TEST FITTING BAFFLE TO CABINET

APPLYING GRILLE TO BAFFLE

SPEAKER MOUNTED

WAITING FOR BADGE (and insulation) (and 1x3 brace for back )

the 'BEFORE' picture.... goodbye unsightly grill.... HAHA

Last edited: Apr 05, 2012 01:37:34

Good job! Looks great. I love how the grill is perfectly straight.

Getting close to complete. Here's the insulation being added. I didn't want to spend $40 on retro batting, so I spent $5 on R19. Enough to do two cabinets actually.

You can also see the 1x3 inbetween the two pieces on the back. Bob recommended that for stiffening and as a way to fill the screw holes left down the center when I removed the center divider, no longer needed, when I converted from 2-12 to single 15. Thanks Bob...good advice.

The insulation is glued to the wood with 3M aerosol automotive Trim adhesive. Before I closed up, I gave the insulation a good layer of hairspray to reduce any tendency to shed.

Last edited: Apr 15, 2012 12:54:44

DreadInBabylon wrote:

Any impressions on the sound before/after insulation?
How thick have you made it? Looks about 1.5" (like the old ones).

Well, yeah....kinda hard to say...I only sampled the sound without the insulation for a short period of relatively low volume...nothing past 3, and mostly 2 1/2. Plus, the back was only held by 2 screws at that point.

When I installed the insulation (yesteday) I felt free to close up the back with all the screws; which I did. Then last night I really romped on it, mostly with the vol. at about 3 and 4, and for a short while at 5!

What I can report is that overall, the tone was about the same, but maybe the touch (or dynamic feel, for lack of a word) was a bit tighter or more constrained...but not by much.

As far as the thickness.... to be honest it varies. Overall it's approximately 2" but the pieces glued to the back are more compressed because I laid a piece of plywood on them to insure full contact while the glue was setting up. The upper piece inside is probably the thickest.

Again, I'm really not sure how critical all this is. I had the two JBL 12" speakers in there for a couple years without any insulation and it sounded super nice.

Of course the D130F is a different speaker. I'm still getting used to the huge BIG sound. I'd have to say that if a non-tone ring cabinet sound this big, the tone-ring cabinet must be EARTH-SHAKING.

Once thing I found out about the Showman amp is that with the MID control up to 10, the treble sounds really harsh. I HAVE to keep that control down to about 5. Otherwise, I run the bass and treble knobs as usual, at about 6. Of course that will vary depending on the room or hall.

Last edited: Apr 15, 2012 15:30:55

Thanks, Ariel, for the vote of confidence.

I'd LOVE to have a Single 15 Showman Cabinet with Tone Ring. Unfortunately, I'll have to 'suffer' with the smaller and easier to handle Bandmaster Cabinet. It's a good mate to the Showman top since the Showman and Bandmaster (unlike the Bassman) heads are the same size and are interchangeable as far as the piggyback mounting hardware is concerned.

Actually, I also have a 1971 Bassman head and a 1965 Bassman bottom. My plan is to install the two JBL 12's that came out of this Bandmaster bottom into the Bassman bottom, which is currently unloaded. Then see how that behaves with the Bassman head...and if I ever decide that I really need the 2-12 setup for the Showman, I can set the Showman on top of the 2-12 Bassman and use it that way, even it the piggyback lugs don't match.

The Bassman doens't even come close to being a 'surf' type amplifier. It's a crunch monster that belches out tons of incredible raunch and roll. It's barely containable.

DANG ...that is the sharpest JM I've ever seen. Ultra Super.
Tell me, did Warmoth do the finish or did you ?
Is that a Warmoth neck too ? Sweet.

Last edited: Apr 16, 2012 00:10:42

vintagesurfdude wrote:

Louie7 wrote:

DANG ...that is the sharpest JM I've ever seen. Ultra Super.
Tell me, did Warmouth do the finish or did you ?

Thanks , I did the finish. It took about a month to get it right. Basically it's sanding sealer, 2 coats of white base, 2 coats of metallic silver acrylic lacquer (it's an odd automotive color that has brass, bronze and aluminum particles in it, normally used to paint the center of GM mag wheels, just picked it out by eyeball in a color chip book) then 6 or 7 coats of candy red which I mixed myself from Re-ranch dry red dye and clear nitrocellulose lacquer. Then 5 more coats of clear lacquer. I really love the color, but I don't know that I'd have the patience to do it again. What you can't see in the photo is the checking. This finish is about 10 years old. I had a flamed maple Strat neck on it for a long time which I matched the headstock on. The current neck is Warmoth vintage JM, which sounds better, plays better and has a more correct headstock. Thanks for asking about it.

Well, checking or not, I think it looks gorgeous. Suppose you did the headstock in the same color. WOW. That would be the ultimate.

And you say you mixed the CAR from ReRanch? So you didn't get aerosol, you bought like pints and shot the guitar with a gun, right ?

I did the 65 Mustang with ReRanch aerosol and about 6 or 7 coats of clear. I wanted it to be really deep. It's not as deep as it could be cause I got tired of buffing, but it is REALLY thick.

See it here.

1965 MUSTANG GROUND UP RESTORATION

vintagesurfdude wrote:

Louie7 wrote:

vintagesurfdude wrote:

Louie7 wrote:

Well, checking or not, I think it looks gorgeous. Suppose you did the headstock in the same color. WOW. That would be the ultimate.

And you say you mixed the CAR from ReRanch? So you didn't get aerosol, you bought like pints and shot the guitar with a gun, right ?

I did the 65 Mustang with ReRanch aerosol and about 6 or 7 coats of clear. I wanted it to be really deep. It's not as deep as it could be cause I got tired of buffing, but it is REALLY thick.

See it here.

1965 MUSTANG GROUND UP RESTORATION

WOW!! that Mustang resto is awesome !!! The color may not be deep but it really looks right ! Nice, nice work on the headstock. As one of the posters said "Good Save".

Over the last 15 years or so, I've bought clear nitro by the gallon. It's outlawed in a lot of states now, but you can still occasionally find it listed as "piano lacquer", usually only in black, white and clear. The oldest of it that I still have (about a pint from the 1st gallon I got) has yellowed nicely in the can and does a nice vintage tint look without tinting. Mixing the color was interesting to say the least. Re-ranch sends directions with the dye. Follow the directions! :o) It's been quite some time, but I recall blending it with IPA and Acetone, then adding to clear. The acetone is to keep the dye suspended in the lacquer. I picked up an inexpensive HVLP spray gun from Harbor Freight Liquidators for like $20. Works great, my bro'-in-law shoots cars with one! You know I still have the undercoat and red that I originally mixed, I should consider matching the head stock. hmmmmm , 10 years since the original paint though. Could be a challenge.

YEAH! Do the HEADSTOCK.... ya only live once.

Awesome. Very cool job, how's it sound?

Very nice. Great Job!

Otto & The Ottomans
Kennedy Custom Guitars