Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Discussion of Speakers, Cabinets and Cabinet Building

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JazzGuitarGimp
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Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by JazzGuitarGimp »

Hello All,

Before I get into my long-winded story, let me just ask: Does anyone know the species of Pine Leo used for his 50's / 60's amps? More questions to follow.

I have been working with 3/4" Baltic Birch plywood for the last few months (building a kitchen cabinet) and this stuff is HEAVY! I know there are folks who swear by Baltic Birch ply for speaker cabinets. I'll be 60 in a few years, and whereas, 20 years ago, I used to toss 40 Lb bags of dog food around like they were feather pillows, I just can't do it anymore. What is the saying?: The mind is strong, but the flesh is WEAK!?

So, I am wondering what woods are best suited, tonally, for guitar speaker cabinets? And are any of these woods light in weight?

After spending some time with my friend google, I have a bit of an education on the various species of Pine, but there is still much confusion: Southern Yellow Pine looks like maybe a good choice; it is one of the denser, stronger Pines, but I am not sure it is available in my neck of the woods (no pun intended).

What are youze guys using, and how light is it?

Many thanks,
Lou
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xtian
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by xtian »

Just like guitars and amps, cabs come in different flavors, and you can't survive with just one!

Pine has some magic. I built two Tweed Deluxe inspired 12" open backed combos from pine (one with a Lou Rossi custom reverb board!). Here is my build thread: http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28653

The pine resonates much more than plywood. It becomes a much bigger contributor to the overall sound of the amp, even at moderate volumes.

By the same token (probably, because I don't really know) you wouldn't use pine for a closed-backed 4x12.
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by JazzGuitarGimp »

Well, I'm thinking my first whack at this is going to be a 4x10 cabinet. It will likely have a brace starting from the center of the baffle, going straight back to the back wall. That should stiffen it up and help cut down on internal resonances.

I will join the four sides with box joints, and it would be sweet if I could finagle the back onto the four sides with box joints as well, though I'm not sure I am that confident in my woodworking skills yet. I still need to build a crosscut sled and box-joint jig for it, then make the four drawers for the kitchen cabinet - in other words, I've never made a box joint..... yet. But that will happen soon enough.... :lol:
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Phil_S
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by Phil_S »

Lou, pine is good to work with. I'd recommend against trying to box joint the back panel. There's no reason for it, except to say you did it. Cut a rabbet to allow the back panel to fit flush and cut to size. You can glue and screw or just glue if you get it "just so."

I suggest trying to find better stuff than you find in the big box stores. I can get recycled lumber for $1-2 per board. It comes from old houses, warehouses, etc. I haven't actually bought any, but I've seen it and wouldn't hesitate. 2x10 lumber is the most plentiful, but you can find 1x-whatever, too. If you have a band saw that can manage a 9.5" board, you can resaw the 2x lumber. The reason I suggest this is that the old growth had nice tight annual rings and that makes it much better quality. In your neck of the woods, you might find something semi-exotic like redwood.

If you go the recycled route, Izzy Swan's youtube on jointing boards without a jointer is essential for good glue up. It works like a charm!
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by Bombacaototal »

interesting discussions here: http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... r&start=30

It can shed some light on the wood choice
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by JazzGuitarGimp »

Bombacaototal wrote:interesting discussions here: http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... r&start=30

It can shed some light on the wood choice
Thank you, Bombacaototal. It seems like the waters just get more clouded as new information comes in! :-)

I think I am going to do some calculations to see how much my cab would weight if made from Baltic Birch plywood. I know I have about 31 Lbs in the speakers I am looking at. It would be nice if the plywood totals no more than about 20 Lbs, but for a 4x10, I think I may just be delusional.... :lol:
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by Bombacaototal »

One thing you need to think of and decide is if you want your cabinet to ressonate (pine, poplar) or not (ply).

I am still with the same question mark. The one I currently own is plywood and sounds great.

Between pine and poplat I think Id go poplar

If you want light you should go for pine with Neo speakers
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by Phil_S »

Lou, you are delusional! A 4x8 sheet of 1/2" plywood is 45 pounds. A sheet of 12mm 4x8 baltic birch (if you can find it in those dimensions) is 56 pounds. The equivalent of about 4x8 face area in actual 3/4" thick white pine is about 26 pounds. If you need to go up to 3/4" plywood you'll need to 2 roadies, too.

Rethink this as a pair of 2x10s?
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by JazzGuitarGimp »

Phil_S wrote:Lou, you are delusional! A 4x8 sheet of 1/2" plywood is 45 pounds. A sheet of 12mm 4x8 baltic birch (if you can find it in those dimensions) is 56 pounds. The equivalent of about 4x8 face area in actual 3/4" thick white pine is about 26 pounds. If you need to go up to 3/4" plywood you'll need to 2 roadies, too.

Rethink this as a pair of 2x10s?
A pair of 2x10's makes a lot of sense. I was just at the lumberyard, and I am told a 3/4", 4x8 sheet of Baltic Birch weighs 90 Lbs. I would need about 57% of a sheet to do a 4x10 (and that's taking the four 9.25" circles cut out of the baffle into account). There would likely be another 10 or so pounds in cleats and hardware. With speakers, that puts me in the mid-90's, maybe 93 Lbs, which us completely unacceptable. Maybe four 1x10 cabs? :-)
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by JazzGuitarGimp »

And maybe with a pair of 2x10 cabs, I could use 5/8" Baltic Birch ply, rather than 3/4"?
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by Phil_S »

I don't think I need to point out, a pair of 2x10s is the best of both worlds. 15mm (5/8") will save some weight and, IMO, it is plenty thick enough. I think you should consider 12mm. As long as you don't have a couple of beefy roadies playing catch with it, it will last longer than you will.
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by JazzGuitarGimp »

I could put a large oval hole on the top of one cabinet, and a matching hole on the bottom of the other cabinet, then stack them with the holes coupled to one-another.... :-)

Yes, I am thinking 15mm would be good, and that saves me a few pounds.

I do wonder about what the sonic differences would be by cutting the cabinet in half to make two 2x10's. The plan is to make the cab(s) completely sealed.

And I've knocked the cabinet depth down from 16" to 12", and that will help a bit ad well.
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by Geeze »

Look at poplar or African mahogany - I've built several cabs with these and they turn out and sound awesome - plus they look great oiled.

BTW I box jointed a 2x12 cube with pine as an experiement - the corner geometry requires a separate block for the corner to make it work. 110 joints cut for the roughly 20" cube - NEVER again!

Finger [box] joints require consistency to fit well - or a lot of wood slivers and epoxy! I started measuring each cut as I go to catch drift.

Russ
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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by Cantplay »

I don't use regular white pine, its very soft and gummy.

I buy a denser species labeled 'Radiata Pine'

John

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Re: Best wood for speaker cabinets?

Post by norburybrook »

Lou,

I have a Marshall 4x10 with celestions. Can't remember the model but it sounds great and best of all, I can pick it up with one hand!! I'm 54 by the way!

It's probably made from rubbish wood or chip board but it sounds great so I don't care.


just a thought.


Marcus
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