just a tad. I even printed up a tube chart using Word and stuck it on the inside. Looks pretty good I think. I'll post pics when available.

Good luck.

TT

[moonpie]

Thanks Kap'n :yay cool thread

[sabby]

This makes me happy.

[fezz parka]

Oh yeah! Life is good.

[Kap'n]

Amp Build, Day 2.


After trying to even out the color a little bit with the second coat, I wanted to add a bit of a protective coating. I have a sneaking suspicion that this amp will sometime in it's life be exposed to alcohol... :bwa
From a tweed finishing website, I got a recommendation for this stuff, available at Walmart for about $4.50 a can.

I decided to spray two coats. The can says to allow 30 minutes between coats, but I gave it a bit longer, and got some Chinese food. I used most of one can spraying all the tweed, inside and out.

The end results:




As you can see it's a little blotchy on the sides, and a touch darker than ideal, but not too shabby. The finish seems like it could handle WWIII and not take damage!

Another site I looked at said that the shellac shouldn't be more than a few months old. I opened mine in March or April so of last year, so maybe that contributed to the dark color/blotchiness. I decided to pitch what was left of the can to be safe. Maybe I'll get one of those spray guns for my next project.

Now I just need to sit and wait for the chassis to arrive.

[Skip]

can't wait for the next chapter! I can see a kit in my future!
rookie question is the 5E3 the "Champ Kit" or what...perhaps I should look it up.

[melody]

Amp Build, Day 2.


After trying to even out the color a little bit with the second coat, I wanted to add a bit of a protective coating. I have a sneaking suspicion that this amp will sometime in it's life be exposed to alcohol... :bwa
From a tweed finishing website, I got a recommendation for this stuff, available at Walmart for about $4.50 a can.

I decided to spray two coats. The can says to allow 30 minutes between coats, but I gave it a bit longer, and got some Chinese food. I used most of one can spraying all the tweed, inside and out.

The end results:




As you can see it's a little blotchy on the sides, and a touch darker than ideal, but not too shabby. The finish seems like it could handle WWIII and not take damage!

Another site I looked at said that the shellac shouldn't be more than a few months old. I opened mine in March or April so of last year, so maybe that contributed to the dark color/blotchiness. I decided to pitch what was left of the can to be safe. Maybe I'll get one of those spray guns for my next project.

Now I just need to sit and wait for the chassis to arrive.

Very cool!!

[Rickenjangle]

can't wait for the next chapter! I can see a kit in my future!
rookie question is the 5E3 the "Champ Kit" or what...perhaps I should look it up.

The 5e3 is a tweed Deluxe circuit.

Lasher posted this list in an earlier thread:

5f1=tweed champ
5e3=tweed deluxe
5e5=tweed pro
5e8a=tweed low powered twin
5f6=tweed bassman
5f8=tweed high powered twin

[Rickenjangle]

Looks great, Kap'n! I like the darkness of the tweed. Very tasty!

[Skip]

Thanks Rickenjangle - I'm thinking first build the 5F1 - would fit right into the basement sancutary...and I agree KAPN - the TWEED looks fantastic - again thanks for sharing the build. Hope to see TB and others sharing as they build as well - lessons learned are fantastic!

[jefh]

That looks killer! I actually like the variations in darkness, gives it more character IMO. I'm gonna try to document my DR build when it gets here (unless TB is gonna do it). I now wish I ordered my cab covered in Tweed.

[mkg]

All ahead full, Kap'n!

[fezz parka]

Looking good! Mine hasn't gotten here yet. I guess you're closer to Indiana than I am.:lol

I was going to do the Minwax/Polyshades/honey pine thang, but that looks so authentic. Zinsser & Deft, here I come...

[Kap'n]

I was going to do the Minwax/Polyshades/honey pine thang, but that looks so authentic. Zinsser & Deft, here I come...

With the Deft over-coat, the finish is like a rock. It'll probably look like a fifty year old amp forever.

[fezz parka]

The wife just called. Got 12"X12" box today. Must be the chassis part of the kit. Now I got something to do besides yardwork this weekend!:hee

[Kap'n]

HAven't gotten a 12" x 12" box...or my chassis. I got a big one, for the cabinet and a long, thin one, maybe 4 x 4 x 16 with the transformers and other components. The chassis box should be similar.

13 x 13 might be your speaker. I don't have that yet, either.

[mkg]

The wife just called. Got 12"X12" box today. Must be the chassis part of the kit. Now I got something to do besides yardwork this weekend!:hee

No, that's my belated xmas gift to you, a vest of live cats.

:bug

[fezz parka]

Aw man, and I'm allergic to cats...Thanks anyway!

She just called back, said it was "caps, transformers and some other crap". :hee

[sabby]

I like the color difference, too. Character -- the real real kind. It's defniately not in the league of that horrible gash in your guitar you call "character" to ease the knot in your stomach.

Nice Workk!!! :yay

[fezz parka]

...said it was "caps, transformers and some other crap". :hee

Still waiting on the cab, speaker, and chassis. I guess I can stuff the board. :lol

[Kap'n]

Board-stuffing:

I decided to take some down-time while waiting for the chassis, and stuff the circuit board. Pretty simple stuff. First I sorted out all the resistors and capacitors, which were neatly in a ziplok bag. If you're not familiar with your color codes, you can get a thumbwheel converter at Radio Shark, for a buck or something. If not you can remember the mnomonic [sic]
Bad
Boys
R--e
Our
Young
Girls
But
Violet
Goes
Willingly

for Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Grey White.

The colored rings stand for:

first digit
second digit
multiplier
tolerance. If it's there, it's usually silver or gold. In any case, it doesn't matter on a circuit like this.



I tried to place all resistors so that the color codes started closest to the tubes, for neatness, and so that the next tech (me) who opens it up will find them easy to read. Likewise, I tried to put all the printed numbers running the same way. Guess I screwed up on the cathode resistor!

Speaking of cathode resistors, take a look at this photo:

The power tube cathode resistor is the big 5W, 250 ohm cement resistor in the foreground. Notice how the resistor is arched up and away from the board. From looking at a couple of original amps, I picked this up. That cathode resistor will get HOT during use. Leo had the resistor elevated on the amps, so that air could circulate, it wouldn't melt the wax out of the old-style boards, and it wouldn't dry out the electrolytic bypass capacitor. I'll press the capacitor flatter when it's soldering time.

Now if I had the chassis handy, I'd measure and precut wires and fit them to the holes and solder them in place, and cut the extra tails off the components. I'll hold off for now. Why solder twice, and have components fall out?

[bzimm]

Kapn,

This is a great post, I would hate to see it disappear. You might want to remove the text about remembering the resistor color codes, it tends to cause problems.

Keep us updated on the progress.

[Kap'n]

You might want to remove the text about remembering the resistor color codes, it tends to cause problems.

That was the way I learned it in Mr. White's 10th grade electronic's class. I can't change that.

I'll remove it if one of the mods objects.

[melody]

Keep it coming Looks great so far

[bzimm]

Oh I learned it that way too, doesn't make it right I suppose. Last time this went down there was no objection from the mods, the posts in question would just disappear. And since it has been taught that way for so long it would get re-posted to the thread. Finally the thread just disappeared. I would hate to see yours go the same route, there is good stuff here.

[fezz parka]

Great stuff Kap'n. As far as the color code remembering scheme goes, I don't like that word. I removed it.

[Kap'n]

I don't like that word. I removed it.

That's fine. People can feel free to add whatever word works for them there.

[Moe Humble]

Show us the soldering!!!

[Kap'n]

Show us the soldering!!!

Patience. I'm still waiting for the chassis to show up. I don't want to solder without the wires on there, but I want to measure the wires before I cut them.

[Kap'n]

Well, I'm still waiting for the chassis.

Just so I could personalize the amp a bit, I thought I'd make a tube chart. I whipped this up in about ten minutes in Word, using text boxes. Not exactly authentic, but it's pretty close.



I used white glue to paste it inside the cab, and let it dry overnight. With some experimentation on scrap, I found out the Deft lacquer (above) does not mess up the water-soluable ink jet ink, so I put a couple of coats over the label, so the ink won't smudge over time.

[fezz parka]

Excellent! :yay

I emailed TA, and the rest of my stuff should ship next week...

[Kap'n]

Excellent! :yay

I emailed TA, and the rest of my stuff should ship next week...

Great! I imagine mine ought to ship around the same time.

[melody]

Well, I'm still waiting for the chassis.

Just so I could personalize the amp a bit, I thought I'd make a tube chart. I whipped this up in about ten minutes in Word, using text boxes. Not exactly authentic, but it's pretty close.



I used white glue to paste it inside the cab, and let it dry overnight. With some experimentation on scrap, I found out the Deft lacquer (above) does not mess up the water-soluable ink jet ink, so I put a couple of coats over the label, so the ink won't smudge over time.

Yes it looks very cool

[Kap'n]

Yes it looks very cool

Well, I rushed it a bit, and the tube names aren't aligned left-right as well as I'd like, but I'll get over it.

[Kap'n]

Chassis arrived today. I'm a bit burnt from last nights gig. I'll be posting this weekend!

[fezz parka]

I hope this means I've got a package waiting for me. Did you get your iron yet? If so, which PT did you get, the Mojo or Ted's?