Fender Twin baffle board repair advice needed

[Phil_S]

+1 for Bob. He should get post of the month for having common sense when we had none. <d'oh, headslap>

[Long Distance Call]

Hi everybody,
Sorry I haven't responded sooner, but thank you for all the great responses. I am going to try and save the original baffle board, rather than replace it. Just to see what happens I'm going to try using Bondo Rotted Wood Stabilizer as Mark suggested, and some sort of epoxy filler; either Bondo or the EP-200 Epoxy Putty Stick as Phil suggested. I'll also post how it goes, in case it might be helpful to anyone else in the same situation.

Bob's suggestion is a great common sense approach, and depending how the repair goes, I might also add a couple of extra screws here and there for added strength.

LDC

[Leo_Gnardo]

Bob's suggestion - new screw mounting locations - very good indeed. I'd like to add, shitcan those old screws (or sell 'em to a collector of authentic parts) and get some good deep-thread screws. If you can find short enough deck screws, that's good. There's also a fairly new screw brand I see at Home Despot - SPAX - made in Germany out of good steel not that cheezy crap from you-know-where. Shallow dull threads do not work in MDF sawdust-board.

Opting for replacement - good quality ply, needn't be baltic birch but extra points if you do. For one customer who insists on EV and JBL in his twins I added extra bracing across the back. Re grilling is a hassle, hard to keep the lines square, but in the end you can build a tougher baffle than Fender's.

I think I've seen just about everything, old baffles that have bolt heads sticking thru for that permanent solution Aurora offered, twin baffles split in half and falling out both front and back of the amp for a Picasso/Dali effect. Replacement baffles made of 3/4 board that stick out the front of the amp and have no grill standoff frame, you get both a goofy looking amp and the audio effect of baffleslap as the grille cloth smacks the wood with every movement of the speaker cones.... etc etc. First time I ran across the split-down-the-middle baffle @ 1982 it was Al DiMeola's Twin. Instead of replacing it, he just had his assistant run out and buy a new amp. Now there's a solution!

[Phil_S]

+1 on Spax. Those will hold long enough that you won't be responsible for the next time. I think they make 1" drywall screws that are just like deck screws but not galvanized and should be fine for baffle mounting.

Even better (or possible worse ), you might consider installing T-nuts, hurricane nuts, or barbed nuts and mounting with machine screws. This may require a way to get under the grill cloth and may not be worth the effort.

[Structo]

Most match sticks are made from pretty soft wood.

I have used toothpicks before with success.

[Leo_Gnardo]

+1 on Spax. Those will hold long enough that you won't be responsible for the next time. I think they make 1" drywall screws that are just like deck screws but not galvanized and should be fine for baffle mounting.

Righto Phil, I keep 100-count boxes of Spax 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 inch #8's handy for box fixes. Nice of them to have the 1 1/4 available. The threads on the ones I get aren't as fine-pitched as drywall screws I've seen, they look more like a deck screw pitch.

Gave up on matchsticks & toothpicks & bedknobs & broomsticks. I keep some bits of scrap alder & poplar ready to hand. Razor blade some chips off of them, sometimes even carve a plug to fit a dogged out hole. Franklin Tite-bond glue of course. None of this helps much with crumbly old MDF though. A lot of the hole fixes are to the back panel cleats.